One Man's Opinion: WHERE THE BONES LIE by NICK KOLAKOWSKI

I was really pleased to get an ARC of Where The Bones Lie by Nick Kolakowski. It's a story that will be familiar to many a fan of vintage noir, more specifically to the Private Eye of the Hollywood variety. It shares many of the tropes that might be expected in the genre and manages to provide hommage to what has gone before while carving out something fresh and new. 

Dash Fuller is falling flat on the comedy circuit while attempting to create a new and clean life for himself, when up pops an old acquaintance. Manny is a high-end lowlife fixer who will sort out the complications of studios and those involved in the celebrity industry if they're prepared to pay him enough. 

Dash is flat broke and is in no position to say no. In spite of his better judgement, he sets out in search of a couple of big players who have disappeared off the radar to carry on their bizarre lifestyle. 

Almost in parallel to this, a young woman is desperate to find out what happened to her father, a shady dude who disappeared many years earlier and whose body has recently been found in a lake after the water level dropped significanlty. She enlists Dash's help and off they go to try and unlock the skeletons from their closet. 

The cases allow us an insight into a fascinating world that provides a great backdrop against which the book unfolds. 

The good news is that it's a tense and fun read that will entertain anyone who likes a complex PI story where layers are stripped off painfully until all that's left are the bare bones of the truth. 

The better news, at least in my opinion, is that there may well be more to come. It definitely feels like a series opener and I think that it's likely that the next tale will be even stronger and richer - Dash Fuller is someone who is deep and will take some getting to know and I have a sense that the more of him that is revealed, the more we're going to want to stick around.

Go check it out.