Janet Roger - Shamus Dust

 


A good read, with a good plot. I doubted about 4 or 5 stars, would have loved to give 4.5 . It's all about a hardboiled detective in the tradition of Dashiel Hammett, Mickey Spillane and Richard Diamond. The time is 1948, the place is London, UK. I can understand this needs some old fashioned descriptions, words and expressions. That is well provided for, which is a blessing but also a curse. If your knowledge of the old language of the '40s is lacking, especially when you are not a homegrown English person, you are condemned to ask others or the dictionary what it all means. That forces you out of the book and out of the flow of the reading. It makes me want to give the book a bit less than 5 stars. All in all this was a very pleasant meeting with the writer Janet Roger, it really makes me to ask her to write more about the altruistic Mr.Newman. He is totally worth it.

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