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Ash Levine was one of the best homicide detectives working for the LAPD when he gave up his job, consumed with guilt for failing to protect a witness in a case he was working on. Ever since, he's been trying to determine who murdered Latisha Patton, an endeavor which has gotten him nowhere. But then Pete Relovich, a legendary ex-cop, is killed; and Lieutenant Frank Duffy is being pressured to put the best detective he knows on the case. That happens to be Ash Levine, who finally agrees to come back after having been "retired' for a year. What isn't obvious is that Ash has agreed just so that he can have a chance to find Latisha's killer. He is warned not to continue that investigation, but Ash is one who does exactly what he wants. As he works on the Relovich case, he uncovers a lot of departmental dirty laundry, which he uses against those in power. Out of self interest, those individuals allow Ash to proceed however he wishes in his investigation. That is a very dangerous course to follow, as he has no one to call him on his own questionable behavior. Without supervision, he starts to become a vigilante cop, engaging in threatening others, breaking and entering, and so on. KIND OF BLUE was an intense book with an obsessive, somewhat arrogant, protagonist who was hard to like. It wasn't really obvious to me why Levine was so well regarded as a detective. He is a real loose cannon who abuses the law instead of enforcing it and thinks nothing of blackmailing his superiors to achieve his own ends. On the plus side, the book was well plotted. Corwin's own background as an LA Times crime reporter served him well in developing a gritty and believable narrative. Unfortunately, my negative reaction to Ash Levine made this book one that I found hard to like. § Formerly a training development manager for a large company, Maddy is now retired and continues to enable the addiction of crime fiction fans as owner of the online discussion group, 4 Mystery Addicts(4MA), while avidly reading in every possible free moment herself.
Reviewed by Maddy Van Hertbruggen, January 2011
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Contact: Yvonne Klein (ymk@reviewingtheevidence.com)
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