Sayonaraville

SAYONARAVILLE: Curt Colbert: UglyTown: fiction: 287 pages

Curt Colbert is back with his second “Jake Rossiter & Miss Jenkins mystery” novel: Sayonaraville (Rat City was his first, published in 2001). Set in post-WWII Seattle, this short, fast-reading story involves the mysterious death of an insurance salesman (decapitated by a Samurai sword) and a Japanese family fighting an insurance company over the arson and loss of their business.

Jake Rossiter is a smart, tough, hard-boiled detective whose secretary/partner, Miss Jenkins, aspires to become a private detective herself. Having fought the Japanese in the Pacific during WWII Jake has no particular inclination to take the case of the Hashimoto family but allows his partner to investigate. When Miss Jenkins life is threatened, Jake takes over the case.

An enjoyable yarn with a little grit, this should appeal to those with a penchant for private-eye detective stories.

SML