When Ernie Politics is brutally murdered his best friend Ray Cobb sets out to discover why, no matter the cost.
There's something about Noir that both draws me in and repells me, largely because the genre is so heavily punctuated with code and convention that it's incredibly difficult to pull together a Noir story that's fitting or the genre yet original enough to merit spending the time reading it. THE LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT OF ERNIE POLITICS is an excellent example of why it's always important to take the risk and read it anyway.
Not only does it have an fascinating contemporary lead detective in Ray Cobb but writer Grusnick has populated the novel with well-drawn and interesting characters that not only drive the narrative but keep the reader turning the page. It's a fast read, a funny read and a genuinely enjoyable read with some great turns along the way. The homeless PI is a great twist on the genre and surely the kind of logic take on the almost nomadic gumshoe that crime writers everywhere will slap hand to head and ask themselves "how did I not see that?!"
