Richard Diamond: Private Detective

Very good noir style, well crafted and fast paced. Excellent!

I'm a huge fan of the original Richard Diamond radio show, and was very excited to see that someone had tried their hand at writing some fiction based on that series. If you feel the same way, do yourself a favor.Skip this book.In the ingerest of full disclosure, I didn't finish this book. The editing, or apparent lack thereof, was enough to cause me to delete the book out of frustration in and of itself; there appears to be no comma on the ajthor's keyboard. Compound that with turning one of the most interesting tough-guy detectives into a generic Philip Marlowe clone, and you have a recipe for frustration--at least as far as I'm concerned.The most glaring oops was the fact that Richard Diamond bases his office out of Los Angeles in this book, not New York City, as is the case in the show. Outside of that, I could find nothing of the characters who made the series so special. Where were Lieutenant Levinson and Sergeant Otis? For crying out loud, where was Helen Asher? When it became clear this book didn't seem to be giving its titular character his due, I did a search to see if any of these ancillary characters made an appearance. No such luck. I'll even give the author a potential out: I did notice the first story takes place in 1948, while the show didn't premiere until 1949, so maybe this was supposed to be some kind of prequel... but even so, if you're going to play in the Richard Diamond sandbox, this was a lost opportunity, indeed.I really wanted to be able to give this book a glowing recommendation. As it stands, however, I fear Blake Edwards would be rolling over in his grave. What a waste.

If you remember using your imagination listening to the old time radio programs back in the 40's & 50's, you will know what I'm talking about when I say I just love hearing this series of Richard Diamond. It brings back such wonderful memories of our family sitting around the radio listening to these shows. We didn't need to see what was happening, but we knew what was taking place by just listening. I think the younger generation have no idea just what they are missing. I listen to these shows while I'm driving or just waiting in traffic and it makes for a very enjoyable experience. If you haven't heard these shows, try them, you will be pleasantly surprised.