Note: I received a complimentary copy of the book from the author’s publicist.
Spoilers!
I love a good crime novel, where the nuts and bolts of the plot clink together in harmony as the story progresses. Ed Duncan’s 2016 book, Pigeon-Blood Red, which is the first in a trilogy, is one such crime novel. Centered around the search for a rare pigeon-blood red ruby necklace, likely priceless, Pigeon-Blood Red features an assassin with a modicum of a conscience, a lawyer with a surprising subtle steely resolve, and a woman on the precipice of a necessary divorce in the middle of it all. The book is told in three parts and each subsequent part builds upon the last, with a flare and flow that kept me reading. Indeed, Duncan excels most at bringing all these pieces together to a satisfying conclusion.
Rico, whose name is Richard but Puerto Rican kids from the neighborhood he came from called him Rico and it suck, is the assassin. He has familiar rules with a twist: he never kills children and he will only kill a woman, if it has to be done. He works for a loan shark, Litvak, who has a smaller bite than his criminal occupation indicates. Which is to say he’s ruthless, but his “shark” is Rico. Robert is an insatiable gambler and womanizer, despite being married to an accomplished and beautiful woman named Evelyn. To get himself out of his horseracing debt, Robert took a loan from Litvak. Then more and more. When he couldn’t pony up (see what I did there?) his outstanding debt to Litvak, Litvak was ready to call in his shark. Robert, the smooth talker that he is, talked his way out of it and bought himself more time. As Rico is dropping him off, Robert lucks into Litvak’s rare, priceless pigeon-red ruby necklace that Rico’s partner-in-crime, Jerry, dropped from his pocket. Naturally, Robert absconds with it.
Since their marriage is on the rocks, Evelyn decides to take a solo “second honeymoon” to Honolulu. Her somewhat friend, more like colleague and acquaintance, Rachel, acquiesces and goes with her in Robert’s place. Robert, in a misguided bid to save his marriage (although I’m skeptical of that intention), heads to Honolulu with the necklace. That sets off the chase: Rico, on the orders of Litvak, follows Robert to paradise to unleash hell.
As it turns out, not only is Robert a womanizer, but he’s womanizing with Rachel. That was a fun twist Duncan put in to the plot, which served as a way for mixing up, as it were, who is Robert’s wife and would be dawning the necklace in question when Rico came calling. Rachel is ready to leave everything behind for Robert, and with the necklace, of course. But before all that can transpire, there’s another new wrinkle added to the Honolulu saga, and that’s Paul. Paul’s introduction into the story is when Pigeon-Blood Red really kicked into another gear for me; I loved Paul. He’s the aforementioned lawyer, who has always been able to handle himself in physical confrontations, and certainly, to be a lawyer, one needs a measure of calm comportment before often surly judges, opposing counsels, and witnesses. Unfortunately for Paul, his wife is killed by a drunk driver when they’re out jogging one night. Paul exercises his grief at the shooting range — a nice Chekhov’s gun moment from Duncan that only clicked for me much later in the story! A year after the wife’s death, Paul decides to go to … Honolulu! There, we learn he has a past with Evelyn; they briefly dated in college. So, in an awkward reunion and semi-double date/set-up, the foursome — yes, including Robert — go to a local luau. Rico is right there, though, with a rifle ready to take action. He has a photo from Robert’s apartment of him with Rachel, not Evelyn, and he saw Rachel wearing the necklace. He executes Robert on the spot, quickly followed by Rachel. Holy hell indeed! I loved how brazen Rico was as an assassin. He could have waited and executed them quietly in the dark of their hotel rooms. Instead, he does it in public with many potential witnesses.
That bloody action initiates the second chase of the book: Rico after Evelyn and Paul to reclaim the necklace. Obviously, Rico, who searched Rachel’s body after killing her, didn’t find the necklace and quickly put together that he didn’t kill Robert’s wife, but may have nevertheless killed the subject of Litvak’s ire. Evelyn and Paul prove appropriately paranoid and capable to stay ahead of Rico, switching hotel room after hotel room and then making it back to Chicago, their respective home. I like how smartly Duncan wrote them. Boldly, they go directly to Litvak to give him back the necklace, where Paul, in a defensive skirmish, even bloodies Litvak’s nose. The coward then tries to have Rico murder Evelyn and Paul, despite having the necklace.
Meanwhile, a subplot that’s necessary to mention is unfurling throughout the chase for and the violence around the necklace. Rico has a girlfriend, Jean, who is a sex worker. Archie, one of her “johns,” gets too aggressive in front of Rico and Rico promptly kills him. To be fair, or at least as Rico would rationalize, Archie was reaching for a weapon. (We also later learn Archie is a scumbag.) Archie’s brother, Ray, who always defended his brother, quite literally in pulling him out of potentially deadly spots, is out for revenge against Rico. He even kills Jerry in his bid for revenge.
In the second staging spot where all the pieces come together, like in Honolulu, but which serves as the book’s climax, Evelyn and Paul meet at a restaurant, which Rico has followed them to, with Ray behind him. Rico doesn’t want to kill Evelyn and Paul because he feels like the matter is settled. Litvak, though, threatened to kill Jean if he didn’t. Paul is carrying, and when he comes out of the bathroom, he sees Ray aiming his gun on what appears to be Evelyn (of course, he’s actually aiming for Rico). Paul assumes it’s the Honolulu assassin and shoots Ray dead. Still, Ray is able to shoot Rico once, but it’s only a flesh wound. Rico essentially confirms to Evelyn and Paul that their business is settled, especially because Paul saved Rico’s life.
Rico then meets up with Litvak and informs him of the same. Litvak thinks he has the upper hand by having his other heavy, Mickey, at Jean’s house prepared to kill her on his say. Instead, Rico is once again a step ahead, having killed Mickey earlier in the night. He shoots Litvak dead.
The book then ends on a sweet note of Evelyn and Paul seeming to rechristen their courtship of each other.
Duncan put together a compelling, tantalizing crime book that stretched from Chicago to Honolulu and back again, with believable, smart characters. I look forward to reading the other two books in the series! I hope this isn’t the last of Paul, either. What a great character.
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