The Chinatown Death Cloud Peril by Paul Malmont

In Heart of the World, Carlotta takes a personal case - trying to find Paolina, the 15-year-old she’s mentored as a Big Sister since the girl was 7. Carlotta, whose growth and ability to change was a series hallmark, has grown stagnant her fears, concerns and doubts about her mob-linked boyfriend haven’t really changed in nearly 20 years. Heart of the World basically is the same story she has been writing since the series began. Barnes’ red-haired, cab-driving private detective Carlotta Carlyle had just the right mix of sass and shrewdness to win the author an Anthony Award and a slew of nominations.īut Heart of the World, Barnes’ 11th novel in this series, succumbs to ordinariness.

When Linda Barnes launched her mystery-writing career in 1987 with A Trouble of Fools, the Boston-based author joined the cadre of women - and men - who were bringing fresh, energetic stories to the genre. The Chinatown Death Cloud Peril is an homage to our literary past and to the readers who savored tales of derring-do. But Hubbard is unimpressed with their superhero who dresses in “circus tights” and wears a red cape. A scene in the famous Greenwich Village White Horse Tavern has Hubbard looking at the work of two young illustrators who believe that comic books are the next big thing in publishing. The serious plot is augmented with some priceless wit. “You tell me,” Gibson says, “where real ends and pulps ends.” The answer, he says later, is that “pulp would have a better ending.” The story is a rip-roaring adventure, worthy of any tale of The Shadow and Doc Savage and gives their originators a taste of what their fictional heroes undergo.

Malmont’s obvious love of the writers, plus his energy and enthusiasm, are evident. To add to the story, director Orson Welles, a young black porter with aspirations of writing, Chester Himes, and would-be science fiction writer Robert Heinlein make pivotal appearances. It’s risky business using real people in a fictional plot - especially a story that takes liberties with the truth, but Malmont succeeds.

The Chinatown Death Cloud Peril by Paul Malmont