Drop Dead, My Lovely. By Ellis Weiner

Drop Dead, My Lovely

Ellis Weiner

Published by New American Library, 2004

A reverent spoof of the hard-boiled American detective novels (Raymond Chandler, Dashiel Hammett, Ross MacDonald, Mickey Spillane...). Set in 2004, its hero, Pete Ingalls is a employee in a bookshop when a box full of detective novels falls on his head, and rearranges his brain. He comes out of a coma having forgotten everything that happened before, and thinking himself a detective. He gets the costume (fedora, greatcoat), the habits (drinking, smoking, wise-cracking), a seedy office, the language, and a receptionist, who's temping while she auditions for the stage. He gets a couple of cases which he simultaneously follows (sometimes making it difficult for the reader to keep track of what's happening, but it doesn't matter). He 'solves' one of the cases, thanks mainly to the actual detective work done by his assistant. The novel is written in the first person, like all the originals are, and Weiner works hard to project a crazy guy making like a cynical, world-weary flatfoot, and succeeds rather. There are several  references to the originals throughout the novel, coming mainly from the other characters who are chiefly amused by Ingalls' actions and dialogue. The novel however is on the whole not a great read, but mildly readable if you have read and are fan of the originals (as I am).