Dream Town (An Archer Novel, 3)

Taking place in 1952/53 Los Angeles, Aloysuis Archer, private investigator, finds himself embroiled in the search for a missing friend of a friend. During the course of events, Archer as he prefers to be called, searches literally high and low throughout LA for the missing woman. He hob nobs with the rich and famous and mixes it up with the lowest criminal element in his efforts the find her. Very little is as it seems on the surface as Archer digs deeply into the personal lives of the characters. Dead bodies turn up with regularity, Archer's life is in jeopardy several times and secret pasts are revealed. The story is told in the tradition of the noir novel. You can almost see the scenes in black and white as you read. My only complaint with the book, which cost it a star, is there are too many characters. Though they all add to the story, sometimes it was hard for me to differentiate and keep track of who was doing what and to whom. This was especially frustrating when the plot got to be particularly twisted. Part of the problem was I read the book in relatively small in increments. It would be far less confusing if you have the time for long stretches of reading. I do recommend this book to those who enjoy thrillers and mysteries.

He captures post war Hollywood and Los Angeles. The story is compelling. Archer is someone you care about. The way its left with Liberty makes you hope he realizes what's important. It also ensures you can't wait for the dewuel.

Aloysius Archer is the main character in the series who has been working to become a licensed private investigator. Archer is the name most of the other characters in the stories know him as, even his boss Willie Dash. Now Archer has a new case, and it may be the death of him yet! While in Hollywood, Archer attends an event with his friend, Liberty Callahan, when he is asked by Eleanor Lamb to find out who wants her dead. The next thing Archer knows is Lamb has gone missing, and a body is found in her home. Archer feels out of his element as he must ask many of Lamb’s wealthy friends for information. However, they are less than helpful and in fact bring even more confusion to the mystery of Lamb’s whereabouts. Through many twists and turns in the plot, Archer must find out where Lamb went and who killed the man found in her home. While doing his job, Archer is finding out how he really feels about Callahan and if they do indeed have a future as a couple. All that glitters is not gold in the movie world as Archer finds out. In fact, it has quite the dark side to it and if light were to shine, many a celebrity would be ruined. Archer doesn’t care to bring the light, just hopefully find Lamb alive and if possible, help someone out of a tight spot. With a web of mystery, murder and intrigue, Archer delves into the depravity with the hopes of living through a cesspool of villains out to protect their evil empire no matter the cost. I enjoyed reading another Archer tale though some of the aspects of the book were unnecessary additions to the story line. The author weaves an intriguing mystery that leaves readers turning pages until the “who done it” is revealed. The ending of the book leaves me wondering if this is the end of the Archer series as loose ends from previous books seemed to be tied up quite nicely. I thought the author did a great job of taking his audience back into the 1950s era, which was a nice change from other books he has written. I look forward to the other books coming out this year by Baldacci: The 6:20 Man in July 2022, followed by Long Shadows in October.

DB created a strong character in Archer. The movement between characters was good. The pacing strong. I enjoyed the read as Archer narrowly escaped death a few times. My only negative is Liberty Callahan. Her insertion at times was a distraction to the plot. I think either having them get together or she being away on a shoot would have played better.

When I read the first Archer book ("One Good Deed"), I suspected that Mr. Baldacci watched every film noir movie produced from 1948 to 1952. The dialogue style from the movies was reproduced with care including every affectation those classics employed. Now with "Dream Town", Archer reaches the inevitable milieu of post WWII Hollywood and Philip Marlowe, Raymond Chandler's classic hard boiled PI. And if the style is comparable, Baldacci drops many homages to the genre and its practitioners. Just a couple to mention. Archer meets an up and coming screenwriter named Ross Chandler. Now during the early 1950s, Raymond Chandler was older and eminently successful screenwriter. Nonetheless, the play works. In another case, "Dream Town" has a character named Danny Mars, a not quite reference to Eddie Mars in Chandler's "The Big Sleep." I'm certain I missed many other of these "easter eggs" that Baldacci has planted. But as Jake Nichols might have said, "Forget it Archer, it's Chinatown." OK not Chandler but it just might have been.