Review: The Fame Thief by Timothy Hallinan

A Mysterious Review of The Fame Thief by Timothy Hallinan. A Junior Bender Mystery.

Review summary: The highlight of this novel, indeed of the series as a whole, is the character of Junior Bender, whose view of the world is slightly shaded by his profession, a master thief who works for other criminals (or those inclined to be), a rather unique and unusual character worth following even if what he's investigating isn't necessarily all that interesting. (Click here for text of full review.)

Our rating:

The Fame Thief
Timothy Hallinan
A Junior Bender Mystery
Soho Crime (July 2013)

Publisher synopsis: There are not many people brave enough to say no to Irwin Dressler, Hollywood's scariest mob boss-turned-movie king. Even though Dressler is ninety-three years old, LA burglar Junior Bender is quaking in his boots when Dressler's henchman haul him in for a meeting. Dressler wants Junior to solve a "crime" he believes was committed more than sixty years ago, when an old friend of his, once-famous starlet Dolores La Marr, had her career destroyed after compromising photos were taken of her at a Las Vegas party. Dressler wants justice for Dolores and the shining career she never had.

Junior can't help but think the whole thing is a little crazy. After all, it's been seventy years. Even if someone did set Dolores up for a fall from grace back then, they're probably long dead now. But he can't say no to Irwin Dressler (no one can, really). So he starts digging. And what he finds is that some vendettas never die — they only get more dangerous.