Of All The Gin Joints In The Universe
ISBN 9798284577189
ISBN 9798284576991
ASIN B0F98C56KY
Over the last few years I have read 36 works from the pen of Richard Paolinelli, not counting his contributions to anthologies. This is the first in what I hope might be a new series. Paolinelli states in the author's note:
“First, the idea for this story has its seeds in my desire to write a 1940s-type detective noir story, but set it out in space. I hadn’t gotten around to sitting down to hammer out the story just yet though.
Until the day an author, and friend, Natasha Carter, caused the correct two brain cells to collide inside my noggin, that is. Natasha likes to drop posts on Twitter/X and then sit back and watch the reactions. And the chaos too.
One fine day she drops this gem: “I’m just here to steal your soul.”
Me, being the professional smart aleck that I am, dropped this reply: “With some women, it’s worth the price of admission.”
And just like that, the perfect way for the grizzled detective to introduce the femme fatale of this novel sprang into existence. Thinking it was likely only going to be a short story to add to my Dreams of the Storyteller collection, I sat down to plot the story out. It quickly became a series of short stories and then evolved to be long enough to just go ahead and make it a novel. And here we are.”
SO in many ways this is a fix-up novel. And as some of know fix-up novels can be masterpieces. J.F. Powers only published 2 novels both were fix-ups and both won the National Book Award. The description of this volume states:
“One detective. Two suspects. A conspiracy big enough to kill them all.
In the 25th Century, Galactic Justice upholds the law across the Milky Way.
They use the HALO to extract confessions from the guilty. For the most heinous of crimes, the guilty are erased and a new personality is uploaded in their place.
Samuel Archer Spade is a private detective on Space Station 1964 on the far edge of the galaxy. He’s a former GalJus Inspector whose conscious couldn’t square with using the HALO.
Spade is at his usual spot, his unofficial office on Norma, when a knockout blonde in a red dress, walks into The Galaxy’s Edge, the station’s bar. She’s on the run from an unwanted admirer.
But when the man arrives on the station, he’s looking to hire Spade himself. He’s claiming she has stolen something from him, As Spade tries to sort out who is telling the truth, GalJus arrives looking for both of his clients for a murder committed on another planet.
Trying to find the truth will lead Spade to discover a dark secret. Some elements within GalJus are using the HALO to frame innocent people. Even worse, they're programming people to commit murder.
That’s a secret GalJus is willing to kill for and both Sam, and his clients, are right at the top of their list.”
Sam has a conscience, one so string he left the Galactic Justice force because of a tool they were using. He became a PI, likely making his father even more proud of him. And He is set up as far from the seat of GalJus as possible. When in walks a dame in a red dress and his whole life is turned upside down. Somehow this woman has captured his heart and when she is convicted by her own voice and a truth machine called a halo. But something is not sitting right with him, and when he starts digging he finds something even worse than he ever expected.
The story is written around 4 sections and 15 chapters, which are:
Part I The Lady in Red
1: The P.I. In The Stars
2: The Femme Fatale
3: The Plot Thickens
4: Air-Tight Alabis Abound
5: Whodunit
Part II We’ll Never Have Paris
6: With Friends Like These
7: Hell Hath No Fury
8: No Fairytale Endings
Part III The Red Reunion
9: Unhappy New Years
10: Partners In Crime
11: Into The Lion’s Den
Part IV A Rock and a Hard Place
12: This Island Earth
13: A Man For All Seasons
14: Costly Victory
15: The Immortals
Epilogue
Author’s Note
The action is intense. But it also has a lot of humour. The hat tips to Elon Musk and his character in the story is awesome. A few quotes to give you a feel:
“The name is Spade, Samuel Archer Spade. Yes, my old man was a nutcase over the old detective films of the mid-20th Century. Had every one of them on datachip and we must have watched each of them a hundred times. If you’re familiar with the genre, then you already know which was his favorite movie detective. Philip Marlowe was a close second. I consider myself lucky for that.”
“Frankly, it’s a miracle the human race is even still around. Back in 2192, the meteor old Elon was worrying about finally showed up and damn near split the planet in half. Fortunately, they’d listened to him and we had already colonized the rest of the solar system, Alpha Centauri, and one or two other nearby systems.”
““You, Sam,” he said. “The Senate has authorized the creation of the Department of Galactic Enforcement. DOGE!””
It was very hard to put the book down. It is a mystery, wrapped in a conspiracy, with a love story at the heart. In some ways this story reminds me of The Carter Files by Lori Janeski. It also reminds me or a lot of old shows I watched with my father including; Mike Hammer, Dirty Harry, and Spencer for Hire to name but a few. And Paolinelli makes homage to several detectives and the whole noir genre through out the work.
This is an excellent novel from Paolinelli’s pen. It took me by surprise. A great addition to his complete works. I can easily recommend this story for what an excellent piece of Science fiction mashed up with mystery Noir!
Note: This book is part of a series of reviews: 2025 Catholic Reading Plan!
For reviews of all books from Tuscany Bay click here.
Books by Richard Paolinelli:
Maelstrom
When the Gods Fell
The Calling
The Last Lonely Trail
A Zombie Christmas Carol
Infinity Series:
Starguest 4th Age Series:
Timeless Series:
The Timeless
Secret of the Sphinx
…
Jack Del Rio Series:
Betrayals
Endgames
…
Del Rio Omnibus Edition
…
Divine Trolls Comedies:
The Fall Of The House Of 770 Vile Aromas
The Corvo
…
SeaDragon:
SeaDragon 1 May 1986
SeaDragon 2 June 1996
Dreams Of The Storyteller:
Sherlock Holmes Pastiches:
Non Fiction:
Perfection’s Arbiter
From The Fields
The Space Shuttle: 1981–2011
…
Contributed to:
To Be Men
Places Beyond The Wild
Space Force Building The Legacy
Secret Stairs
A Tribute To H.G. Wells (2019 Edition)
Beyond Watson
Holmes Away From Home, Vol. 2
Sherlock Holmes Adventures In The Realms Of H.G. Wells
Sherlock Holmes Aventures In The Realms Of Edgar Allan Poe
The Art Of Sherlock Holmes
The Mx Book Of New Sherlock Holmes Stories, Part Xxii
…
Planetary Anthology Series:
Sol
Earth
Luna
Jupiter
Saturn
Uranus
Neptune
…
Best Of Planetary Anthology Series
…
