Review: Howling in the Park by Mark Orr

Title: Howling in the Park
Author: Mark Orr
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Grade A-

Synopsis: Nashville private investigator Harvey Drago isn’t your typical P.I. He’s been involved in a large number of cases involving things supernatural. And now he’s being hired by Sonia Cheryl, whose daughter was killed by something very distinctly not human. And as Harvey investigates, he begins to unearth some secrets that could put everyone in his life in danger.

My Thoughts: I’m not sure that this is going to be one of the better reviews I’ve ever written, because, well, I know the author, have met most of these characters before, and have some definite opinions about many of them. But I’ll try my best.

Given the grade, I obviously liked this a lot. Though I haven’t read Raymond Chandler, Dashiel Hammet or any other hard-boiled pulpy detective novelists, I do like the style. I especially like that sort of mystery when juxtaposed with SF or fantasy, hence the fact that Jim Butcher was another really good discovery for me. Orr manages to do the style justice. And though I haven’t read much mystery, I was engaged from start to finish.

Orr has a wonderful writing voice. Even though I was reading my ebook with a synthesized voice, I had no trouble picturing the way Harvey would talk without the author having to go to letter by letter recreation of local dialect.

As for the characters? There are definitely some intriguing ones. Harvey himself is kind of a cypher here, and I found myself with lots of questions about his past, his family, and some of the other cases he’s worked. We also meet a down on his luck alcoholic former history professor, a blind coffee house owner (it should be noted here that this really minor character worked well enough for me that I wasn’t even tempted to nitpick, even a little bit) and Big Stoop, a big hulking brute of a man with a mysterious past. (Big Stoop is a character I’ve met before in some of Mark’s other writing, and I love him to distraction, but there’s really not enough of him here except a few tantalizing glimpses, so I’m not sure other people will really get why this is.)

The humor in this story works well for me, too. It’s not in your face slapstick, but there’s a wry wit here that had me laughing out loud quite a bit.

Quibbles? I was left a bit cold at the romance, because I didn’t think there was much chemistry between Harvey and his love interest. There was, however, chemistry in spaids between Harvey and another secondary character, which I would have liked to see more of.

Would I recommend this book? Most definitely. And it’s on sale through fictionwise, so it won’t break the bank.