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The Blue Door - David Fulmer

Here's another novel proving that private eye novels have not yet reached their sell-by date. Perhaps it's because the fag-end of the Bush era has beckoned private investigations of a particular kind? Moreover, if one's apprehensive about private eye novels, that must go double for private eye novels concerning music. Many have attempted them, but few have been altogether convincing. All of which is a roundabout way of saying I was doubly pleased to happen upon the work of David Fulmer. His latest is The Blue Door. While his earlier books- Chasing the Devil's Tail (a Shamus winner for best first p.i. novel), Rampart Street, Jass and The Dying Crapshooter's Blues- dealt with jazz and blues, The Blue Door centres on the Philadelphia rhythm and blues scene just before the British invasion, and could be described as old-school in that it centres on character as much as plot, and all the better for it. Not that there's anything retro here. Taking place in the present, The Blue Door centres on Eddie Cero, a washed-up boxer who, after suffering an injury during a fight, takes a job as a private eye. While tracking down the usual fare, he decides to investigate the death of a singer from the early 1960s who led a quartet that Eddie liked, and whose sister works in a nearby bar. Nothing groundbreaking, just sharp writing, a good ear, and a wonderful eye for detail. Particularly when it comes to the soul scene of the early 1960s, and what becomes of those who didn't quite make it, and the reasons for their failure. Certainly anyone who loves African-American music as well as private eye fiction will want to read not only The Blue Door, but Fulmer's other equally impressive novels.

Woody Haut

The Blue Door - David Fulmer

Harcourt, 0151011818, £17.99 (available now)

Harvest Books 9780156031264 £7.99 (available Sep. '08)