Unabridged Chick
Cults, Chandler, and pre-crash LA
Kim Cooper, who runs a successful LA-based tour company, has penned a novel featuring the historical Raymond Chandler and a flashy trial of a murderous cult in pre-crash 1929 Los Angeles.
This was a great read although not without a few problems. Cooper's Chandler is positively pathetic which I appreciated, and Cooper's writing style didn't attempt to emulate Chandler's. The sense of place is palpable, so much so that I sometimes think this was a short film I saw rather than a book!
My only compliant is that there's an odd POV shift around the third chapter, switching from Chandler's first person POV to third person POV for Chandler, his spunky secretary-slash-girlfriend Muriel (a composite of Chandler's secretaries), and the beat cop he likely based Philip Marlowe on. I didn't notice while reading, but when flipping back was startled to see the first two chapters were in first person.
This is a small press/self pubbed endeavor and admirable despite the POV slip. The formatting, etc. was fantastic, and I'd happily get another of Cooper's novels (she might be working on sequel!).
