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The Twenty-Year Death #2
The Falling Star
1941 - A hardboiled private eye hired to keep a movie studio's leading lady happy uncovers the truth behind the brutal slaying of a Hollywood starlet.
There's never been a novel like The Twenty-Year Death: a breathtaking first novel written in the form of three separate crime novels that can be read in any order, each set in a different decade and penned in the style of different giants of the mystery genre - George Simenon, Raymond Chandler, and Jim Thompson.
There's never been a novel like The Twenty-Year Death: a breathtaking first novel written in the form of three separate crime novels that can be read in any order, each set in a different decade and penned in the style of different giants of the mystery genre - George Simenon, Raymond Chandler, and Jim Thompson.
227 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published July 8, 2014
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About the author
Ariel S. Winter
12 books67 followersAriel S. Winter was a finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, the Shamus Award, and the Macavity Award for his novel The Twenty-Year Death. He is also the author of the children’s picture book One of a Kind, illustrated by David Hitch, and the blog We Too Were Children, Mr. Barrie. He lives in Baltimore.
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
April 22, 2023
The three separate books of the Twenty Year Death trilogy (Malniveau Prison, The Falling Star, and Police at the Funeral) are, in some sense, pastiches or mimics of the styles of famous crime authors of different time periods in the twentieth century: Malniveau Prison is in the style of Georges Simenon. The Falling Star is in the style of Raymond Chandler and Police at the Funeral is in the style of Jim Thompson.
But, simply saying that they are in the style of or that they are pastiches of these famous authors does not do these books justice. Rather, than simply being copies of the work of the famous authors, it is perhaps more appropriate to view each as being imbued with the atmosphere of such authors and evocative of a certain period of crime fiction writing.
The second novel in the Twenty Year Death trilogy takes the reader all the way to Hollywood where the American writer Rosenkrantz and his wife Clothide, who is now known as the famous actress, Chloe Rose, are ensconsed. They are not at the center of this story as in the first book. Instead, enter a hard-boiled Phillip Marlowe type private eye who is hired to watch over Chloe, who everyone thinks is some nutty dame.
This story is typical of the forties and fifties private eye novels where a PI knows everyone but operates on his own. Mobsters, studio executives, and the police all warn this private eye, Dennis Foster, off the case, but as the bodies keep turning up, Foster soldiers on, trying to figure out who is playing him for a patsy. Again, a very enjoyable private eye story taking place in Hollywood, although Winter calls it San Angeles rather than Los Angeles to allow himself room for literary invention.
But, simply saying that they are in the style of or that they are pastiches of these famous authors does not do these books justice. Rather, than simply being copies of the work of the famous authors, it is perhaps more appropriate to view each as being imbued with the atmosphere of such authors and evocative of a certain period of crime fiction writing.
The second novel in the Twenty Year Death trilogy takes the reader all the way to Hollywood where the American writer Rosenkrantz and his wife Clothide, who is now known as the famous actress, Chloe Rose, are ensconsed. They are not at the center of this story as in the first book. Instead, enter a hard-boiled Phillip Marlowe type private eye who is hired to watch over Chloe, who everyone thinks is some nutty dame.
This story is typical of the forties and fifties private eye novels where a PI knows everyone but operates on his own. Mobsters, studio executives, and the police all warn this private eye, Dennis Foster, off the case, but as the bodies keep turning up, Foster soldiers on, trying to figure out who is playing him for a patsy. Again, a very enjoyable private eye story taking place in Hollywood, although Winter calls it San Angeles rather than Los Angeles to allow himself room for literary invention.
October 16, 2015
I’m a lot more familiar with Raymond Chandler than I am with Georges Simenon and so maybe that was why I found this second portion of ‘Twenty Year Death’ something of a disappointment – I just had too much to compare it too. It tries its best, but the language doesn’t have Chandler’s impeccable rhythm or similes straight from heaven. Our Marlowe stand-in, Dennis Foster, is not quite cast from quite the same mould of battered nobility as his prototype, the dialogue he presents as wit is actually far more glib, while even the case he investigates is not as complex of labyrinthine as its meant to be (and has a couple of red herrings which are really no more than pastel pink). The result is an entertaining if undemanding read – a pastiche which is nothing more than a pastiche, one that gives a passable charcoal sketch of a masterpiece, but does leave you wishing you had the original.
There’s an argument that all American detective fiction since Chandler is really just a response to Chandler, a riff on Chandler, so one shouldn’t be too hard on this for giving us a perfectly adequate version. It’s just that there’s really nothing here to elevate it from the crowd.
There’s an argument that all American detective fiction since Chandler is really just a response to Chandler, a riff on Chandler, so one shouldn’t be too hard on this for giving us a perfectly adequate version. It’s just that there’s really nothing here to elevate it from the crowd.
July 5, 2017
The second book in The Twenty Year Death epic from Ariel S. Winter and Hard Case Crime is Winter's love letter to Raymond Chandler. A hardboiled detective story set in 1941 Los Angeles with a private eye who can hold his own with Philip Marlowe. I gave this book 5 stars because it accomplishes everything Winter set out to do here. A solid mystery that moves along quickly with plenty of twists featuring a likable PI who is the moral center of the story. Winter also nails the language and nuance of Chandler while keeping his own identity in the storytelling. Hollywood is a major character in the story and contributes to how the characters behave. If you like detective fiction, this book is definitely for you.
I also gave this book 5 stars because it is a major undertaking for an author to tackle a project like this. Three novels from different periods of crime fiction (each in the style of a different crime fiction legend) with a similar thread connecting them together. I hope Hard Case Crime publishes more of these kinds of novels.
I also gave this book 5 stars because it is a major undertaking for an author to tackle a project like this. Three novels from different periods of crime fiction (each in the style of a different crime fiction legend) with a similar thread connecting them together. I hope Hard Case Crime publishes more of these kinds of novels.
November 23, 2018
This is the best of the three "books" originally released as The Twenty Year Death as one book. It isn't bad if you are into that era (1941) of Hollywood mysteries. There are three stories with a central character and each is 10 years after the previous. This is the middle one and takes place in Hollywood. Written in the style of Raymond Chandler(?) and is fairly interesting.
I have the original book with all three stories. The first and third are terrible - never finished either one.
I have read all of the Hard Case Crime books except two and have enjoyed almost all of them.
I have the original book with all three stories. The first and third are terrible - never finished either one.
I have read all of the Hard Case Crime books except two and have enjoyed almost all of them.
August 2, 2017
An enjoyable private eye story set in the forties. At some point it becomes predictable, still an entertaining read. Must love the central character and his dry humour though.
I don't like the idea that the author is copy-catting different crime authors, I'd rather he wrote in his own style. The first installment seemed more genuine, as Simenon wrote in French.
I do like the way the novels are linked through some key characters, canvasing their own universe.
I don't like the idea that the author is copy-catting different crime authors, I'd rather he wrote in his own style. The first installment seemed more genuine, as Simenon wrote in French.
I do like the way the novels are linked through some key characters, canvasing their own universe.
May 15, 2019
An homage to Raymond Chandler, and a good one.
May 29, 2020
Decent little crime novel
March 28, 2021
Winter's attempt at a Raymond Chandler style novel. It's a pretty good attempt, but far from perfect.
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May 27, 2022Got this at Inquiring Minds bookstore in Saugerties last year.
April 30, 2023
Again, nothing spectacular. Better than it’s predecessor. Hopefully the final part will be better still.
July 20, 2025
Plot reads like a Chandler plot, but the cynicism and witty similes are minimal. Not bad, but certainly not a perfect homage to the master.
September 23, 2025
3.5 well written enough but never gets the Chandler vibe correct
March 13, 2017
A poor job of channelling Chandler and 1940's Los Angeles. Other then that, easy to read but a little far fetched.
January 28, 2015
The second of the books comprising The Twenty-Year Death Trilogy, this book feels more “noir” than its predecessor, “Malniveau Prison” (which took place in France), opening as it doers in the world of Hollywood, at a movie studio in what is here called San Angelo, California, in 1941. Two of the characters from Book 1, Clotilde-ma-Fleur Rosenkrantz, a beautiful young woman, and her much older, alcoholic husband, Shem, are now, a decade later, respectively a movie star who goes by Chloe Rose, and a movie script writer, both at Merton Stein productions. The protagonist in the new book is Dennis Foster, ex-cop and now a private detective, hired by Al Knox, the studio’s chief of security, to act as sort of a bodyguard for Clotilde, who thinks she’s being followed. When Foster protests that he is not a bodyguard, Knox tells him “. . . . she only thinks she’s being followed. You just need to make her feel safe. For show.”
Although Chloe had “displaced champagne as America’s favorite French import,” there is nothing celestial about her. Her husband, Shem, “looked like a stereotype of the great American author, which he was.” As things progress, Foster doesn’t like that he is “just here for show, a piece of set decoration, and not a very necessary one either. This case already had a mystery man on the set, a mystery man on the phone, the mystery man that the man on the phone was bargaining for, the mystery man who was drinking and laughing with Shem Rosenkrantz upstairs. I was one too many. I felt like I had come to the party late and got seated at the wrong table,” and that he was “hired to babysit a paranoid prima donna.” And when more than one dead body is discovered, it serves only to make his assignment more complex, and much more difficult.
The author has the noir writing down pat. There is the requisite male movie star, whose butler was “bald with a horseshoe of hair around the back of his head, a pencil mustache, and a tuxedo with white gloves.” A reference to the WPA and a woman with a “tea-length skirt” place it firmly in its era. As well, nothing in these pages reflect what we today call politically correct attitudes. And when Foster is beaten up by men determined to keep him away from the case, the following morning “I had to get undressed before I could get dressed again, which only hurt a little. No more than getting gored by a bull.” A man who keeps his word, he will not turn his back on has tasks of finding the killer and saving Chloe from herself.
As was the first book in the trilogy, the novel is very entertaining, and is recommended. And I now have in front of me the last novel in the trilogy, “Police at the Funeral,” to which I am very much looking forward.
Although Chloe had “displaced champagne as America’s favorite French import,” there is nothing celestial about her. Her husband, Shem, “looked like a stereotype of the great American author, which he was.” As things progress, Foster doesn’t like that he is “just here for show, a piece of set decoration, and not a very necessary one either. This case already had a mystery man on the set, a mystery man on the phone, the mystery man that the man on the phone was bargaining for, the mystery man who was drinking and laughing with Shem Rosenkrantz upstairs. I was one too many. I felt like I had come to the party late and got seated at the wrong table,” and that he was “hired to babysit a paranoid prima donna.” And when more than one dead body is discovered, it serves only to make his assignment more complex, and much more difficult.
The author has the noir writing down pat. There is the requisite male movie star, whose butler was “bald with a horseshoe of hair around the back of his head, a pencil mustache, and a tuxedo with white gloves.” A reference to the WPA and a woman with a “tea-length skirt” place it firmly in its era. As well, nothing in these pages reflect what we today call politically correct attitudes. And when Foster is beaten up by men determined to keep him away from the case, the following morning “I had to get undressed before I could get dressed again, which only hurt a little. No more than getting gored by a bull.” A man who keeps his word, he will not turn his back on has tasks of finding the killer and saving Chloe from herself.
As was the first book in the trilogy, the novel is very entertaining, and is recommended. And I now have in front of me the last novel in the trilogy, “Police at the Funeral,” to which I am very much looking forward.
April 1, 2015
Boy, do I not get the hype over this book! I didn't realize it was part of a gimmicky trilogy when I bought it, so I can only rate it as a stand alone novel, and as such, it's a pretty mediocre pastiche of Raymond Chandler. Maybe taken all together, in sequence (though the publishers insist you don't have to) there's some point to the trilogy. But there was nothing in "The Falling Star" that recommended the other two installments to me. Not only is the story dull and the characters derivative, but the physical production of the book -- at least my copy -- is horrible. The type is so diffused and gray that it's hard to read, and there are ink blots all over the place. I guess Hard Case Crime really wants to go digital, and this is their way of showing it. Hard Case Crime has done a service by bringing lost 50s and 60s crime novels back into print, but any time they present a modern neo-noir, the ice gets perilously thin.
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September 14, 2015it was a fast moving book
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews