A very silly story. Which is to say, I liked it. ( )

I am struggeling with the writing style ( )

I'm embarrassed to admit it's been a few years since I'd read any of Moore's books (Lamb was a yearly read for me once upon a time). Noir is an engaging period peace that, while it doesn't overstay its welcome I still feel could have been a little longer? Part of the fun is the unanswered questions, sure, but then I suppose we're meant to draw some of that from either our own knowledge of history or left as an exercise for our imaginations. Moore is always a solid bet. ( )

Lots of plot twists wrapped in fun dialogue and narration. I immediately got the sequel, Razzmatazz. ( )

3.25 stars

Sammy is a bartender in 1947 San Francisco. Right around the time he starts dating a beautiful “broad” (her name is Stilton, like the cheese, so he nicknames her “The Cheese”), he also finds his boss dead in the back room. In addition to this, the book includes kidnappings, a snake (and there’s more I’m forgetting).

I was listening to the audio and I did miss portions of the book, though I managed to take in the major events of the book. I liked the POV of the snake the couple of times we got that. I gave an extra ¼ star (my usual) for the very good audio with the accents. The phrases and vocabulary was pretty fun, too. Moore’s trademark is humour, so of course, there was a bit of that, too. Moore also had a brief afterward where he talked about where he got the idea for the book, how that went a bit sideways, and the real places that made it into the book. I still think he writes really good historical fiction and this fit the bill for that, too (like with “Lamb”). ( )