A Gambling Man (An Archer Novel, 2)

In this second installment in David Baldacci’s noir-ish series featuring Aloysius Archer we find the ex-G.I. (and wrongly accused ex-con) in Reno after his departure from Poca City. He’s on the way to Bay Town, CA circa 1949 and hopefully a new job as a private eye under the tutelage of a former FBI agent turned P.I. named Willie Dash. Circumstances develop in Reno where Archer comes into a pile of dough and a luxe 1939 Delahaye convertible along with gaining a fetching travel companion, would-be actress Liberty Callahan. The duo encounters a few challenges along the way but once at their destination Archer is soon embroiled in a complex murder mystery with plenty of twist and turns. I’m not a big Baldacci devotee but I liked the first Archer book, “One Good Deed” well enough to purchase this title. The pacing is good and I enjoy the late 1940’s period; the author captures it nicely with descriptions of clothing, cars, and the dialog style of the era. An awful lot of bodies drop in this story to the point where you almost wonder if anyone will survive by the ending. There’s plenty of action and good old fashioned sleuthing that should satisfy mystery fans who like pre-CSI detectives. My only complaints revolve around the author’s depictions of guns. Early on in after one encounter with a trio of bad guys who Archer and Liberty are able to disarm they take their guns and throw them in a nearby river. Then we get this line: “He watched them float for a few minutes in the strong current, and then they were gone,…” Umm, no way any firearms are “floating” for a few seconds, let alone a few minutes; they would sink like rocks immediately. Later on Archer pulls his .38 revolver and observes that: “He had five shots left in the barrel.” Nope, he had five shots left in the cylinder; it’s impossible for them to be in the barrel of the pistol. If you don’t know guns this wouldn’t matter and it’s just nit-picking on my part but for those readers who are familiar with handguns it is annoying. I’m already looking forward to the next book in the series due out this year, “Dream Town” where we find Archer and Liberty in L.A. for new adventures. I hope that Archer enjoys a long run and Baldacci keeps them coming.

Have not finished the book yet. but it has been a good book to read so far

As usual, Baldacci , kept me in suspense. Lots of action, surprises with all the twists and turns. This book would make a great movie!

I, like many others who reviewed David Baldacci’s “One Good Deed,” suspected that Aloysius Archer, the protagonist, would be the key character in a new Baldacci series. No sooner had I filed my column than the second Archer book arrived at my door. Like the first book, “A Gambling Man” is set in post-World-War-II America. But Archer has traveled from Poca City where he was released from prison to Reno, “The Biggest Little City in the World,” and then Las Vegas, where he hooks up with Liberty Callahan, a showgirl who has aspirations of becoming a movie star. Archer is on his way to Bay City, CA, to become an apprentice private eye. After Callahan saves his life, he decides to give her a ride, at least most of the way to Hollywood. Because Archer has won a good sum of money by “not gambling” at craps and roulette, they travel in style in a 1939 Delahaye Model One Sixty-Five, Figoni and Falashi convertible cabriolet. (Do yourself a favor and Google this magnificent French-made automobile.) Archer’s goal is to hook up with Willie Dash, Very Private Investigations, a former FBI agent who was recommended by Lieutenant Detective Irwin Shaw, back in Poca City. Although Liberty Callahan’s goal was to get to Hollywood and become a movie star, she forms a friendship, laced with a bit of sexual tension, with Archer and takes a job singing at a local nightclub. Liberty is an immediate smash hit, but Archer has a lot to learn from Dash, and he needs to learn quickly because he finds himself in the middle of a case, the intricacies of which reminded me a bit of the 1974 movie “Chinatown,” starring Jack Nicholson. Specifically, Archer has to tread carefully as he investigates a case that involves power, politics, corruption, and a mysterious bit of family intrigue. Bay City is run by a wealthy man, Sawyer Armstrong, whose son-in-law, Douglas Kemper, is running for mayor. But Armstrong is not only wealthy, he seems to own outright or have a financial interest in virtually everything that has value. Archer becomes involved with the family when Kemper comes to him for help because he’s being blackmailed. Just when the reader begins to wonder if Archer is a kind of superman, like Lee Child’s Jack Reacher, he is soundly beaten by Armstrong’s strong-arm henchmen Hank and Tony. But Liberty sticks with Archer through thick and thin. P.I. Willie Dash seems to have an advisory role, at least until he shows up with a machine gun that he claims to have taken “from Ma Barker’s cold, dead hands.” Still, it’s wonderful to listen to Archer and Dash sift through clues together and formulate hypotheses. Like the first book in this new Baldacci series, A Gambling Man takes us back to a time that most people will recognize through the novels by Ross McDonald, Mickey Spillane, Dashiell Hammett, and Raymond Chandler. ...Jim Glynn