THE HAMMETT HEX is book five in Victoria Abbott's very witty
Book
Collector cozy mystery series. Even though I'm
addicted to this series, I was worried that I wouldn't
like this installment as much, since most of Jordan's
inner circle are not in this one. Happily, I
loved reading THE HAMMETT HEX -- perhaps even more so than
the previous book in the series. Book collector Jordan
Bingham takes a holiday with Officer Tyler "Smiley"
Dekker to San Francisco. The nebulous romantic
relationship between Jordan and Dekker gets more defined
in this story, but the many mysteries in THE HAMMETT HEX
take center stage.
What starts out as a story with all the ingredients for a
romantic idyll soon takes a turn toward the sinister.
Victoria Abbott masterfully builds the suspense along
with the level of danger to Jordan. THE HAMMETT HEX has
some classic elements of a cozy mystery, but this is also
a book that will get your pulse racing. The trip to San
Francisco winds up being an opportunity for Tyler Dekker
to reconnect with his estranged grandmother. At the same
time Dekker and his grandmother are feeling the warm and
fuzzies, shady characters galore erupt on the scene
waving around guns, planting bugs, and destroying hotel
rooms. I love how Jordan is a little bit Nancy Drew and a
little bit Jason Bourne in this outing. Even though
things happen in THE HAMMETT HEX that make Jordan feel
out of her comfort zone, she definitely proves herself to
be a clever and resourceful amateur female sleuth.
Everything in THE HAMMETT HEX flows together nicely --
from scenes of masked intruders, missing dogs, and
frantic wardrobe changes to heartwarming scenes of tea
and cookies with grandma.
THE HAMMETT HEX has three things I love: San Francisco,
Dashiell Hammett, and superlative storytelling from
Victoria Abbott. This is a book that will hold cozy
mystery fans spellbound. The specter of Jordan's Uncle
Seamus and his exploits add to the slight film noir vibe
that permeates the book. Readers familiar with this
series will be very happy to know that Uncle Kev makes an
appearance and brings his unique brand of chaos with him.
The comical vignettes in THE HAMMETT HEX help to balance
the suspense. I look forward to the next Victoria Abbott
book.
The national bestselling author of The Marsh Madness
takes rare book collector Jordan Bingham on a trip to
San Francisco—home to Dashiell Hammett’s hard-boiled
heroes—where nothing is as it seems.
On a getaway to the City by the Bay, book collector
Jordan Bingham becomes entangled in a mystery with more
twists than Lombard Street...
Jordan has been able to swing a romantic trip to San
Francisco with Officer Tyler “Smiley” Dekker on one
condition—she must return with a rare copy of Dashiell
Hammett’s Red Harvest for her irascible employer,
Vera Van Alst. For his own part, Smiley is full of
surprises. He’s a Dashiell devotee himself—excited to be in
the city of Hammett’s hard-boiled heroes like Sam Spade and
the Continental Op—and also announces he plans to visit his
previously unmentioned estranged grandmother, who lives in
an old Victorian in Pacific Heights.
But the trip goes downhill fast when Jordan is pushed from a
cable car and barely escapes death. And when a dark sedan
tries to run the couple down, it’s clear someone’s after
them—but who? Just like in Hammett’s world, nothing is quite
what is seems...
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