The Impact Review: 'Corpses Say...'

Corpses Say the Darndest Things - A Nod Blake Mystery

Doug Lamoreux (Independent Author)

Paperback £6.23

Kindle £1.93

Available Now...

Nod “Just Blake” Blake is a private detective. He is an older man, a private dick whose better days are behind him.  He lives in Chicago, Illinois and the story is set in 1979. His secretary accepts what appears, on the surface, to be a simple job; Blake is to keep an eye on the wife of an out-of-town televangelist (one Reverend Delp of the Temple of Majesty Church) until she goes to sleep. He uncovers an affair between the reverend’s wife Katherine and a former employee. Murder and mayhem ensue. For whatever reason, probably too many knocks on his noggin, Blake begins to experience visions. At first, the victims ask for help. These “psychic” experiences grow in intensity; Blake finds himself experiencing the pain felt by the victims. Can he solve the case before it kills him?

The character of Nod Blake is reminiscent of Nero Wolfe’s sidekick Archie Goodwin. While Blake isn’t nearly as girl-crazy in general, the two characters share a wise guy sense of humor that do not amuse law enforcement. Being a fan of the Nero Wolfe novels, I enjoyed the character of Blake very much. I can imagine that Goodwin would be very similar to Blake at Blake’s age. Don’t get me wrong; they are two vastly different characters, but author Lamoreux has captured the essence of a detective from that era.

We didn’t learn a lot about Blake’s secretary other than her name and that she eats all the time. I’d like to see her character more fully developed in any upcoming novels; it’s quite obvious that Blake would fall apart without her. Secondly, the running joke of “Who do you think you are... (insert celebrity name)' was overused. I like reappearing gags; they do help tie a book together. But in this case, it could have been used a bit more sparingly. The sudden induction of visions in a non-psychic didn’t make a lot of sense to me, but once I accepted that they just “were” I enjoyed the book much more.

I was quite taken with the book; the pacing was pretty even and as I have stated, I like the main character. Lamoreux is a clever writer and quite funny. He manages to combine humor with a very grisly murder mystery in an engaging manner. Considering the nature of the crimes, the combination shouldn’t have worked but it did. I’d be happy to read more Nod Blake mysteries - I’d have liked this one to be a bit longer. I believe the author has found his genre.