Dream Town (Private Investigator Archer Book 3)

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When she learns that Archer’s a PI she hires him because she believes she’s being stalked and feels her life’s under threat. He describes the setting and history constantly throughout, using interesting anecdotes that strongly sarcastic and satirical.

The 1950s weren't the fabled good old days, but they're fodder for gritty crime stories of high ideals and lowlifes, of longing and disappointment, and all the trouble a PI can handle. Archer suspects that Eleanor knows more than she’s saying, but before he can officially take on her case, a dead body turns up inside of Eleanor’s home . I was fascinated by the 1950s setting and the fantastic detailed descriptions - with all the allure and mystique of that decade. The case draws Archer deeply into the Hollywood set as he crosses paths with actors, set designers and studio execs.This sets Archer on a path to find the killer, and Lamb, and pits him against dangerous LA gangs, mobsters in Vegas, and the seedy side of Hollywood. The LA setting is wonderfully described and made it easy to visualise all the exotic cars and the beautiful homes of the Hollywood stars.

I wasn't around in 1953 and I am sure there was more smoking and drinking at that time but again to me the stories don't ring very true. Dream Town is the third book in the Archer series, and if you love mysteries set in the glitz and glamour of 1950s Tinseltown, this one won’t disappoint. Although he is still based in the fictitious Bay City, California and working for Willie Dash's detective agency, the case in Dream Town takes Archer into full-blown Chandler / Marlowe territory in Los Angeles and Hollywood.There are many threads to this investigation, from the murder to smuggling, and with everything in Hollywood being one unending facade, an Oscar worthy performance of lies and misdirection, it’s hard to know who, if anyone to trust. The fashions, the dialogue and the upbeat attitudes that define the times are captured and portrayed in vivid detail. Baldacci’s take on Hollywood in the fifties is quite refreshing and a great part of this mystery novel’s charm. This was already my favorite of Baldacci's recurring series, and Dream Town only reinforces that, in large part because of Baldacci's brilliance in stitching his story across a tapestry of a bygone era of movie magic with a dark side. Brooks places the epicenter of the Bigfoot war in a high-tech hideaway populated by the kind of people you might find in a Jurassic Park franchise: the schmo who doesn’t know how to do much of anything but tries anyway, the well-intentioned bleeding heart, the know-it-all intellectual who turns out to know the wrong things, the immigrant with a tough backstory and an instinct for survival.

Later that night, he goes to her house to check on her only to discover a dead body there and Lamb nowhere to be found. Archer takes plenty of physical abuse in the story, but at least he doesn’t get a bullet between the eyes like the guy he trips over.Despite the police being involved, Archer’s investigation sees him dealing with Hollywood stars and film studio executives, as he discovers secrets, more bodies and the seedy underworld at grave personal danger to himself. His language is descriptive, but focused on moving the story forward with mystery driven elements, action sequences, and moments of discovery along the way.

One Good Deed represents David Baldacci’s move into historical crime with a new character, ex-jailbird Aloysius Archer . He’d bought it with his gambling winnings in Reno, and only a bullet hole in the windscreen post mars its perfection. From an inauspicious start back in books one, One Good Deed, it’s clear he is a man who is on the right side of the law, even if his background might beg to differ. This book has a strong narrative that left me feeling the pulse of the story from the opening pages. His backstory is always coming up, but it is the great character development that keeps the reader enthralled.A true gumshoe story that keeps the reader engaged and provides an entertaining tale of times when detective work was much simpler. The darkness that all the glitz, glamour and picture perfect seafront and hillside properties manage to mask.