I very much enjoyed Stanley Ellin’s Star Light, Star Bright, which I reviewed the other day. I liked the hero/narrator, John Milano. I compared him to Travis McGee, an easy-going, very masculine, independent-minded detective. The second (and last) book in the John Milano series is The Dark Fantastic. He’s less McGee-esque this time out.

For one thing, the first-person narration is gone. The Dark Fantastic employs two points of view, dividing the time between John Milano and our villain. There’s never any question who the villain is, or what evil he intends. The drama here centers on whether John will figure out the truth and be on hand in time to prevent disaster.

Like Travis McGee, New York investigator John Milano is an untethered male, a boy who never grew up. The difference is that McGee lives that way by choice, taking his retirement in installments because he doesn’t expect to ever grow old. John Milano is merely stuck in adolescence. Unlike the independent McGee, John Milano works for a man he despises, just because the money’s good.

John’s expertise is in the recovery of stolen art, and in The Dark Fantastic his job is to try to locate a couple valuable pre-Impressionist works stolen from a California collection. His suspicions lead him to a shady art gallery in Greenwich Village. Needing an inside source, John approaches Christy Bailey, the beautiful, black receptionist there. She agrees to spy on her boss (this requires a little lying on John’s part), but she wants something in return – an investigation of her own. Her little sister has started spending a lot of money she can’t account for. Christy wants to know what kind of trouble she’s in.

John looks into it, and in the course of his investigation grows increasingly closer to Christie. They come from very different worlds, but the attraction is immediate and powerful.

But all the while, we’re watching the villain planning his atrocity. He’s on a schedule, and time is running out.

I didn’t enjoy The Dark Fantastic as much as Star Light, Star Bright. The story was darker and more gritty this time out, and John Milano seemed to possess less agency. Also, he and Christy spend a lot of time talking about race issues. This book was written in the early 1980s, and – in my opinion – American race narratives don’t age well. What seemed like a reasonable accommodation in the eighties is considered condescending and suspect today. The goalposts are forever moving.

So I don’t think The Dark Fantastic is entirely successful. But it is gripping and moves pretty fast. Cautions for ugly racism and the sexual abuse of a minor.