Red Sky Lament by
Edward Wright
hbk out February 06
Published by Orion
at £18.99
Wright won the Crime Writers Association’s Debut Dagger with his first novel, Clea’s Moon, he followed that with the sequel The Silver Face. This third title again takes place in the United States in the late 1940s and features the same protagonist, John Ray Horn, a former B-movie cowboy star. It’s the McCarthyite era, the height of the Cold War and people from Hollywood are being summoned before the House of Un-American Activities Committee. Horn’s ex-lover, Maggie O’Dare, asks him to help a screenwriter friend of hers who is the victim of a smear campaign. He denies being a Communist Party member but needs to know who has given his name to HUAC, in order to mount a defence. Horn’s investigation leads into the top echelons of the movie studios and inevitably into dangerous waters. Meanwhile in the Hollywood hills raging wild fires bring a different but equally deadly threat. Intelligently written with a commanding portrayal of the post-war era and some great characterisation – the fallen cowboy hero is a touch of genius.
(
Cath Staincliffe
author of the popular Sal Kilkenny mysteries and the series creator of TV Blue Murder)
; width=){kind=small}
Red Sky Lament by
Edward Wright
