Karaoke Rap

Matt Hartman is a freelance editor and cataloguer, running Hartman Cataloguing, Editing and Indexing Services.

Laurence Gough’s 10th Willows and Parker mystery is one of his best.
He has the genre down solid—the cops, the hoods, the Runyonesque
dialect. The developing relationship between the two detectives—one
male, one female—serves as an effective counterpoint to the cast of
murderers and kidnappers who populate the novel.

Gough’s formula is tried and true: take good and evil, embody them in
colorful and memorable characters, and embroil them in a plot with just
enough twists and turns to keep the reader on the edge. Karaoke Rap
involves a crooked stock promoter, an aged mobster, and assorted
murderous hoods. The action moves from Gough’s familiar Vancouver
setting to the holiday village of Whistler and back again to the city
for the bloody dénouement. Burlesque humor, colorful settings, and,
most of all, memorable characterizations are the tools Gough uses to
create this entertaining read. Recommended.