What I Am Reading - Death is a Lonely Business

Death Is a Lonely Business

Ray Bradbury

278 pages, read it in paperback.

Ooh la la, a Noir set in 1949 Venice, California.  Yes please.

I found this at a local book store in downtown Issaquah.  I don't remember the name of the place but there are always books piled on the floor in boxes and if I am lucky I get the owner.  The owner is helpful and nice, as well as his daughter.  His wife and son on the other hand are usually less than helpful.  Nonetheless here I was perusing the wares scattered across the floor when I came upon this, my first Ray Bradbury book.   While I should have probably started on his classic title 'Fahrenheit 451' I chose to dive into this instead.  I was excited to find out that Bradbury is still alive and kicking at the age of 91.

The story itself follows a young writer whose name is never given as he attempts to find a killer in Venice.  The character seems a lot like Bradbury, as I pour over his Wiki article.  Some have even hypothesized that it is a loose interpretation of himself.  Along the way we meet plenty of eccentric people who help as they can or are simply wrapped up in the mystery, or are even potential victims of the killer.  One thing that all of the victims have in common is that they are crumbling just as the Venice pier and that all of the deaths are presumed accidents.  Along the way the main character enlists the help of a detective who helps steer the story along and also provides some entertaining wit to the story.  The interactions between the detective and the character being some of my favorite passages in this novel.

It closed nicely and I was happy with the read.  I was a rather big fan of the style.  It is however a piece that takes place in 1949 and most of the music, and cultural references date to the 20's and 30's.  It wasn’t so distracting that it took away from the story, I am just not as well versed as I probably should be about that time period.  Either way, a quick fun read.