One Good Deed by David Baldacci
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
At this writing, The Archer Series consists of three full-length novels; in order, they are One Good Deed, A Gambling Man, and Dream Town. The ending of book three, Dream Town, leaves no doubt that more is to come. Read in sequence for continuity of characters – a few traverse all novels.
Plot. It is the early 1950s. Americans are war-weary, still recovering, and it seems everyone has a story of service – at home or abroad. A veteran of WWII, Archer is the guy we’ve all read of in many novels, tall, handsome, with boy-scout morals. Following a wrongful conviction, Archer finds himself drawn to a career as a private investigator. Taken under the wing of former FBI agent Willie Dash in LosAngeles, Archer solves murders, finds missing persons, and gets in and out of scrapes that will have you convinced he’s a dead man. But, he perseveres. Think of the era of the mob owning Reno and Vegas, film noir; a time when men wore suits and fedoras, women white gloves and hats.
Liked. No explicit sex, no objectionable language – murders, but not terribly gruesome. Narration, voicing, and production are all done nicely.
Not so hot. The times. Women couldn’t make a bank loan without a male guarantor – deplorable debasement of women. 😠 The books are true to the facts of the time; it’s no wonder women are so disgusted with inequities that exist to this day.
Written by David Baldacci, narrated by Edoardo Ballerini and Brittany Pressley, on average 10 hours of listening each, released from 2019-2022 by Hachette Audio.
Recommended 1950s PI series, enjoy!
