Whistler

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Created by Robert Campbell
(1927-2000)

“The Santa Ana winds were blowing in from the valley through the passes, sweeping up the pulverized dog droppings, gum wrappers, old newspapers, and bleached confetti, whirling the mess down the gutters toward yesterday.”
—from Alice in La-La Land

All you need to know about how the author feels about Los Angeles is right there in the titles of the books.

LA’s down-on-his-luck private eye WHISTLER hangs out at Gentry’s Coffee Shop in Hollywood, and has been known to philosophize over a cup of java or two, in this dark, savvy series with almost poetic, almost Chandleresque flourishes.

I loved the late-night vibe and the oddball characters, which recalled Norbert Davis‘ Max Latin, although neither Davis or even Chandler went this dark. I mean, kiddie porn? Snuff films? Mutilated bodies? Satanic murders?

Yikes!

And of course, Whistler has a past, carefully doled out over the series, full of heartbreak and hurt. He used to be a radio personality, and he drinks too much. Sometimes way too much. And the sometimes caustic cynicism fails to hide a bruised but still beating heart.

I really dug these books, which were just building up a well-deserved audience among fans of the hard stuff when the author passed away.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Robert Campbell enjoyed a long career as a writer of novels, screenplays, and television plays. His screenplay for The Man of a Thousand Faces was nominated for an Academy Award. In 1986 his In La-La Land We Trust was chosen by the Washington Post as the best crime novel of the year and scored a Shamus nomination, while The Junkyard Dog, the novel which introduced his most successful (eleven books) series character, Chicago sewer inspector and political fixer Jimmy Flannery, won an Edgar and an Anthony. He also penned two novels featuring railroad detective Jake Hatch.

UNDER OATH

  • “Dizzyingly, devilishly wonderful…  Under the parody, under the hip, slick, baroque prose style . . . Campbell has etched a dreadful, seductive picture of a city… ”
    — Los Angeles Times on In La-LA Land We Trust
  • “Campbell’s La-La Land books have made him a force to be reckoned with in tough-guy fiction.”
    — Chicago Tribune
  • “Campbell’s stylish storytelling gives way to tabloid-speak… (but) there’s crisply paced narration and a memorably grotesque supporting cast.”
    — Kirkus on The Wizard of La-La Land
  • “They are rough, hard books that deal with unpleasant subjects, written in terse prose to match… These are for only the hardest of hardboiled fans.”
    — Barry Gardner (August 1994, Ah Sweet Mysteries #14)
  • “Robert Campbell has his own sound. He is an awfully good writer”
    — Elmore Leonard

NOVELS

FURTHER INVESTIGATION

Respectfully submitted by Kevin Burton Smith.

Published

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