Book Review: Good Morning, Heartache

Reviewed By: Harriet Klausner

Good Morning, Heartache     Amazon US HC Amazon Canada HC
Peter Duchin , John Morgan Wilson
Class/Genre:   Mystery
Berkley, Dec 2003, $22.95, 304 pp.

The Philip Damon Orchestra heads for Los Angeles to perform at Hollywood producer Sid Zell’s fiftieth year anniversary party. The band is also playing at the famous Cocoanut Grave Hotel for six weeks but they have one slight problem. They needs a trumpet player who can sing and the only person who comes close to mind is Buddy Bixby, just released from jail for heroin possession, and somehow mixed up in the murder of Angel Vargas, an illegal Mexican working security at the L. A. racetracks.

Despite Buddy’s track record and because he was good to Philip when his wife died, the orchestra leader hires him. Much to Phillip’s surprise, Buddy knows Sid Zell and former child star Nicky Pembroke who worked in Mr. Zell’s pictures. When first Buddy and then Nicky are murdered Philip believes the two deaths are connected with that of Angel because all three men had a sponge in their pocket. Phillip with the help of a friend starts investigating and they don’t plan to give up until they identity the murderer.

GOOD MORNING, HEARTACHE is a terrific amateur sleuth tale that takes place in 1960’s California during the Watts riots. There is a surplus of suspects but it won’t matter to the audience who the killer is because they are all selfish and arrogant people who believe the world owes them a living. Peter Duchin and John Morgan Wilson have created a colorful and enjoyable mystery series that this reviewer hopes goes on into and past the Summers of Love and Unrest and Rioting.

Harriet Klausner

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Harriet Klausner