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The Hidden Assassinsby: Robert Wilson |
Mr. Paradiseby Elmore LeonardThere's no doubt that Elmore Leonard is a fine writer. In most of his books, he tends to choose characters with a quirky past, usually involving criminal activity, and tries his best to leave out anything a reader might skip over. In Mr. Paradise, Elmore Leonard is assuredly writing about what he knows best the city of Detroit and its inhabitants. It's very hard for me to review something I dislike, which includes cities like Detroit, African Americans who say 'bidness' when they mean 'business' and individuals who brag about the price of anything they put on their backs all of which are included in Mr. Paradise. However, there's no question that the story is intriguing, and will certainly have a great deal of appeal to Elmore Leonard fans!Mr. Paradise is actually Mr. Paradiso, a wealthy old man who lives in the Indian Village section of Detroit, in a big house with two African Americans at his beck and call; Montez is his chauffeur and general gofer, Lloyd is his cook and houseman. Both have former criminal records. Mr. Paradiso likes to watch old VHS Michigan football games on his TV. And even at eighty-something, he still enjoys having his current girlfriend, Chloe, come over and do a dirty take-off on the cheerleaders while he pauses the TV. Chloe dresses exactly for the part, complete with pom-poms except that she's topless, of course. Mr. Paradiso also pays her a consistent five thousand a week. Chloe, a very expensive whore when she's not with Mr. Paradiso, rooms with Kelly. Kelly makes a great deal less money but models for catalogs like Victoria's Secret and does the runway bit for haute couture instead of whoring. Chloe convinces Kelly to join her for her next cheerleading bit when Chloe's regular partner can't make it. Unfortunately, Chloe happens to be present with Mr. Paradiso when he's murdered by two paid hit men and since she's a witness, they shoot her too. Kelly sees the two white men from upstairs when she looks through the ballusters in the hall. Montez had been promised the Detroit house and everything in it by Mr. Paradiso, in spite of the fact that Mr. Paradiso's son, Tony Jr, would be apt to contest it. Mr. Paradiso had also left something for Chloe in a bank strongbox, so that nobody would know anything about it except Montez, who had the key. Then Montez happens to mouth off to Paradiso, which makes Paradiso decide to leave his house to Allegra, his daughter, instead. Montez then approaches a bent lawyer named Avern, who runs a hitman business and is likely to know people who want it done. He has Carl Fontana and Art Krupa on his payroll two blue collar types who always work together. These are the two who murder Paradiso and Chloe. What Montez didn't realize was that the regular cheerleader night had been changed because of Kelly having a modeling engagement. so Chloe was present with the old man when she shouldn't have been. Frank Delsa is the acting lieutenant of Squad Seven, Homicide Section of the Detroit Police Department. He's been widowed for a year, and when he goes to investigate the murders of Paradiso and Chloe, he falls for Kelly. Others are involved in the story, of course. There's Jerome, a young black man known as Three-J, acting as Delsa's Confidential Informant, Wendell Robinson, Delsa's superior, Sergeant Jackie Michaels, plus a man named Orlando, who they all suspect murdered three men found in the basement of a torched house. When Delsa at last is able to confront Carl, Art and Avern, it's because they've abducted Kelly. Montez and Lloyd are also present. Two of the men are wounded and one dies in the resultant meleι, and Mr. Paradise ends with Delsa and Kelly literally in paradise. Elmore Leonard has a number of well-deserved awards to his credit, as well as having movies and TV shows made from his work. In Mr. Paradise, his writing is vivid and amazingly realistic, bringing the inhabitants of Detroit compellingly to your attention. The ignorance, stupidity and blatant disrespect for law or human life is evident on nearly every page, as is the tough guy approach to keeping it all at a minimum. While I can't consider myself an Elmore Leonard fan, I can still recommend Mr. Paradise and the rest of his books to those who are! Alan Paul Curtis |
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