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Dancing Bear (Milo Milodragovitch #2)
Detective Milo Dragovitch spends too much time boozing until he gets caught up in a case involving two-bit criminals and an old lady on the run.
Paperback, 240 pages
Published
September 12th 1984
by Vintage
(first published 1983)
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Private detective Milo Milodragovich could share the old Pinkerton’s motto of “We Never Sleep”, but in Milo’s case that’s probably because of all the cocaine he does.
Actually, at the beginning of this one, Milo is keeping a reasonably low profile following the events of The Wrong Case. He’s working as a low level rent-a-cop for a security agency run by Colonel Haliburton* and is staying relatively clean and sober by restricting his chemical intake to peppermint schnapps. However, after a nasty i...more
Actually, at the beginning of this one, Milo is keeping a reasonably low profile following the events of The Wrong Case. He’s working as a low level rent-a-cop for a security agency run by Colonel Haliburton* and is staying relatively clean and sober by restricting his chemical intake to peppermint schnapps. However, after a nasty i...more
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Another neo-noir set in Montana, this time starring Crumley's other alcoholic PI, Milo. Here he's caught in a web of deception and intrigue that begins with an exploding car and ends with a bloody massacre. In between is a twisted coke-fueled romp featuring a bunch of hot, corrupt women and sad, defeated men. Crumley is at his best in the quieter parts-- when he lets Milo talk about the changing face of the west, and the disconnection he feels watching the hedonism of the 70s turn into the mater...more
The second of Crumley's "Milo Milodragovitch" trilogy. What was suppose to be a simple surveillance job for an old family friend, quickly devolves into a drug & alcohol-fueled chase across and beyond Montana's winter landsape. It's all there in hard-boiled noirish glory: a troubled "hero" cracking wise....a handful of femme fatales....bloody mayhem....a pretzel-logic plot. Crumley pulls it off as easy as breathing, however his Milo, though good, is a notch below his other creation: "C.W. Suh...more
Been meaning to read Crumley for a while. Found Dancing Bear and seemed a good place to start as any.
One of the better mysteries I ever read, not that I have read many. Definately like the main character, Milo, whom is not your run-of-the-mill hard-bolied PI. A PI of the has-been (if-ever) alcoholic, loose, coke-sniffing, broke, cabin-living, venison-eating variety holed up in western Montana. A slightly drunk, coked-up Raymond Chandler driving a pickup w/ snow plow on the front.
Plot is same ol...more
One of the better mysteries I ever read, not that I have read many. Definately like the main character, Milo, whom is not your run-of-the-mill hard-bolied PI. A PI of the has-been (if-ever) alcoholic, loose, coke-sniffing, broke, cabin-living, venison-eating variety holed up in western Montana. A slightly drunk, coked-up Raymond Chandler driving a pickup w/ snow plow on the front.
Plot is same ol...more
Jun 12, 2012
Ed
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Recommends it for:
hard-boiled private eye fans
Recommended to Ed by:
previous fan of his books
Detective Milo Dragovitch is working as a security guard when an old family friend hires him to look into a curious case. Of course, the mystery only deepens and takes its twists. I like Mr. Crumley's fiercely, lyrical prose style, and his hard-nosed P.I. from Montana who casts a jaundiced eye at the seamy underbelly of the U.S. government. There's something to take away from his novels, and something meaty to think about long after you've reached the end. Good stuff.
Drunk, snorting cocaine, bitter and funny, Milo takes a case. It is probably the single best detective story I've ever read. Crumley's other works that I've read don't quite measure up, but that's because this is a beautiful, brutal, uncompromising piece of fiction.
Crumley's books are a gas, murder mysteries involving the seedy underbelly of cast-aways and ne'er do wells. Combine Tony Hillerman mysteries and Fear and Loathing. Funny and suspensful, you might exclaim vocally at times so try not to appear as though you have turret syndrome. I met this author in the carribean in 2001, a friendly codger, so unusual fellow, we've been friends since as we found we had another friend in common. Over the course of his life, he's written a novel every 10 years. All...more
Sweet Jesus, how did I not hear of this guy before? I'm going to have to read all of these.
Excellent read. Good characters, interesting plot, and a fun writing style.
not as good as the last good kiss
Un Crumley qui se finit en blocage mexicain, avec des bleus partout. Vraiment chouette.
James Crumley is among the very best of the hardboiled fiction writers. Yes, the plot is rehashed and the ending a little trite, but I don't think you read Crumley for the plot. You read him for his amazing prose, razor sharp wit and dialogue that crackles off the page. He's very nearly as good as Chandler and praise doesn't come much higher than that.
I read this on the recommendation of Steve Bowbrick. The bit I remember is the arsenal of weapons in our hero's trunk (boot to those in the UK) and thinking "Philip Marlowe never needed that much hardware."
I fondly remember the small group of bartenders and cooks who passed this book around in the late 1980s like a baseball cards. Interesting genre fiction.
La quatrième de couv' annonce un noiouveau Chandler... et le privé de Crumley est à la hauteur d'un Marlowe, la cocaïne en plus!!
Vintage Crumley. First rate western noir and when especially when he's contemplative Crumley is a wonderful writer.
I'm a Crumley fan, and this is one of my favorite books by him. Seriously, this guy's writing rules!
May 13, 2013
Jlkauffman
marked it as to-read
May 03, 2013
Luke
marked it as to-read
Apr 23, 2013
Ipsith
marked it as to-read
Apr 22, 2013
Michael Riordan
marked it as to-read
Apr 19, 2013
Mike
marked it as to-read
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James Arthur Crumley was the author of violent hardboiled crime novels and several volumes of short stories and essays, as well as published and unpublished screenplays. He has been described as "one of modern crime writing's best practitioners", who was "a patron saint of the post-Vietnam private eye novel"and a cross between Raymond Chandler and Hunter S. Thompson.His book The Last Good Kiss has...more
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“I had done either too much coke or too little, a constant problem in my life.”
—
4 people liked it
“I have learned some things. Modern life is warfare without end: take no prisoners, leave no wounded, eat the dead--that's environmentally sound.”
—
2 people liked it
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