Denver author Robert Greer’s latest book, “Blackbird, Farewell,” is subtitled “A CJ Floyd novel.” This is somewhat of a misnomer since this eighth novel “featuring” Floyd actually gives center stage to Damion Madrid, Floyd’s godson.
CJ and his long-time love, Mavis Sundee, have run off to be married and are on the Big Island of Hawaii for their honeymoon. They will be gone 10 long days, a lifetime for Damion and others left behind in Denver.
The story opens with Shandell Bird, Damion’s best friend and fellow college basketball teammate, ruminating over his current situation. Blackbird, as Shandell is known, is the No. 2 NBA pick who has just signed with the Denver Nuggets and has a hot $4 million contract in his pocket, check included. He appears to have everything going for him, but he has worries and secrets few know about.
Those secrets lead him to agree to a clandestine evening meeting at the old basketball courts where he and Damion once shot hoops. This turns out to be his last outing since Blackbird is shot and killed in cold blood.
Damion and all of Shandell’s family and friends are devastated. Damion is determined to find out who robbed him of his best friend, although their paths were about to diverge, since Damion decided to attend medical school and to follow his dream to become a doctor rather than a NBA star. As he begins his quest, Damion has no clue where his investigation will lead him or what shocking facts will reveal a Blackbird he never knew.
As family members gather to share their loss, Shandell’s mother, Aretha, a strong woman who raised her only child alone, has to deal with the reappearance of ex-husband Leon Bird. He had abandoned her and Shandell and has long been out of the picture. Leon has spent the last year trying to reconnect with his son since his fame grew and the financial offers poured in. Leon’s presence makes a bad situation even worse for Aretha and Shandell’s friends.
Other strong characters also on the scene are Damion’s mother, Julie Madrid, who once was CJ’s secretary but now is an accomplished attorney; Connie Eastland, Shandell’s girlfriend; and Flora Jean Benson, CJ’s partner. Flora Jean is an impressive 6-foot-1-inch former Marine who is running the bail bondsman business while CJ is gone.
As Damion pursues his search for the killer, he enlists the help of experienced investigator Flora Jean. Soon Damion is re-examining the possibility that the loss of the final NCAA championship playoff game that Blackbird and he almost won for Colorado State wasn’t just bad luck. Also a former teammate suggests that Blackbird might have been involved with selling and using performance-enhancing drugs. These wild accusations lead Damion to question if he ever knew the real Blackbird. As he continues his solo quest, the truth he learns outstrips even the wildest fiction he’s known.
Even as Damion follows the trail of a murderer around Colorado, the heart of the story remains in Denver’s historic Five Points neighborhood. This is one of the city’s oldest areas and is known as the “Harlem of the West” for its jazz history. In the ’30s and through the ’50s most of the greats — Duke Ellington, Miles Davis, Billie Holiday and others — played at more than 40 establishments located in the neighborhood.
Greer’s hero, CJ Floyd, age 55, has spent 30 years as a bail bondsman and bounty hunter after having served in Vietnam. CJ operated as the lone black bail bondsman in Denver until recently. He has now broadened his interests by opening an antique and collectible store specializing in cowboy memorabilia. His habit of sporting a cowboy hat blends in nicely in his new establishment.
“Blackbird, Farewell” is a tense tale that explores the underbelly of college and pro sports. This new tale may disappoint some fans since CJ’s absence seems to be a sign of a new story line for Greer, one that sees a new, stronger, younger hero emerge as the main man of Five Points fiction in the future. This can be seen as a good thing.
Greer, in addition to being a prolific writer, is a practicing surgical pathologist and a professor at the University of Colorado. Besides the eight CJ Floyd novels, Greer has written two medical thrillers and a collection of short stories, not to mention more than 100 academic medical papers.
This is a man with a lot to say and, if we’re lucky, in the near future there will be a joint CJ and Damion adventure for fans to enjoy.
Leslie Doran is a freelance writer in Durango.
Fiction
Blackbird, Farewell by Robert Greer, $25.95
