To me Cannell has a little fun with the mystery genre formula all while proving his mastery of it. ( )

This is the perfect example of a great read that is not even a very good book. It is a really simply an artfully patchwork of cliches. Stephen J. Cannell knew how to write a book that is a butter read - slick and caloric. I am still pissed at him for dying. Detective Shane Scully has a new partner who's a black guy interested in turning his police stories into movies. They stumble over a relatively minor case which - in the best cliche possible - uncovers a 30 year old closed case that needs reopening. Even with the long list of things that make a book not worthy, I enjoyed it to the end. ( )

Cannell introduces a layered mystery in which the main story is not even introduced until half way through the book and the prime suspect is not seen until close to the end. The story begins with Shane Scully and wife Alexis, chief of detectives, take a call while on their way home from a Christmas party. Two women and a man have been shot at a Christmas party at a deserted multi-million dollar mansion in the hills above Los Angeles. As they drive up the hills toward the crime scene numerous high-end autos speeding downhill away from the scene pass them. As the first responder, Alexis' department is assigned the case and she assigns Shane to investigate.

Cannell introduces a new character, Sumner "Hitch" Hitchens, in this novel. Hitch replaces Sally, Shane Scully's partner, who is taking a 6-month leave to care for an autistic child. Hitch is a dandy who dresses like a GQ model and drives a Porsche Carrera. He has a ton of money from selling a novelization of a previous case to Hollywood. He appears to be a lightweight who is disdainful of police procedure and refuses to take adult life seriously. Scully protests the assignment of Hitch as his partner but he is the only other detective unassigned with a partner. Two partners previously rejected him after a short trial him.

Hitchens is a clever invention by Cannell. It turns out there is an intelligent detective underlying the façade. He reminds me of detective John LaMoia, a character in Ridley Pearson's Lou Boldt series. Hitch outshines Scully in many respects. He anticipates the next step in the investigation as quickly as Scully but generally acts on it before Scully. Shane often begins to take the next step (e.g., obtaining evidence regarding a 25 year old murder-suicide) only to find out that Hitch has already obtained the evidence. When Shane is confronting an issue (e.g., trying to figure out how to get a search warrant for a property of interest), Hitch comes up with a quick and easy solution. Sumner is a larger than life, painted in broad strokes, but fun. It would have been interesting to see if Cannell had pursued the Hitch character in a future series of novels if he had lived. As an aside, I think Pearson failed to realize the potential of a series based on the LaMoia character.

Scully and Hitch quickly solve the triple homicide but in clearing up loose ends they discover evidence pertaining to two other investigations. One is a cold case involving an armored car robbery over 25 years ago and the other is a double murder and suicide that was quickly closed because of political pressure a couple of years before the robbery.

This is an enjoyable rebound from the two previous Shane Scully novels. I read many of the earlier novels in this series years ago and cannot recall them with sufficient clarity to comment. Recently I picked it up again with Three Shirt Deal which is quite good. On The Grind and The Pallbearers are disappointing but The Prostitute's Ball is on a par with Three Shirt Deal. ( )

Not worth the late fine at the library. ( )

I have been reading the Shane Scully series for many years, so it was hard to read this book knowing there would only be one more book. I love the way Stephen J. Cannell has written Shane's character. We have seen him evolve over time. I enjoyed the interaction with his new partner Hitchens. Just started listening to the last book Vigilante. ( )