Book Review: Blues in the Dark by J.R. Sanders (Nate Ross #5)

Stars: 5 out of 5

Pros: Nate solving another fun case in 1930’s Los Angeles

Cons: All cons left in the dark

The Bottom Line:

Kidnapped young woman

Nate in race to rescue her

Series always fun

Trying to Find a Kidnap Victim

I’ve really come to enjoy the Nate Ross series from J.R. Sanders, so a new book is always a reason to celebrate.  While it’s been out for a couple of months, I read Blues in the Dark as soon as I got my hands on a copy.

Nate is a private investigator in 1930’s Los Angeles.  While movies are the big business, he has no use for it and tries to avoid them at all costs.  This particular book is set in 1939, and Nate finds himself once again drawn into the world of Hollywood.

You see, Nate’s client is Audrey Chase, one of the biggest movie stars.  Her sister has been kidnapped, and the ransom demand is small.  Audrey paid it, but her sister wasn’t returned as promised, and now she wants Nate to find her sister and return her safely.  Given that this is Hollywood, Nate is wondering if this is more of a publicity stunt than a real crime, but the pay is good, so he takes the case.  He quickly finds that, if he gets it wrong, this case will have deadly consequences.  Can he figure out what is really going on?

While I haven’t read a ton of the PI novels of the late 1930’s, this feels like it would fit into that tradition quite nicely.  No, this isn’t a cozy, but it keeps things fairly clean, which I appreciate.

While the book doesn’t have a ton of supporting characters, we have a few recurring ones.  I enjoyed seeing them again.  And, of course, Nate is a fun character to follow around as always.  We get some interesting new characters that kept me engaged as the story unfolded.

And the mystery itself?  It’s strong.  It’s the main focus of the book, and it has more than enough action to keep us engaged the entire way through.  I couldn’t wait to see exactly what was going on and how Nate was going to figure things out.  Yet, when we reached the end, everything made sense.

Other books in the series have delved a bit more into the world of the Hollywood studios of the era than this one did even with a movie star client.  I did feel like I was transported to the Los Angeles of the 1930’s, which I always find fun when I pick up one of these books.

Blues in the Dark is another fast, fun read with a great historical backdrop.  Now comes to wait for Nate’s next case.

Here are the rest of the Nate Ross Novels.