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The History Connection - The Last Good Kiss
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List Price: $12.95
Our Price: $7.05
Your Save: $ 5.90 ( 46% )
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: Vintage
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Binding: Paperback
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN: 9780394759890
ISBN: 0394759893
Label: Vintage
Manufacturer: Vintage
Number Of Items: 1
Number Of Pages: 244
Publication Date: 1988-11-05
Publisher: Vintage
Release Date: 1988-11-05
Studio: Vintage
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: classic PI fiction
Comment: One of the novels featuring Montana PI C. W. Sughrue. Hired to find a wayward writer who is off on a multi-state drinking spree, Sughrue picks up an additional case to find a young woman who disappeared in San Francisco years before. He also acquires a bulldog with a taste for beer. Accompanied by the writer and the dog, he undertakes the case of the missing woman and that becomes a personal quest. It is a tangled web. Things do not always end well when you stir up the past.
The book contains earthy language, some sexual content, and some amount of violence. There is an accumulation of bodies along the way.
Customer Rating:
Summary: holds its own with the classics
Comment: I've pretty much given up on trying new mystery writers, because I always wind up disappointed. There are three writers who I love -- Ross MacDonald, Raymond Chandler, and James Elroy. Everyone else I've tried is a distant fourth.
I read about James Crumley's recent passing and decided to try The Last Good Kiss, and I'm glad I did. While not in MacDonald, Chandler, and Elroy's league, Crumley comes as close as anyone I've read. He's an exceptionally skilled writer, who draws his heavily flawed characters. In structure and tone, The Last Good Kiss reminded me of Chandler's The Long Goodbye or an early Lew Archer novel. (Don't expect the dense plotting of the later Archer novels or of Elroy's LA quartet. In fact, the central mystery seems to lie in the background much of the time.)
I had just a couple quibbles. The inclusion of a violent pornography ring seemed like a forced way to inject some "drama" into the story. The Lew Archer novels quickly evolved beyond such plot devices, and were stronger for it. And I didn't always buy (or understand) the motivations of the characters. Sometimes it seemed that they did what they did simply because they lived in a noir world.
But, still, a great read and worthy of five stars.
Customer Rating: 
Summary: Don't expect to be reading it tonight.
Comment: I ordered "The Last Good Kiss" on 9/20/08. The author had recently died. It was indicated to be in stock when I ordered. It is now 10/24/08. I do not have the book yet! You know what I think of the servioce.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Intricate mystery
Comment: I just finished John Gierach's marvelous book, "Fool's Paradise". He devotes one chapter to books he brings with him when going on a long-distance fishing trip---books that can help fill the time when stuck in the airport or at a motel when the weather precludes going outside. He mentioned reading books by James Crumley---an author I had not previously known. So, I grabbed this book, and thoroughly enjoyed it. The book has that hard-boiled, Raymmond Chandler tenor about it---alot of cursing and "tough talk", but the story was surprisingly (to me) and interestingly involved. It was a good read that kept me turning the pages at a rapid rate. I'll certainly pick up some more of Crumley's stuff. One note: Until I bought the book, I didn't realize that it was written in the late 70's, and you pick up on that as you proceed. But, I didn't find it distracting.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Great Read
Comment: This book is amazing. It kept me turning the pages. Great summer read with lots of twists and surprizes. Enjoy!
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Editorial Reviews:
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An unforgettable detective story starring C.W. Sughrue, a Montana investigator who kills time by working at a topless bar.
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