Book Review: Looking For Chet Baker

Reviewed By: Harriet Klausner

Looking For Chet Baker     Amazon US PB Amazon US HC Amazon Canada PB Amazon Canada HC
Bill Moody
Class/Genre:   Mystery
Series: Evan Horne # 5
Walker, Mar 2002, $23.95, 264 pp.

After the serial killer fiasco in Ls Angeles (BIRD LIVES) and counseling in New York, jazz pianist Evan Horne flees to London to star in a week long gig. His friend Professor Ace Buffington is also in the city following a sabbatical from UNLV. Ace pleads with Evan to join him in Amsterdam to research a biography on music legend Chet Baker, who died either by suicide or homicide in the city. Evan refuses remembering the trouble that occurs whenever he works with Ace such as he did on the Clifford Brown recording.

Evan travels to Amsterdam for another gig after his successful performances at Ronnie Scott's place. He stays at the same hotel that Chet took that nose-dive in 1988. Ace has already checked out of that hotel so Evan feels relieved that he will not get involved in another case. However, Evan cannot resist peaking inside the room Baker dived through the window. When Evan sees Ace's satchel containing his notes, he becomes concerned for his friend. He begins making inquiries that force him to follow the last days' trail of Chet Baker.

Readers looking for an entertaining, but a bit different kind of an amateur sleuth tale will enjoy LOOKING FOR CHET BAKER and the other novels in the Horne series. The story line provides insight into jazz (past and present) while spinning an engaging mystery involving a real persona. Evan plays the right notes so that the audience feels as if they attend a masterful concerto written by talented Bill Moody, whose love for jazz shines through each Horne selection.

Harriet Klausner

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