Black's Beach Shuffle by Corey Lynn Fayman

Rolly Waters is a 39-year-old musician and has been playing guitar in bars, and clubs, etc. for many years now. Up until about five years ago, he lived the rock guitarist life too: booze, drugs, women…a sordid life all around. But a catastrophic event changed all that and now he’s sober. Still playing with his band. He’s good too, but not quite good enough to make the big time and earn enough dough for a quality life.

So, he’s taken up that age-old profession of private investigator. Usually, he’s hired to find lost children/grandchildren, obtain photographic evidence of marital affairs, etc. But now, out of the blue, he’s hired by a new-age dot.com style start-up company who has plans to make loads of money. However, seems they’ve lost (or had stolen) a key piece of hardware without which they’d be sunk even before the launch. Could it be corporate espionage? Revenge? Or something even more sinister?

I really enjoyed this novel. It’s cleverly written, well-plotted, and kept me interested all the way through. The setting of San Diego and, in particular, the infamous Black's Beach, is also well-handled. As a frequent visitor to the region, I recognized many of the city landmarks and I thought the author (a life-long resident) succeeded at what so many crime authors strive for: establishing the setting as a character in and of itself.

 

One thing bugged me somewhat, but not so much as to lessen my enjoyment of the book. The characters’ names are almost all derived from guitar brands or have tie-ins to the music industry. I picked up on this right off the bat when the character of “Fender” was introduced. Then when I met “King Gibson” I was on to the scheme. Now, I’m not particularly knowledgeable about guitars but I found myself looking up every name I came across and sure enough…names like “Marley” or “Simmons”.  Some names combine two brands, like “Curtis Vox”. A foxy lady is named “Alesis” (a music company), “Porter” and “Hayes” are a pair of insurance investigators. Even our main protagonist, Roland “Rolly” Waters” is a conglomeration of two brands. I suppose that’s all fine, but it smacks of being too cute. As I say, it bothered me some because it took me out of the narrative every time I met a new character and had to look up where their name came from.

This is a solid story with a well-thought-out mystery plot. The author’s own background in music really shines through in a realistic way. Other than their names, the characters are well-rounded and interesting, especially Rolly, who struggles to overcome his past choices.

Looking forward to reading the next in the series.