Dead and Not So Buried

“Mr. Conway’s Hollywood is alive with betrayal, greed, lust, and all the basilar passions that have typified Tinsel Town since the first silent film. His characters breathe on the page and are enlivened with emotions and desires that are nearly palpable. Add frequent plot twists that are capped by a satisfying ending, and you have a mystery novel of the hardboiled school that is sure to keep even the most ardent reader guessing.”

In his first outing as a novelist, James L. Conway demonstrates a familiarity with the genre and an adeptness at storytelling that nevertheless falters as often as it soars.

In Dead and Not so Buried, Mr. Conway begins with an intriguing premise: The body of former Hollywood starlet Christine Cole is kidnapped and ex-cop-turned-private-eye-turned novelist Gideon Kincaid is hired to investigate.

The expected PI humor is there—Kincaid refers to himself as “the Joseph Wambaugh of the PI set”—and the hardboiled edge first established by Hammett and Chandler is also evident. And like Chandler, Mr. Conway does a stellar job of creating the sense of place that typified the Philip Marlowe novels. Mr. Conway’s Hollywood is alive with betrayal, greed, lust, and all the basilar passions that have typified Tinsel Town since the first silent film. His characters breathe on the page and are enlivened with emotions and desires that are nearly palpable. Add frequent plot twists that are capped by a satisfying ending, and you have a mystery novel of the hardboiled school that is sure to keep even the most ardent reader guessing.

Unfortunately, Dead and Not so Buried has a major flaw of consistency that compromises its finer features.

Throughout the novel, character motivations and actions run the gamut from believable to absurd. For example, in one of the early scenes, Gideon Kincaid meets with the manager of the cemetery that previously held the body of Christine Cole. The manager is kind, pleasant, and accommodating, but as soon as his secretary leaves the room, he pulls a .45 semiautomatic from his desk and fires at Kincaid, convinced that the PI has stolen the former starlet’s body.

Believable? Hardly.

Then there is the inconsistent point of view. In one chapter Kincaid is telling the story in his first person point of view, but in the next the narrative switches to third person. This repetitive shifting is confusing at best and disrupts the reader’s sense of involvement with the story, relegating them from participant to observer.

Then, of course, there are the clichés that often plague PI novels such as ex-wives, old enemies, and dialogue that is often stilted. In one instance for example, Kincaid says, “Get that gun out of my face before I make you eat it.”

Really?

All in all, Dead and Not so Buried is an enjoyable story and showcases James Conway’s obvious talent. But the flaws are numerous and taint what could have been an otherwise excellent novel.