The notes referred to Jonathan Ames’ detective novel, A Man Named Doll, as quirky and “deliciously noir”. Quirky, maybe. It seemed a little too dependent on old tropes. Stolen kidneys? Really? Ames is the creator of two television shows, Bored to Death and Blunt Talk. I would have expected better.
Happy Doll is a PI and former LAPD cop. With that first name, he goes by Hank. He already considers himself nuts, but it gets worse when a friend who once saved his life, Lou Shelton, asks him for a kidney.
Hank is reluctant to give up a kidney until he’s involved in an incident at the Thai Miracle Spa where he works security. When one of the women is assaulted by a hulking customer, high on meth, Hank tries to intervene. The man attacks Doll with a knife, and Hank is forced to kill him, but not before Hank himself is injured.
By the next time Hank sees Lou, Lou’s dying. He’s been shot, and he leaves Hank with a diamond. However, Hank only makes things worse, taking drugs on top of the pain killers. Then he tries to trail the gunmen who shot Lou, but screws everything up.
Happy Doll just isn’t my kind of PI. If you’re interested in a dark novel featuring a messed-up PI, high on drugs, who endangers himself, his dog, and a bartender with every stupid action, you might want to try A Man Named Doll.
A Man Named Doll by Jonathan Ames. Mulholland Books, 2021. ISBN 9780316703659 (hardcover), 224p.
FTC Full Disclosure – I read a .PDF for a journal.
OK, I pass. And Happy Doll is a stupid name.
You’re right. I thought that, too. Jeff.
Happy Doll should have been a hooker who became a cop, slept with a supervisor who wrecked her career, and became a private investigator. I have no idea what one does with stolen kidneys. I thought we had all agreed in the 2015 Plotting Conference that it was done to death and had been retired in favor of stolen eyeballs to work optical readers.
I agree with you, Kevin! You’re right – that should have been Happy Doll. And, they also need to add drug cartels and sex trafficking to the done to death plots.
I love Kevin’s synopsis…this is not one for me either…
Wasn’t it fun, Gram? I agree.