Black Monday

William Manchee

2/13/2006

Review is by Molly

The narrative opens as Stan Turner laments Mondays. By late afternoon a frantic telephone call from an old client, Tex Weller closely followed by a visit from Derek Donner convinces Stan that Mondays really should be banned. Donner, Stan's casualty insurance agent, has arrived with the news that one Lottie West has been found dead and Stan is the executor of her estate. The widowed Mrs West and her dozen or so dogs all have apparently died as result of a gas leak. Stan's last appointment of the day is with Robert Huntington, who needs an attorney desperately, however Huntington cannot really say much about why. 'This is a matter of national security. You don 't have the proper clearance.' Once again Stan Turner is off on an invigorating, if at times puzzling, series of events that will ultimately lead him to uncovering not only unintentional homicide but also the looting and recovery of the long lost Ludinburg collection of priceless art treasures.

Set in Dallas during the savings and loan emergency of the late 1980s Black Monday is an easily read tale filled with conundrum, chicanery and mystery. Dallas Police Department Detective Bingo Besch, accused murderer Jimmy Bennet, Stan's partner Paula Waters and Rebekah, his wife, all figure in the tale. Included in the narrative are a polemical turf battle between the FBI and CIA involving the Iran-Contra Scandal, three Dallas homicides in a single night and a profusion of flash backs to various 1987 events.

With his invariably astute adroitness, writer William Manchee has once more crafted one of his greatly enjoyable Stan Turner mysteries. Stan is again embroiled in scenario and subplot as Manchee intertwines the diversified elements of the tale with his usual dash and skill. Fully drawn characters are well fleshed, filled with imperfection and foibles and often given to perplexing artifice.

Black Monday is a thrilled packed compelling read filled with a masterfully engineered story line, snappy, first class dialogue and spine tingling action. Liberal conflict is judiciously resolved in this cleverly written work Black Monday provides the reader a glimpse inside the daily lives of characters who are engaging and interesting and thoroughly supposable. Black Monday is another in what this reviewer hopes is to be a very long series of William Manchee's 'Stan Turner' mystery thrillers. The work remains my favorite type of book of good solid writing filled with credible characters and circumstances. As with other Manchee works there is no graphic sex thrown in an effort to sell the book or to try to cover up lack of writing skill. Black Monday is just a satisfying, well written edition.

Fans of a fast paced suspense thriller are sure to find Black Monday more than satisfies their longing for an excellent book for whiling away a long winter evening or during a summer after spent reading out on the front porch. A must have for the home library, the pleasure reading shelf and high school reading list. We who enjoy suspense filled mystery thrillers can only hope writer Manchee continues hard at work on the next in the series. I look forward to that next one and each of the ones to follow. Black Monday is a narrative that will grab you from the first line and will hold interest steady right on down to the last page.

You can find more about this book at .

Brash Endeavor
Undaunted
Second Chair
Ca$h Call
Deadly Distractions
Black Monday