The Heart of
Darkness Club (Light Literary Mystery)
By Gary
Reilly
ISBN
#978-0984786023
Running Motor
Press
Price $14.95
200 Pages
Rating 5
Stars
“A Philosophical
Romp”
After two
years in the Army, Brandon Aloysius Murphy, known as Murph to everyone,
struggled through seven year of college, and ended up driving a taxi in Denver.
Murph has two ambitions, driving a taxi and writing the Great American Novel.
Well, maybe three, but Mary Margaret Flaherty rejected his marriage proposal.
So he lives alone in the Crow’s Nest apartment, eats hamburgers and Twinkies
and drives his cab.
Cab drivers
have several rules, and one of them is to never become involved with their
passengers. Murph has a habit of
breaking those rules sometimes, though maybe not intentionally. In The Heart of
Darkness Club, he picks up Horace Trowbridge, a man who appears down on his
luck, but tips with five-dollar bills. Phrases in correct grammar are written
on them. As an English Major in college, Murph’s interest is peaked. Several times he encounters Trowbridge, then
the man comes up missing, and Murph may have been the last person to see him –
alive. The police suspect foul play, and Murph is their main suspect.
For insight
into the author’s writing, Gary Reilly speaks through Murph’s thoughts: “I
would rather read William Faulkner than Mickey Spillane.” Yes, there is the
mystery of the missing person in this case, but we don’t see the hardboiled
mystery thrillers readers may expect. The story is light-hearted. Murph
considers everything about his daily activity with a philosophical viewpoint,
analyzing every situation he encounters. Readers looking for action thrillers
will be disappointed, but anyone wishing a well-crafted story, well written,
and entertaining, look no further than The Asphalt Warrior series by Gary
Reilly. The Heart of Darkness Club is the third in this series, and its
literary appeal will pull you into Murph’s little every day mysteries. I
thoroughly enjoyed the read.
Tom Johnson
Detective
Mystery Magazine
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