When I was growing up, I had two literary genre loves. I cut my teeth on the hard-boiled private eye fiction produced by Gold Medal, pulled to those books by the evocative covers drawn by Robert McGinnis (who could pass up scantily-clad women holding pistols?). I still pick up novels published by Hard Case Crime (www.hardcasecrime.com) because McGinnis is still out there drawing some of those covers.I also loved the world of science fiction. But I was torn, as most of us were in those days, between two polarities. Robert A. Heinlein wrote hard-edged science fiction that mostly came true over the next sixty years. Andre Norton wrote a more fanciful type of science fiction that didn’t mire itself in emerging technology or social stratification that could come about because of it. She just imagined wild and fun places to plunk her heroes down in and give them villains to defeat.

There was nothing like a hard-fisted private eye on the trail of a strong villain when rendered in the muscular prose of someone like Raymond Chandler or Dashiell Hammett. Also, there was nothing like sitting back envisioning future worlds built and peopled by gifted science fiction writers.

I would read books in one field, then switch over to books from the other field. During those days, it seemed like the two literary genres would never meet. At least not successfully.

After reading the description of KOP, Warren Hammond’s first novel, I knew I had to try it out. It had all the earmarks of the fiction I love to read in both fields.

The main character is Juno Mozambe, a corrupt cop that still has enough humanity about him to win over readers who are familiar with film noir. Juno could have stepped from one of those books or movies that came out when that top of tale was in its heyday. He’s a very complete character by those standards, and Hammond plays him fairly all the way down the line. In fact, that character could have been lifted from the book and thrown into Prohibition-era Chicago, Mafia-infested New York, or San Francisco’s Chinatown Tong stories and fit perfectly.

Juno has worked his way up through KOP (Koba Office of Police) by supporting and defending Paul Chang, who is the police chief. Chang taught Juno everything there was about corruption. Juno became a bag man for the police department, going to drug dealers and cathouses to collect bribe money.

But there’s currently a power struggle going on inside the upper echelons of the Koba society. This is usually the meat of any film noir story that involves political office, crime syndicates, and evolving economic problems.

Hammond brought Juno to life well. Within ten or fifteen pages, I felt I’d known the character all my life. He could’ve been one of the characters Humphrey Bogart would have played in the movies. But the reader isn’t bogged down with Juno’s backstory all it one time. Rather, that story seems to be sipped through very thin straw. Readers are only given enough about Juno to keep them interested and let them know the stakes that he’s playing for as the story develops.

The corruption is there. The political favors are there. The organized crime guys are there. This book doesn’t miss a beat when it comes to that tough guy image. It even pairs Juno with a young female rookie cop with something to prove to the world ala Dirty Harry.

Maggie Orzo is a young woman descended from the wealthiest families on Koba. She’s young and idealistic, but Juno also finds out that she will pursue her own ambitions and passions, which include being one of the best and highest-ranking policeman in the department. I think she’s a very impressive character and I can’t wait to see how Hammond treats her in the sequel coming out sometime next year. It’s supposed to be called Ex-KOP.

Hammond’s world, Koba, came to life for me in this book as well. I tried to imagine what it would be like to have a world constantly on the verge of being swallowed up by the jungle that fought to reclaim all the civilized areas every day. On Koba, there’s only five hours of sunlight followed by a twenty-two hours of night. The predominant life form on the planet tends to be reptilian and tropical. Hammond’s descriptions of an everyday life that includes street cleaners using flame throwers to torch creeping vegetation, stratified canopy life among the trees, and the Koba River that flows through everything anchored me to this world. By the time I’d finished reading the book, I felt like I’d actually gone to an alien world and spent hard time there.

The economic disparity between the haves and the have-nots addresses today’s world, but also any Third World nations struggling to simply survive. Past successes of the culture live on in the city, but the desperation of those who’ve never had that taste of success is palpable. These are the common threads that run through every culture in the world today, and that have ever existed. Hammond obviously loves writing about the ideology of economics and class struggle.

Although experienced readers probably won’t find anything new in this novel, it’s still an amazing read. I picked it up, turned through a few pages, and was walking a beat on alien turf with a damaged and paranoid police detective that I at first abhorred and later came to love and respect. KOP went down as smoothly as a cool drink on a hot, summer day, and it was filled with enough twists and turns to keep me on my toes throughout.

As stated, Hammond already has a second book in the series in the works. Personally, I can’t wait. Although the first book finished up all the plots that the author had shaken out, there are still yet a number of problems and character actions to work out. Not to mention, Hammond built the world big. There should be a lot more stories here to tell. I just hope he gets to tell them all.

Although Jane Graves is a local author and one whose name I’ve seen on several books, I had not yet read one of her novels. When I saw the cover of Hot Wheels and High Heels I was immediately intrigued. The back cover copy offered humor and a look at the life of a repo man. I figured if the romance didn’t hook me, I still had the adventures of stealing cars from people who didn’t want him stolen. These days the action in a romance novel can be top-rate.

I’m a big Stephanie Plum fan. I had the good fortune of discovering Janet Evanovitch’s books when the first one came out. So I was there at the beginning. I’m also a fan of some of the paranormal series that are out there. As a guy, I really don’t think that’s all that uncommon these days. Men read a lot of women writers. I still treasure my Robert B. Parker stuff, but I love the laughs and insights provided by the ladies. And some of them provide chills and thrills as well.

Back to Jane Graves. When I flipped open the book and began reading, I was immediately attracted to the ease with which the author puts words on the page. I was actually several pages into the story before I realized how much I’d read. The prose is effortless, and the characters are instantly unique and identifiable. Darcy McDaniel, the heroine, has got a real problem. While she was down in Mexico on vacation with a friend, her husband sold her house, emptied the bank accounts, and ran up the charge cards – then vanished. For the last fifteen years Darcy has been a trophy wife. She traded her good looks to a man old enough to her father for a lifestyle of malls, manicures, and personal trainers. Later in the novel you’ll find out more of her motivations for doing that.

I have to admit in the beginning I wasn’t very sympathetic toward Darcy. It wasn’t that I figured she got what she had coming to her, but I know other people who have much worse problems. Still, this is a huge problem for her.

Before she knows it, she’s back living with her parents in the same small, dingy trailer park that she’d grown up in. It was suddenly like the last fifteen years never existed. All she has left is her dog Pepe and her Mercedes, which had been at the airport awaiting her return.

Enter John Stark, ex-cop turned repossession agent. And this repo man has papers to reclaim Darcy’s beloved Mercedes. He’s strictly a no-nonsense kind of guy who gets the job done right the first time. Unfortunately, he’s never dealt with anyone like Darcy. She makes a fool of him and keeps the Mercedes. For a time. Then John returns with a truck and grabs the luxury vehicle with no problem.

As the fates conspire against them, as they are sometimes do in romance novels, Darcy gets under John’s skin and he inadvertently offers her the receptionist job at his agency. Darcy refuses to take it at first, but quickly finds that no one else will give her a job. John’s partner Tony holds John to his promise. Darcy starts to work, living hand-to-mouth.

Since this is a romance novel, the rest of the story about boy-gets-girl is predictable in many ways. However, Jane Graves keeps the story lighthearted, fun, and fast-paced. Despite the fact that I was certain I knew how the story would end up, I stayed glued to the pages – to the character development, to the dialogue, and to the rapid scenes.

That’s one of the best tricks the author pulled off in this book: there was honest character development. Darcy grew as a character. For me, she went from being grossly unlikable to sympathetic and admirable. The changes she made in the way she looked at the world, herself, her family, and in what she thought she wanted were all real. I’ve seen people make those same changes for a lot of the same reasons.

Maybe the plot is the same romance novel that has been told for years, but Jane Graves makes her characters come to life in ways that many romance novelists don’t. She makes the predictable a unique experience and worthwhile. Not only that, but her prose zings right along and readers will be at the end of the book before they know it.

As I said, this is my first Jane Graves book. But it won’t be my last. She set the bar high in this one. I want to look at earlier books and get the sequel to this one coming out next year when she finds the right woman for skirt-chasing Tony. Pick this one up, folks. For the beach or just for fun. It’s a good one.