Just imagine a cross-genre composed of private detective story, men's erotica and fantasy, mixed with pot-boiler and a little dash of the kind of fast-talking tough-as-nails presentation as voiced by Jennifer Jason Leigh in Hudsucker Proxy. In Chasing Spirits, you meet Johnny, Erotic Private Investigator, who happens to be in energetic consultation with his secretary at the same time he's answering a call from Rick Rosa, a soon-to-be client.

Johnny is not your run of the mill private detective, and he doesn't have run of the mill clients with ordinary problems. But his whole fantastic clientele is built into a perfectly believable neighborhood scenario, and Rosenberger very delicately slips in his unexpected elements with such finesse--and blinding speed--that before you register it, you've switched genres.

Rosenberger has a writing voice tailored to this particular style of tale. (Or tailored the voice to the story--or vice versa.) There's a significant set up and plenty of characterization. Even though our protagonist Johnny himself is something of a dirty private detective cliché, as a reader I never blame him for being what he is--which is as blatantly horny as any male at his testosterone-induced extreme, apparently most of the time. It's a character that might not work anywhere else except in this particular venue. When having sex seems to be Johnny's primary investigative tool, it can't hurt for him to be so ready, willing, able, and practiced.. Mr. Rosenberger does not scrimp on the set up. He spends a goodly number of pages introducing Johnny and his world. In fact, I fully expect that there will be more files for Johnny to investigate. I just hope he has a goodly supply of Viagra on hand.

I haven't read any other works by Mr. Rosenberger, but if there are more out there, I'll certainly look into them. He's a funny guy who has built a character who conceivably could sprout a whole series of short stories or novels. A fast paced read, with a twist at the end.

Maîtresse
Copyright 2006