Professional burglar Junior Bender is back. This time he's hired by a mobster bankrolling a old-timer rock groups revival tour who believes his partners are stealing the proceeds. As usual, an entertaining, endearing, quirky and hilarious romp.

In this outing, Junior is asked by Irwin Dressler to check on a golden oldies rock tour he has helped finance. Knowing how little honor there is among thieves, he expects his criminal-type partners to attempt to steal the proceeds. In his first day on the job (with his daughter, who may or may not want to follow in his footsteps, in tow) one of the aging rockers is struck down. Literally.

The very best Junior Bender yet. Hallinan writes wonderful central characters but what takes him up a notch is his ability to sketch a "peripheral" character to the point that they are real and the reader cares. Even if it's "just" muscle-bound muscle during arm curls in the rain. I always love Dressler, but throw in Jennifer and Lavender, and even this bunch of bad guys, and, what can I say? I just loved it!

Published by ‎ Soho Crime on June 14, 2022

Irwin Dressler is a big deal crime boss, but he’s getting old and younger lions are always looking for a chance to displace the leader. Dressler financed a tour of aging rock bands, a “mega tour of minor talent.” Four “old guys” drawn from the ranks of criminals who infiltrated the music world long ago (“killers, extortionists, leg-breakers, kidnappers, armed robbers, and threat specialists”) are enjoying the fun of touring with the bands, but Dressler thinks they are also skimming profits, if not outright stealing bags of money. He asks Junior Bender to investigate. Junior isn’t in a position to say no to Dressler. Nobody says no to Dressler.

Fans of the series will know that Bender is a divorced burglar who has been trying to keep the truth of his occupation from his teenage daughter. Keeping information from teenage girls is a lost cause, as Bender discovers when he brings Rina to the concert whose promoters he is investigating.

Rock of Ages isn’t a typical Junior Bender novel. Bender commits no burglaries, but he uses his criminal skills in a variety of ways. Early in the novel, a heavy backdrop falls, putting an end to an annoying long drum solo — and the drummer. Bender notes that the ropes holding the backdrop in place had been cut and suspects that the drummer was not the intended victim. For that reason, Rock of Ages has some elements of a whodunit, with Bender playing the role of a detective. Bender spends much of the novel sneaking around (a task that makes use of his burglary skills) to figure out what’s likely to happen to the tour profits and who orchestrated the backdrop’s fall.

Timothy Hallinan establishes a convincing atmosphere with the sights, sounds, and smells of an older theater. This is a relatively nonviolent crime novel, with just enough gunplay and torture to remind the reader that it is a crime novel, but not so much that violence becomes the point of the story. Bender’s uncertainty about the degree to which he should reveal his life to his daughter exemplifies the characterization that is one of Hallinan’s strengths. Populating novels with colorful background characters is another. The aging rock musicians display the different traits that should be expected of rock musicians (vanity, jealousy, addiction). The best collateral character is an aging groupie who instantly bonds with Rina.

Hallinan describes a man as being in “his carnivorous middle-fifties and as thin as an abandoned hope.” Hallinan’s ability to drop a few incredible sentences into his books is one of the reasons I look forward to his novels. While Rock of Ages is not my favorite Junior Bender novel — the plot is secondary to the amusing characters — I appreciated the novel for other reasons, including its memorable images of aging rock bands playing in small venues at the end of their careers.

RECOMMENDED

When Irwin Dressler, Los Angeles’s most notorious and dangerous geriatric mobster, asks Junior Bender, Los Angeles’s top burglar/private detective to figure out which of his old acquaintances is stealing from him, Junior is both honored and terrified. Four of Dressler’s acquaintances from his gangster days have put together a tour with several rock bands whose glory days were decades ago as a last hurrah, and Dressler had invested a large chunk of change. Now he’s convinced that one of them is stealing from him. Worse than losing money, he will appear weak, losing the respect of his peers. The old man is not ready to fade into obscurity, and he’s prepared for a fight.
Junior’s assignment is to keep an eye on the felonious four during the last three days of the tour. His teenage daughter Rina is with him for the weekend, and this Take Your Daughter to Work Day takes some twists and turns he didn’t see coming.
Junior Bender is the best kind of protagonist: smart, well-read, resourceful, and a master of sarcasm. The plot is, like Junior, smart, twisty-turny, and funny as heck, when it’s not being suspenseful and murderous. The characters truly do come alive on the page in full technicolor glory.
Rock of Ages is another gem in the Junior Bender series. Highly recommended.

As a fan of cat burglars from Cary Grant's To Catch a Thief to Robert Wagner's It Takes a Thief, I've been a fan of the irreverent, irrepressible Junior Bender from book one (Crashed). In this latest installment, Rock of Ages puts readers right in the middle of a nostalgia rock and roll tour, complete with falling props, Super Trooper lighting, old groupies, and a very inquisitive teenage girl. The names of the bands are almost worth the price of admission alone, and this behind-the-scenes look at rock and roll is equal parts illuminating and hilarious. "The bands hated each other, some of them were rusty, some needed cue cards for their lyrics, and three guys had shown up in wheelchairs." Junior must navigate all this as well as slashed tires, threatening notes, inflated egos, and people willing to kill for a money-and-power grab.

I really enjoyed the time spent with Junior's daughter, Rina. She's one sharp cookie who has a mind (and a mouth) very similar to her father's. Junior's going to be sweating bullets over Rina in a year or two, mark my words. But Rock of Ages isn't just the Junior and Rina Show. Other characters shine as only Hallinan can make them. Lavender the old groupie. Cappy the manager who keeps everything running. Debbie, whom Junior calls when he needs backup. Irwin Dressler, the LA mobster of legend. I always love Hallinan's casts of characters.

As I said before, I've enjoyed this series from the very first book. I will follow Junior Bender wherever he leads me because I know I'm going to enjoy myself with a first-rate plot and an excellent cast of characters, and guess what? I always learn something, too. The history of Los Angeles, the movie industry, rock and roll... it's all up for grabs when Tim Hallinan shares an adventure with my favorite burglar. I'm already looking forward to the next one. Hurry up, Junior!

Someone doesn't want Junior Bender to find out what's really going on with the Rock of Ages tour. That's what Irwin Dressler hired him to do- especially he wants Junior to find his money. Junior, who has his daughter Rina for the weekend, brings her along (probably not the best idea but she's a great addition). I liked this for the very funny depiction of the various aging rockers on tour and for the attitude- humor without snark. It's not the most complex mystery out there but it's fun. Thanks to netgalley for the ARC. I've only read one of the books in the series (the last one, which was published in 2018) so this was more or less a fine standalone for me.

In book #8 of the Junior Bender series, professional burglar Junior doesn't have an opportunity to demonstrate his burglary proficiency. Instead, a legendary (though elderly) gangster employs Junior to make sure his reputation doesn't suffer when he suspects that four men who solicited him to sponsor a tour of aging rock bands are planning to cheat him out of the money he expected to make from the proceeds. In addition, there have already been a couple of "accidents" which may have resulted from feuding band members and reason to expect that there may be more, so Junior has his hands full.

Part of the fun of this book is in reading about the behind-the-scenes drama of the Rock of Ages tour--aging rockers with personal vendettas, crumbling venues, and outrageous behavior. The book is front-loaded with too much of this description, which slows down the story, but it is often witty and entertaining. Junior brings his teenage daughter into some of the action, allowing her time with the old gangster and with a flamboyant septuagenarian former groupie and telling her more about his own career than he should, displaying questionable parenting skills. But it is in the final scenes of the book where things really take off, leading to a propulsive, suspenseful conclusion that is worth waiting for.

My thanks to NetGalley and Soho Press for affording me the opportunity to read and provide an honest review of this book.

Rock of Ages by Timothy Hallinan
Rating: 3 stars

Summary:

Junior Bender is asked by a local aging mobster to get his stolen investment back from a local rock concert tour made of past rock star's. Bender must also entertain his teen daughter and delves into his career while teaching the expert burglar trade to her.

Comments: Plenty of woke references to plot the book to be sure Hallinan shows his bonafides to the readers that need such reference to there reading. Bender never really gets to use his skills, but suddenly becomes and investigator.

I will always feel attached to this series because of the nostalgic value it was for me. This book in particular had a certain charm to it. Exceptionally witty.