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Brock 'The Rock' Callahan #9
The Cana Diversion
The Cana Diversion by William Campbell Gault - Raven House Mysteries 63029 - April 1982 - Second Printing
- GenresMystery
219 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2012
24 people want to read
About the author
William Campbell Gault
156 books20 followersWilliam Campbell Gault (1910–1995) was a critically acclaimed pulp novelist. Born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, he took seven years to graduate from high school. Though he was part of a juvenile gang, he wrote poetry in his spare time, signing it with a girl’s name lest one of his friends find it. He sold his first story in 1936, and built a great career writing for pulps like Paris Nights, Scarlet Adventures, and the infamous Black Mask. In 1939, Gault quit his job and started writing fulltime.
When the success of his pulps began to fade in the 1950s, Gault turned to longer fiction, winning an Edgar Award for his first mystery, Don’t Cry for Me (1952), which he wrote in twenty-eight days. He created private detectives Brock Callahan and Joe Puma, and also wrote juvenile sports books like Cut-Rate Quarterback (1977) and Wild Willie, Wide Receiver (1974). His final novel was Dead Pigeon (1992), a Brock Callahan mystery.
Series:
* Brock 'The Rock' Callahan
* Joe Puma
When the success of his pulps began to fade in the 1950s, Gault turned to longer fiction, winning an Edgar Award for his first mystery, Don’t Cry for Me (1952), which he wrote in twenty-eight days. He created private detectives Brock Callahan and Joe Puma, and also wrote juvenile sports books like Cut-Rate Quarterback (1977) and Wild Willie, Wide Receiver (1974). His final novel was Dead Pigeon (1992), a Brock Callahan mystery.
Series:
* Brock 'The Rock' Callahan
* Joe Puma
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
August 12, 2019
This book takes place during the revival of the Brock Callahan series in the sixties. Brock is rich, married, and a little bored, and living in an exclusive small town.
When his wife is arrested for protesting a proposed nuclear reactor, Brock goes to throw her bail, and meets fellow PI (and Gault series character) Joe Puma. A few days later, Puma disappears.
Brock goes looking for him,and finds himself in a mess with cops, gangsters, feds, and murder.
Not bad, but these later entries are a lot softer than the first books.
When his wife is arrested for protesting a proposed nuclear reactor, Brock goes to throw her bail, and meets fellow PI (and Gault series character) Joe Puma. A few days later, Puma disappears.
Brock goes looking for him,and finds himself in a mess with cops, gangsters, feds, and murder.
Not bad, but these later entries are a lot softer than the first books.
May 15, 2017
For some reason I thought this would be a book that had two of Gault's longstanding Private eyes teamed up together to solve an important case. It would sort of like Batman and Superman teaming up. Unfortunately the two great Private eyes are only in one brief scene together before Joe Puma disappears permanently. And the rest of the book is a hot mess involving environmental activists, retired mafioso, FBI agents and more. Ultimately it tried to be too many things
Want to read
October 25, 2018Synopsis: Brock used to be a PI but he's now rich and retired. Another PI gets murdered doing Brock a favour and he feels he must investigate. P 1983.
February 22, 2013
Cana Diversion (Brock 'The Rock' Callahan, #9)
4 STARS
The Cana Diversion (Brock 'The Rock' Callahan, #9) by William Campbell Gault
This is the first book that I have read by William Campbell Gault. I believe he has written 14 at least featuring Brock the Rock Callahan. So the characters are already fleshed out. I feel that if I had read the others it would be more helpful to me. I would read more of his novels.
This a clean read that was first written in the 80's. It did not feel that old or course I was graduated in 1981 from high school so
I could have missed somethings.
Brock the Rock is a P.I. or at least he used to be. His Uncle left him a lot of money so now he is rich and retired. He used to play football. he is not one to push around. He ran into a P.I. from LA that he had known that is doing bailbonds now. He used him to bail out his wife when she was protesting a nuclear plant that they want to build. Days later he was murdered.
Brock feels like he has to get involved. Mrs. Puma agrees and gives him a file that she did not give the investigators.
Brock is followed by a fed and warns him off. The police wonder if Puma was involved with the mob, since he was the middleman once for a mob family and a kidnapper. Brock finds a lot about his once co-worker.
It is a good mystery. Kept me guessing to the end. If you like P.I. mystery novels this will do .
I was given this ebook to read and asked to give honest review of it finshed by Netgalley.
09/18/2012 PUB Open Road Integrated Media,MysteriousPress.com/Open Road SBN9781453273371
Description below taken off of Netgalley.com
While tangling with radicals, Brock stumbles on a colleague’s corpse
Brock Callahan, ex-private investigator, is still not used to wealth and retirement. In fact he is struggling through a game of golf when the clubhouse calls with the curious news that his wife is in jail, pulled in at an anti-nuclear protest. Callahan hires Joe Puma, private detective and onetime peer, to post bail for the budding radical. A few days later, Puma is dead, and Brock begins to wonder where the student movement’s shadowy roots lie.
The agitators want to stop the proposed Mirage Point reactor, which sits at the intersection of mob money, corrupt utilities, and the violent rage of the radical fringe. And as Callahan knows all too well, California doesn’t run on nuclear energy; the state is powered by the dirtiest fuel there is—old-fashioned, murderous greed.
This book was originally published in 1982.
4 STARS
The Cana Diversion (Brock 'The Rock' Callahan, #9) by William Campbell Gault
This is the first book that I have read by William Campbell Gault. I believe he has written 14 at least featuring Brock the Rock Callahan. So the characters are already fleshed out. I feel that if I had read the others it would be more helpful to me. I would read more of his novels.
This a clean read that was first written in the 80's. It did not feel that old or course I was graduated in 1981 from high school so
I could have missed somethings.
Brock the Rock is a P.I. or at least he used to be. His Uncle left him a lot of money so now he is rich and retired. He used to play football. he is not one to push around. He ran into a P.I. from LA that he had known that is doing bailbonds now. He used him to bail out his wife when she was protesting a nuclear plant that they want to build. Days later he was murdered.
Brock feels like he has to get involved. Mrs. Puma agrees and gives him a file that she did not give the investigators.
Brock is followed by a fed and warns him off. The police wonder if Puma was involved with the mob, since he was the middleman once for a mob family and a kidnapper. Brock finds a lot about his once co-worker.
It is a good mystery. Kept me guessing to the end. If you like P.I. mystery novels this will do .
I was given this ebook to read and asked to give honest review of it finshed by Netgalley.
09/18/2012 PUB Open Road Integrated Media,MysteriousPress.com/Open Road SBN9781453273371
Description below taken off of Netgalley.com
While tangling with radicals, Brock stumbles on a colleague’s corpse
Brock Callahan, ex-private investigator, is still not used to wealth and retirement. In fact he is struggling through a game of golf when the clubhouse calls with the curious news that his wife is in jail, pulled in at an anti-nuclear protest. Callahan hires Joe Puma, private detective and onetime peer, to post bail for the budding radical. A few days later, Puma is dead, and Brock begins to wonder where the student movement’s shadowy roots lie.
The agitators want to stop the proposed Mirage Point reactor, which sits at the intersection of mob money, corrupt utilities, and the violent rage of the radical fringe. And as Callahan knows all too well, California doesn’t run on nuclear energy; the state is powered by the dirtiest fuel there is—old-fashioned, murderous greed.
This book was originally published in 1982.
February 26, 2013
His wife held in a anti-nuclear protest; a devious real estate scheme; a murdered P.I friend; and the mafia good and bad are only some of the incidents and coincidences that now wealthy, retired P.I. Callahan finds himself caught in this fast paced, mystery from pulp master, William Gault.
Full of wise cracks and enough suspense to keep you home from work, this is another terrific read from Mysterious Press, the best mystery publisher of them all.
Full of wise cracks and enough suspense to keep you home from work, this is another terrific read from Mysterious Press, the best mystery publisher of them all.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews