The Devil and the Detective
- Publisher
- Coach House Books
- Initial publish date
- Mar 2013
- Subjects
- Literary, Canadian, Hard-Boiled
-
eBook
- ISBN
- 9781770563353
- Publish Date
- Mar 2013
Library Ordering Options
Description
Robert James, a private detective more interested in chronicling his cases than solving them, gets a midnight call from a young woman whose older husband has been found with a knife in his chest. Murder, corruption, and betrayal ensue as he's drawn into the dark underworld of his client, but hapless Robert and his sidekick, a flower-delivery guy, can't stop drinking, smoking, and philosophizing long enough to keep up. Imagine The Big Sleep via Fernando Pessoa, with a side of Buster Keaton.
'Goldbach's touch is light and his narrative momentum is fierce.'
– Globe and Mail
'Told in a sort of punchÂ?drunk, slapstick stream that melds dreams, misperception and dialogue, the story has undeniable momentum, even as it veers persistently and amusingly off course. [Four stars]'
– Timeout Chicago
About the author
John Goldbach is the author of The Devil and the Detective, a novel, and Selected Blackouts, a story collection.