#Blogtour An Honest Living by Dwyer Murphy

 It's my turn on the Blogtour An Honest Living by Dwyer Murphy.

About the Author

Dwyer Murphy is the editor-in-chief of Crime Reads, Literary Hub’s crime fiction vertical and the world’s most popular destination for thriller readers. He practised law at Debevoise and Plimpton in New York City, where he was alitigator, and served as editor of the Colombia Law Review. He was previously an Emerging Writer Fellow at the Centre for Fiction. Follow @DwyerMurphy on X.

About the book

Brooklyn, mid-2000s. After leaving behind the comforts of a prestigious law firm, a restless attorney attempts to make ends meet by picking up odd jobs from a colourful assortment of clients. When the mysterious Anna Reddick turns up at his apartment with ten thousand dollars in cash and asks him to track down her missing husband, he trusts it will be an easy case. 

That is until the real Anna Reddick shows up - a magnetic but unpredictable literary prodigy- and he finds himself out of his depth and drawn into a series of deceptions involving Joseph Conrad novels, unscrupulous booksellers and seedy real estate developers. Set against the tail end of the analogue era, An Honest Living is a gripping story of artistic ambition, obsession, and the small crimes we commit against one another every every day.

Review

It's gentle knock at the door, a reminder of a New York only some may recognise - it awakens a kind of familiarity, perhaps a certain element of nostalgia. Memories of faded experiences, less restricted coming together and an inclination to engage without thought.

The noirish vibe wanders hand in hand with a sharp tang of literary fiction, but is sometimes hampered by the instinctual need to outwit the viewer, dazzle the reader with facts, knowledge and shiny intellect. The result is that here and there some readers will leave the train early or find themselves stuck at a specific station stuck on a minor detail or the lack of one that is important to them.

In between jobs, the main character - a man of law - picks up what appears to be an easy task and a way to make a lot of money, but it actually turns out to be the foot in the door for trouble coming straight in his direction. He finds himself drawn into a world he can barely swim in, let alone survive successfully.

It's an interesting venture, possibly because it evokes a feeling of nostalgia for smoke filled rooms and crystal tumblers filled with booze that burns a hole in your throat. I enjoyed the oddly obsessive bookish element of the story - it's simultaneously obsessive, creepy and smacks equally of greed and possessiveness. It also captures the strange nature of the species called collector, although I have the greatest understanding when it comes to the elusive works of the literary world. 

Buy An Honest Living at Amazon Uk or go to Goodreads for any other retailer. Publisher: No Exit Press; pub date 01. January, 2024. Buy via Amazon com.