Sandra Scoppettone introduces the reader to Faye Quick and 1940s New York City. This is an interesting case because it is a historical mystery attempting to replicate the hard boiled style of Dashell Hammett or Raymond Chandler. The book is definitely more successful at the former, no one would mistake it as actually having been written in the 40s; Scoppettone tries too hard for it to ring true. At times the constant use of ya instead of you was annoying but in general it was a fun read.
Faye Quick is a pretty likable character (if you can get past someone who says lotta a lot) and New York during WWII is interesting. The setting was pretty vivid (much stronger than the narration or dialog) and it is clear that the book is well researched. These moments of historical wartime provide pockets of time where some women were permitted into new roles and many historical mysteries exploit these eras to justify characters that exist outside of the norm; Scoppettone does this exceedingly well and the characters and story are believable, even if the language is not.
Like many noir tales (and cozies for that matter), the story revolves around personal scandals and intrigue, characters are seldom all that they seem, the private dick perseveres, and there is room for a little romance. As i said, this was a fun and quick read. It did make me think about situations where the majority of the population is of one gender but, beyond that, it can not be said that the book is particularily thought provoking, but that is OK. There was one plot device that I cannot stand: a psychic! I think that is cheating and lazy but the book is not out to win any awards, just entertain so I will let it slide this time. I am glad that there are so many different kinds of books even within my fairly restricted sub genre and I will look out for more about this dame Faye Quick.
