WHITE ROOK

by J. Madison Davis ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 5, 1989

An odd couple of private eyes follow a trail leading from a restaurant business in New Orleans to a white-supremacist business in Idaho, pursued by bad memories and bad men all the way. The odd couple are Delbert Greenert--a white, overweight, divorced, middle-aged Citadel graduate known to his friends and family as ""Dub""; and Vonna--a black, never-married, overweight, middle-aged women's Army veteran in the employ of Mr. Honore Devraix, the distinguished Creole snoop who has hired Dub to assist him in winkling out the killer (or killers) of the late Michael O'Dell, a prominent New Orleans restaurateur. Dub's bad memories have to do with some gruesome undercover business he carried out in Saigon in the bad old days. Vonna's bad memories have to do with equally unpleasant memories as an orpan in a home managed by a most unscrupulous clergyman. Meanwhile, the bad men are shady, swaggering types who advertise their special services in a magazine for would-be mercenaries--and who answer to a thoroughly unpleasant bunch of white militants. Following some shy but athletic mutual exploration and bad-memory swapping, Dub and Vonna split up: He goes underground to join the bad guys, and she follows to see that he survives. . . . Davis (The Murder of Frau Schutz, 1988) has a nice film noir beginning here--which is, unfortunately, dissipated in overlong, overchatty, underexciting development.

Pub Date: Jan. 5, 1989

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Walker

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 1989

Categories: FICTION