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Peter Spiegelman won the 2004 Shamus Award for Best First Novel with BLACK MAPS, which introduced not only Spiegelman but also his creation --- emotionally complicated New York City private investigator John March --- to the world. March is not cut from the rumpled knight-errant mold that most of his colleagues and peers, past and present, spring from. He is a bit of a fashion plate (without being metrosexual), he doesn't have to worry about money coming in (thanks to a trust fund), and his clients are more white shoe than downtrodden. On a crime fiction scale, March is closer to Amos Burke than Mike Hammer. Yet Spiegelman has somehow infused his narrative with an upper crust noir that is both credible and intriguing.
Spiegelman continues his March mythos with DEATH'S LITTLE HELPERS. March is retained to ascertain the whereabouts of one Gregory Danes, a Wall Street analyst whose television presence and reputation rose, and then fell, with the fortunes of the market. Danes, presently best known for his obnoxiousness and tenaciousness, has been attempting to restore his financial bona fides. When he suddenly disappears, it is noteworthy how few people notice and how even fewer care. It is Nina Sachs, Danes's ex-wife, who oddly enough retains March to find Danes. Her concern is ostensibly motivated by the sudden cessation of her alimony payments from Danes. Yet their already acrimonious relationship was further complicated by legal action Danes initiated against her, thus making it somewhat unlikely that she would care about Danes's unexpected disappearance.
March pursues a twisted trail that takes him from the boardrooms of Wall Street to the boiler rooms of New Jersey, yet every lead he follows raises more questions. He is disturbed to learn that someone else also appears to be pursuing Danes; given that Danes left tangled strings of deception, business betrayals and family difficulties in his wake, it is doubtful that March's opposite number wishes Danes, or March, well.
Meanwhile, March is dealing with the intricacies of his relationship with Jane Lu, his neighbor and lover, attempting to maintain a comfortable distance from long-term commitment while being inexorably drawn to it, even as his search for Danes moves toward an uncertain and potentially dangerous conclusion.
Throughout, Spiegelman creates a quiet cerebral tension that relies more upon drama than violence to propel the narrative. The man's powers of description are marvelous; while he does not infuse his narrative with the detail of a Faulkner or McCarthy, he will spend a page or so describing a room or a setting. Such a tendency in a lesser writer would bog down the narrative; Spiegelman, however, uses words as a painter uses a fine brush, providing details with a subtlety that entertains while it informs.
DEATH'S LITTLE HELPERS meets, and exceeds, the expectations created by BLACK MAPS. In the short space of two books, Spiegelman has made a place for himself on the A-list of writers of noir fiction. Highly recommended.
--- Reviewed by Joe Hartlaub
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