The Blue Hour by T. Jefferson Parker
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

"He lay still and remembered fishing with his uncles, his dad making pancakes on Sunday mornings, the creases on the back of his mother's blouse as she walked, Barbara's expression as she came down the aisle in the church where they were married, his first dog, what the world looked like from the tail gunner's position of a B-29 thirty thousand feet above Korea."

A serial killer is stalking women in Orange County. The women disappear; only their purses are found as well as blood-drenched spots on the ground near Ortega Highway. The county sheriff-coroner asks the retired Newport Beach detective, Tim Hess, to help with the investigation. Tim, who is in treatment for cancer, will be paired with Merci Rayborn, a detective on the Newport Beach police force, an "aggressive, bright, and a little arrogant" woman, highly unpopular with most deputies as she has sued one of them for sexual harassment.

The Blue Hour (1999), T. Jefferson Parker's seventh novel, also happens to be the seventh book of his that I am reviewing here on Goodreads. To me, Mr. Parker is the quintessential Southern California author of the late 20th century, in the same way as Ross Macdonald had been about a third of the century earlier. I very highly rate their prose and believe that their novels provide more than just entertainment - they convey deeper truths about the human species. I find The Blue Hour one of Mr. Parker's best novels. As usual, I do not care much about the whodunit aspect of the plot; I am mainly interested in realism of characters' psychology and realistic depictions of human interactions and their motives.

I found so many aspects of the novel memorable! First of all, Merci Rayborn is to me quite a believable character; I feel she is an actual human being rather than just a template built of words constructed to embody the author's design. Tim's portrayal is perhaps a tiny bit less plausible but still, considering the low standards of the mystery/thriller genre, where characters serve only the purpose of advancing the plot, he also comes across believable. Mr. Parker was 46 when the novel was published yet I think he very well captured a much older person's thinking. The Merci-Tim relationship thread must have been very difficult to write, particularly the later portions of it, yet Mr. Parker pulled it all off, without resorting to cheap histrionic.

It is clear that the author did his homework researching such "exotic" topics as chemical castration by the Depo Provera treatment and the technology of embalming human bodies. The topics are covered matter-of-factly rather than with the purpose of titillating the reader.

I absolutely love the sudden appearance of Francisco (no spoilers from me!), which adds a sweetly whimsical touch. I remember my strong reaction of disbelief when I first read the Francisco passage, but massive appreciation soon followed. I love it when an author surprises me! The thread featuring the Romanian émigré is captivating, but it seems to me that for legal reasons the media would not be able to follow the situation from up close and in real time so in my view the thread loses plausibility.

To sum up: we are getting a solid portrayal of Merci, plausible dynamic of Merci-Tim relationship, unforgettable Francisco with his harquebus (yes!), castration, embalming technology, highly accomplished prose, and more. The book even works as a mystery/thriller, so my rating is quite high

Four stars.

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