Dark Side of the Morgue

by Raymond Benson

Someone?s killing rock musicians in Chicago and leaving a digital tape at the scene of the crimes?recorded by a singer/groupie who?s been dead since the late sixties. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0843961988
• ISBN13: 9780843961980
• Release Date: January 2009
• Publisher: Leisure Books
• Length: 305 Pages
• Weight: 0.35 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 4.2" x 6.7"

Customer Reviews

Another great slice of Spike!

Noted author Raymond Benson (James Bond and others) gives us another supremely entertaining rock & roll thriller with private investigator Spike Berenger. This second installment (after "A Hard Day's Death") takes Spike and his partner/ex-girlfriend Suzanne to Chicago to investigate current day crimes that are connected to events that occurred over 30 years ago. Along the way he visits real clubs such as Schuba's, Martyr's, and Reggie's along with numerous Chicago settings. Naturally it is another page-turner (I finished it within 8 hours of buying it!) and it hurtles toward a wild climax at a concert at the Park West. As with many mysteries, there are always a few unexpected twists and turns at the end, and this book certainly takes a twisted turn! It is a great inexpensive gift for others, and is a "must" in particular for any fans of progressive rock since he name-checks everyone from Gentle Giant to Hatfield and the North! Highly recommended.

Fascinating blend of music and mystery

Oddly enough, I got this book because I'm excited about an upcoming book. Raymond Benson is one of six authors tapped to write for the newest venture from Hard Case Crime founder Charles Ardai: pulp adventure novels in the old style featuring a new character, Gabriel Hunt. I've been highly anticipating this series since it was first announced because the other five authors (Ardai himself, David J. Schow, Christa Faust, James Reasoner, and Nicholas Kaufmann) have proven themselves to be quite skilled at fast-paced narratives. Benson is the only one I'd not read before, so when I saw that his second Spike Berenger novel, Dark Side of the Morgue was available, I leapt. Part of the attraction came from the concept of a rock and roll P.I. Spike Berenger used to be in a progressive rock band called The Fixers, but they didn't last long (though they still have some devoted fans). Now Berenger and his partner Rudy Bishop run Rockin' Security, a service for the music industry. Berenger also has his private investigator's license because it sometimes helps with business. Suzanne Prescott, a former Goth devotee now into Transcendental Meditation (T.M.) and martial arts, is his investigation partner. A blonde wearing sunglasses and a big, floppy hat has been killing members of Chicago's prog-rock scene (known locally as "Chicagoprog"), and Zach Garriott (guitarist and vocalist for the seminal bands North Side and Red Skyez, but gone solo since 1980) wants Berenger's help finding the suspect -- he's on the list. The trouble is, the main suspect is Sylvia Favero, and she's been dead since 1970. Berenger, a little bored with his current caseload involving Iggy Pop's dogs and Debbie Harry's landlord, decides to take the case, partly because he's friends and former colleagues with many of the participants. Here, Benson's knowledge of the prog-rock industry serves him well (he wrote The Pocket Guide to Jethro Tull and is himself a composer and songwriter). After a long exposition introducing character relationships and band histories, Benson's feel for the high points brings authenticity to the story and never feels just like some guy trying to write a rock novel. (A Chicagoprog "family tree" at the front of the book is great for reference, and the table of contents is actually a "track listing" of song titles.) Dark Side of the Morgue is funny, disturbing, and filled with deep knowledge of the music industry and abnormal psychology, all combined to make a really terrific read that I wanted to pick up whenever I had a free moment. It is assembled from P.I./thriller tropes we've seen many times before, but Benson has put them together in a way that feels fresh and original, and results in the reader responding to them as if they were brand new (a skill no doubt useful in his upcoming Gabriel Hunt novel, Hunt through Napoleon's Web). Also speaking well of his skill at adventure, Benson is the author of six recent original novels featuring Ian Fleming's James B

A rock-n-roll thriller

If you love old-time Rock `N' Roll, and you love a good "who-dun-it," then I've got just the book for you. Raymond Benson, the official author of the James Bond novels from 1999-2003, has written the second book in the Spike Berenger Rock `N' Roll "Hits" series. "Dark Side of the Morgue" will keep you spell-bound from page one, as Spike, a former rock band member turned PI, travels to Chicago to solve the mystery of who's killing members of progressive rock bands in the city. Not only does he write a good mystery, but Raymond Benson also packs his novel full of Rock `N' Roll trivia, dropping names and dates like a pro. I haven't read the first Spike Berenger book, "A Hard Day's Death," but I look forward to doing so. If it's anything like this sequel, I'm sure I will enjoy it, too. 5 stars.

The phrase "bad guy" is twisted in many ways here

This book is another in that short list that leaves me listless, not directly due to reading it but due to the sleep I lost staying up much too late with it open and eighteen inches from my nose. It is a murder mystery with an exotic twist where the "bad guy" seems obvious but that is just another delusion associated with the story. Musicians in lesser-known rock bands with ties to the Chicago area are being systematically killed and there is a common tie between all the victims. All had intimate dealings with a female aspiring musician that was the primary supplier of drugs and sex for the bands. In desperation, one of the obvious next targets contacts ex-musician Spike Berenger asking for his assistance. Since he left the active music business, Spike has become a private investigator and his company provides security for musicians and at their concerts. Spike agrees to take the job and flies to Chicago with his business partner Suzanne and when they get there the story they hear is amazing. The common story among all the probable next targets is that the killer is a blonde-haired female wearing a floppy hippy-style hat of the late sixties. That description fits the groupie that vanished without a trace three decades earlier. At first, Spike and Suzanne are powerless to stop the killer, yet they know that there is an important point of fact that is being withheld by the next victims. In this story, Benson demonstrates once again that he is a master storyteller, the presentation is crisp and the outlier elements of the plot are fundamental to the story rather than distractions. I opened this book in the early evening and did not put it down for over 200 pages. The identity of the killer gives new meaning to the phrase "bad guy."

Smart and Hard-Edged

Someone is methodically hunting the stalwarts of Chicago's progressive rock underground and killing them, execution style. So the mystery begins: you mean to say people still listen to prog rock? Now there's a whodunit worth investigating! Raymond Benson provides an interesting PI in Spike Berenger: ex-military lawman, ex-rock star in waiting, now chief of a tour security firm. Like the best detectives, he's damaged goods incarnate. Benson is a veteran of James Bond and Tom Clancy franchises, as well as a musician and music journalist. Between the two, his immersion in crime and the music milieu is powerful without hitting readers over the head. I admit being jaded with crime fiction. I'm the guy who names the guilty party fifteen minutes into an episode of CSI, and three times out of four I'm right. So it felt good when I thought I'd sewn up the story a hundred pages in, and found I was wrong. That means Benson is thinking hard enough to keep readers on our toes. It's also good to see Benson break the crinkum crankum "rules" dominating the genre. No one saves the metaphorical puppy in Act II. The mystery doesn't tie itself up with a neat bow; our author expects readers to be smarter and harder-edged than that. I respect this. The last two chapters disappoint. With the mystery concluded, we get a Jessica Fletcher denouement and a scene of our detective at home, displaying how his personal damage is still in force. This feels like falling off, like a whimper. These characters and this situation deserve better. But most of the book is intense, nail-biting crime thriller. For fans of detective pulp, especially fans like me who've grown a shell over our hearts, this book reminds us why we read this fiction. It's smart and challenging without being pretentious. And it's heaping piles of double barrel fun.