I reviewed Brian Meeks’ first Henry Wood novel, Henry Wood Detective Agency, not long ago, telling you that I enjoyed it very much in spite of some stylistic flaws. Henry Wood: Time and Again affected me the same way. I liked it a lot, and I suspect you will too.
Henry Wood, New York private eye in 1955, is a quiet man who occasionally gets gifts from the future, deposited inexplicably in a closet in his basement. When he gets word that his former partner and mentor, Mickey Moore, has been murdered, he sets about going through his friend’s notes in search of clues leading to a motive. Meanwhile, a beautiful woman from his past has come back into his life. She involves him in a quest for a mysterious, ancient device by means of which, the legend goes, one may speak to God.
There’s more than a hint of The Maltese Falcon in Henry Wood: Time and Again, but it’s a very different world. I tried to express, in my last review, the remarkably quiet and peaceful atmosphere that pervades these books. Even when the tension rises, there’s serenity here. I can’t explain it. Even occasional infelicities, like not knowing the difference between “part” and “depart,” don’t shake it for me. Meeks continues his odd habit, in dialogue, of avoiding contractions. I didn’t care. I also noticed that the writing, when it was good, was better than I remembered. I particularly enjoyed an idiosyncratic scene where one character, formerly a complete monster and bully, decides to turn his life around and starts acting differently. Such things do happen occasionally in real life, but you rarely see them in books.
Mild cautions for language and sexual situations. I recommend the Henry Wood books, thus far.