We’re all scared to death. I guess that’s the penalty we pay for living in a world where all the price tags end in 99 cents, and they sell mortuary plots on billboards next to the freeway. What you do is … is keep laughing. – Jim Rockford
Remember “The Rockford Files”? Showing my age again. But I felt much the same vibe when I plunged into Santa Monica Dead Palms by P.J. Christman. Running Investigations #1. Laid-back, wry, libidinous but non-threatening. Except for the bad guys.
And these bad guys are a hoot. Good guys (and gals), too.
See, Santa Monica Private Investigator Cleveland Cartridge is approached by heiress Calliope San Vicente. She wants him to discover who’s behind her daughter’s death. And she is willing to spend whatever it takes to extract revenge.
Revenge is not among his services, he tells her. But he’s intrigued by “whatever it takes.” And agrees to investigate. Running Investigations, it’s what he does.
C-man hires two female middle-distance runners, Española Cather and Olivia Pillsbury, both track speedsters, who can run under two minutes for 800 meters. And half-naked most of the time.
The three P. I.’s find themselves immersed in a conundrum encapsulated by an enigma. Mysterious, huh? The same people are pushing performance-enhancing drugs for track and field athletes, and PEDs for men only. Think Mondo Duplantis in the bedroom.
You can’t tell me some race directors aren’t using Viagra. Xanax at least.
Atlanta, Boulder, Santa Fe, San Juan and El Yunque, Puerto Rico are destinations encountered during their dilemma. P.J. Christman has been there. You can almost taste the java in the Colorado coffee shops and sweat that effin’ hill late in the Peachtree 10K.
Top review from the United States
5.0 out of 5 stars. A throwback private eye yarn with a running theme
For those who like their private eyes straight-up, with no sissy ice cubes. This is a rollicking tale that somehow mixes running with detective work. Hard boiled detective is hired by a rich socialite to investigate her daughter’s death. You’ll like the hero, who is casual, sarcastic, and all-around guy’s guy detective and you’ll find it interesting to know the underbelly of running with its performance drugs. The author obviously loves running but also knows the ins and outs of running. Very entertaining and quick, page-turning read.
Meanwhile, on Goodreads:
Fun read. Mr.Christman has a knack of weaving a fictional tale with some non fictional characters.
Hal Rothman
With track and road running as a key element the author has us wondering how prevalent performance enhancing drugs (PED’s) are in the sport.
Colorful characters throughout with the most interesting names you’ll ever come across.
Definitely worth a read.
Interesting names indeed.
There’s a Doctor Durden and another character named Benji. The entire tome is sprinkled with such nuggets.
I am so enamored with this book’s concept, I have trouble expressing my own thoughts. I mean, there’s a scene set – for goodness sakes – in The Original Pancake House in Eugene, Oregon, where I always go Swedish after fighting off the Bacon Pancakes. A mystery how I can do that.
Here’s an excerpt sent to me by the author himself.
I can only guess he didn’t want to go with something sexy.
“Investors with a high rate of return must expect a high rate of risk,” she said over a raised wine glass. “But that risk should be legal, not a Ponzi scheme. Fluctuations in hedge fund stock prices should never vary due to creative accounting. And our Mr. and Mrs. Thomasson are very creative. What I lost merely cost me some electronic money and real estate.
“But one of my daughters is another matter. While a track athlete, she died from taking too much of a performance-enhancing drug. Rumors have it that the substance is produced by a subsidiary of one of the Thomassons’ companies. Carolyn wanted to be an elementary school librarian, and what heart she had went into volunteering with inner city students.
“It would be uplifting if the Thomassons discover retirement aboard their yacht in the Bahamas abrupt.”
Perhaps, but it won’t be easy. Running, PEDs, Bolder Boulder, bun huggers, dastardly villains takes some explaining.
Just ask Doc Durden.
https://www.amazon.sg/Santa-Monica-Dead-Palms-Investigations/dp/B0BN9DXZC9
About P.J. Christman
Paul (aka P. J.) Christman is the author of: The Purple Runner (see both Paul Christman and P. J. Christman); The Madwoman of El Malpais; Skins of Lightning; Nothing More, Nothing Less; Santa Monica Dead Palms; and Running After 50.
He was born in Columbia, Missouri, where his father was an All-American football player at the University of Missouri, and mother attended Christian College. Paul has lived in Park Ridge, (IL), Lake Forest (IL), Champaign ( U of Illinois), Madison (U of Wisconsin), San Francisco (CA), Westwood (CA), London (ENG), Auckland (NZL), Boulder (CO), and Tesuque (NM). He now resides in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
For 23 years in Boulder, Colorado, he published and edited Running Stats, a 42-times-per-year newsletter of long-distance racing results and information. His articles have been published in Running Stats, Athletics Weekly (ENG), Athletics Today (ENG), Athletics (CAN), Marathon & Beyond, Running Times, Colorado Runner, Santa Fe Reporter and others.
Earlier in life Christman was an international banker in Bank of America, San Francisco’s Asia Division, and over an 11-year career at NBC Burbank held jobs ranging from mailman to film exchange clerk to projectionist to film and video tape editor for KNBC and NBC News.
Christman has always been active, completing 15 marathons including NYCM (4 times), Boston, and London, as well as the Western States 100 Mile from Squaw Valley to Auburn, California. Currently he walks, swims and bikes.
After 13 years of working in the Santa Fe Public Schools district, in May of 2021 he retired as the librarian of Sweeney Elementary School. He has written ten novels, and has recently posted several as ebooks.