C.J. Floyd wasn’t always the cheroot-smoking investigator with a nose for trouble.
“First of State” takes us back to C.J.’s early days, a time when the Vietnam War veteran was chasing ghosts lurking around Denver’s Five Points neighborhood.
Denver-based author Robert Greer’s eighth C.J. Floyd novel turns back to the clock to the early 1970s, a savvy way to flesh out his signature character.
The prequel begins with C.J. arriving home after two tours of duty in Vietnam. He can’t sleep well and isn’t sure where his life is headed, but an encounter with a one-armed antiques dealer named Wiley Ames sets him straight. Wiley fought in a far different war — World War II — but the pair bond over their love of antiques.
Greer shrewdly captures how a chance encounter can spin someone’s life in a healthy direction.
When Wiley is murdered near his antiques shop, C.J. vows to find the killer. It’s the kind of headstrong statement that often accompanies a weak follow-through, but young C.J. refuses to quit. He spends years soaking up clues while learning the bail-bondsman ropes from his Uncle Ike.
C.J. keeps on digging while working on other cases, some of them endangering the lives of both himself and his inner circle. Slowly, the truth behind Wiley’s death reveals itself.
Our hero isn’t a seasoned investigator — yet. His initial efforts prove clumsy and bear little fruit, and he’s often too stubborn to realize it until it stares him in the face. So he leans on Uncle Ike and a few neighborhood pals to hone his sleuthing skills. It’s a gig that could be just as deadly as fighting the Vietcong, but it’s the role he was meant to take.
“First of State” uses the racial tensions of the era, the still-raw wounds of the Vietnam War and Five Points itself to spice up an already flavorful tale. Greer name-drops as many Denver cultural touchstones as any novel can hold. Locals will lap it up, but this mystery doesn’t demand a home-field advantage.
“First of State” begins on an inauspicious note. Greer’s prose in the first few chapters feels amateurish at times.
“C.J.’s collection of antique license plates, his equivalent of Olympic gold, said more about him than any of his other collections,” Greer writes.
But once the Ames mystery thickens, the writing finds its purpose. Greer only falters during the few romantic exchanges, leaving readers with descriptions better left to the fine folks at Harlequin.
Greer takes greater care crafting the secondary characters in C.J.’s neighborhood. Take Petey Greene, the affable informant who delivers evidence to bolster C.J.’s mission.
The antiques themselves should be granted full character status. They’re the object of C.J.’s affections, and Greer describes the discarded license plates and dusty prints with a depth that shapes C.J. even more than his Stetson hat and Bel Air wheels. The budding investigator is more interested in those dusty plates than the local girl who sets the tongues of his male buddies wagging.
Some of the story beats in “State” are telegraphed a few chapters away, and even green mystery readers will sense when a particular character’s life span is only a few paragraphs long.
Those who find the mysteries here on the conventional side will still appreciate the bond between C.J. and Ike. Even when the prose falls flat, there’s always that connection to propel the story forward.
“First of State” proves the prequel concept can help extend a franchise and ripen the reader’s understanding of a beloved character.
Christian Toto is a Denver-based freelance writer.
FICTION
First of State
by Robert Greer, $24.95
