Sharks Never Sleep: A Novel Featuring the Black Mask Boys: Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler, and Erle Stanley Gardner

In the series' third outing Nolan once again hits one out of the park, successfully evoking the spirit of bygone Hollywood glamor. Once again we have the Black Mask boys chewing up the scenery amid spectacular movie sets, Spanish-era estates and a heavy who will strongly remind them of Bing Crosby. But hidden amongst all this is a surprise: the story of an authentic California life. Erle Gardner of Perry Mason fame was born in Oroville, spent a year at Palo Alto High (Paly), defended the rights of Chinese in Oxnard and later moved to Ventura and then Hollywood. As a westerner at that time, Gardner was a bit less sophisticated than his counterparts Hammett and Chandler who hailed from the east coast and England respectively. At a 1997 mystery seminar I heard author Nolan wondering aloud just how to write a novel in the Gardner style, which in many ways is an absence of style really. Nolan needn't have worried. He pulls off this story about the return of a lost love just fine and, anyway, apart from the occasional special effect, his style matches that of only one writer anyway: Nolan. As it should be. It's true that the old saw "show me instead of telling me" can sometimes be applied, but Nolan has a lot of ground to cover and overall does so quite well.