I am not typically interested in books about fixers or anything remotely gangerster-esqe. Craig Nova is a fantastic writer and I am really thankful I gave this a go. We have a fixer that I really disliked. Not my cup of tea but sure made for a good story and had me motivated to finish to see what was going to happen.

Not sure about this book. It had an interesting angle, modern day fixer, but would lose interest from time to time. The characters just didn't grab me.

The essence of a fixer revolves in the crimes he must fix without begetting himself or otherwise sacrificing himself to the morality of what money covers up. As a crime noir in modern day Los Angeles, Quinn Farrell as a lead character tries to do the right thing while keeping everyone at arms length. The Los Angeles in "Double Solitaire" [Craig Nova/Arcade Crimewise/237pgs] is one of isolation with some glamour peaking through even though everyone seems to be telling a lie. With Farrell, despite the sludge he needs to pick up after for a producer trying to get films down with actors (one specifically who can't control himself), the cover ups become more and more elaborate until the impulses become too big too contain. Most of the pay offs back and forth are simply points of negotiation and Farrell never loses sight of the bottom line.

However, he still wants an essence of quid pro quo. It is when he heads outside this comfort zone, whether it is his side business of vending machines which attracts the attention of Russian gangsters or picking up the wrong female hitchhiker on a work trip into the desert between Vegas and LA, Farrell understands the irony of the world he lives in. The beacon of hope is Rose Marie, his next door neighbor who works with terminally sick kids at UCLA Medical. Their inclusion is meant as a counterbalance and to integrate different sides of Farrell's personality but in many ways it is too obvious of a counterpoint mechanism. It however does feed his identification of truth vs. consequence. Things start to get dicey but they tend to integrate back to a flashpoint which Farrell has to settle to allow his psyche in a way to move forward. "Double Solitaire" is not bad for an LA crime noir stuck in the modern age while still understanding the world it has become. B-

By Tim Wassberg

for a first book in the series this was really well done, the characters were great and I really loved Quinn Farrell. It was a lot of what I enjoyed in the crime genre.

This is the best kind of literate crime fiction. The perfect balance between a “literary” novel and a good detective thriller. Well written, beautiful imagery and excellent characterization blended with a great crime story starring , hopefully, Quinn Farrell a Hollywood “fixer.” In a case involving in a movie star, underage sex, murder and a whole lot more. I found the book very entertaining and would definitely get the next in the series. Highway reccomended.

Craig Nova is one of the many novelists I’ve often heard praise for but have never gotten around to read. Based on “Double Solitaire,” I have missed out on an immersive stylist of depth. In this genre-style outing, we meet Quinn Farrell, a Los Angeles fixer, someone who cleans up other people’s messes. And in LA, there are more messes than tidiness. Farrell is a wonderful hero, whip smart, easy in his own shoes, but ambivalent about life in the face of his profession. A famous actor produces one morass, then another, and Farrell does what needs to be done, but realizes a greater evil may lurk outside his strict domain. And a neighbour who works in a hospital with terminally ill patients penetrates Farrell’s carapace, the threat of intimacy pushing him to act. The weird but instantly movie-familiar locales occupy center stage as a character, and Nova is a surefooted plotter, but the core strength of this sharp noir novel is the memorably evoked inner life of Farrell. Recommended to read in one sitting, an absorbed sitting.

Double Solitaire by Craig Nova
Quinn Farrell #1

This is a book that grew on me as I got to know Quinn better. At times I felt I had been dropped into the middle of fixer Farrell’s life without a prologue or epilogue provided and though the story did provide some tidbits about Farrell, I felt I needed to know more. Since this is the first in a new series, it is likely more will be provided with each book.

What I liked:
* That the main character, Quinn Farrell-Mr. Jones, was a bit of an enigma. Capable, cunning, able to see the long game, effective, possibly has a softer side that he keeps hidden most of the time.
* Rose Marie: neighbor to Farrell, works with terminal teenage cancer patients, had an unusual house guest (python), may provide balance-soft landing spot-moral anchor for Farrell.
* The possibilities for the series
* The location – I grew up in Los Angeles County, so it was familiar
* Wondering about many things and learning from looking up some terms
* Considering the good-evil aspects of some of the characters
* The way Farrell managed to “fix” things in the end
* That the story grew on me from wondering if I should finish it at all to being invested in the outcome
* That the characters in the story seemed multi-dimensional
* That as in real life, not everything ends up happily ever after for everyone
* Wondering what will happen in the next book

What I didn’t like:
* Knowing that though this is fiction, there is no doubt basis in fact for the story

Did I enjoy this book? Yes…by the end of it
Would I read more in this series? Yes, I believe I would

Thank you to NetGalley and Skyhorse Publishing-Arcade Crimewise for the ARC – This is my honest review.

3-4 Stars

In this first in a series featuring Hollywood fixer Quinn Farrell, Craig Nova deftly demonstrates how a man with dirty hands and a clean heart does with the moral dichotomies of work, love and lufe. As always worth this talented novelist, the characters are complex, the plot complicated, and the craftsmanship clear in every well-wrought paragraph , driving the narrative to an unexpected yet wholly understandable conclusion .

Give this one a chance. Farrell is a fixer in Hollywood who is at the moment struggling with Terry Peregrine, an actor who is a pedophile. Farrell has been trying to get the teen girls Peregrine engages with away from him but some of them disappear. I had issues with this part of the story but found the novel buoyed oddly, by the Russian bad guys and Farrell's nascent relationship with Rose Marie, who works with terminally ill teens. Thanks to the publisher for the ARC. This might actually make a better movie.

After having read the 'blurb' for this book I was expecting 'the Third Man', instead I got a third string novel. Some parts of this book reads as if Burkowski tried to translate Kafka without a dictionary. The "plot" that runs thru the book is so banal and pedestrian that it could pass as the composition of a third grader.

This guy (Farrell) is supposed to be a Hollywood fixer, but can't fix himself a sandwich. The guy he is supposed to be protecting is a pediphile whose brother is a pediphile. Two girls who were involved with the brothers disappear and can't be found. He's also trying to prevent two other girls not to make a complaint to the papers in exchange for money and parts in a movie.

Farrell is having (or trying) or trying to have a relationship with a neighbor who works with terminally ill children. This is the only part of the book that is worth reading. But it reads like an episode of the "Donna Reed Show".

Do yourself and find an actual good book to read.

Craig Nova is a wonderful wordsmith and I usually enjoy his novels but this time around something is definitely missing because I struggled to stay with the plot. An unconvincing story and lackluster characters made it a rather plodding experience. The only real winner was Los Angeles. A wonderful and faithful presence from start to finish. This is a first in a new series so hopefully the next installment will turn out to be more appealing. Not the best introduction to Nova's magnificent talent. A bit disappointing....

Many thanks to Netgalley and Arcade for giving me the opportunity to read this ARC

The description of the book hooked me, but the actual story not as much. Good characters and setting,but the plot left something to be desired. Since this is the first in a series, I hope the bar is raised a bit in the next installment.

This is generally the kind of book I love, but somehow this just didn’t grab me. A fixer working in Hollywood deals with coverups and murder, but he is changed by love. It’s a guymance with some excitement tossed in, just not enough to hook me.

Thank you Netgalley.