This book won an Edgar award for best first novel and I agree wholeheartedly. This is a fabulously written, fascinating story. Benjamin Justice won a Pulitzer Prize for a story he did while as a reporter at a major newspaper six years ago. But, then, his prize, career and nearly his life were ripped from him when it was discovered that the story was faked. His life has been sliding into the abyss since then. His former editor tries to hook him back into life by getting his help on a recent gay-bashing murder. It just doesn't look like the kid who confessed really did it. ( )

Rating: 2.5* of five

The Book Description: Following the death of his lover and a scandal involving his Pulitzer Prize-winning article, crime reporter Benjamin Justice has fallen into a hazy, alcoholic life, hiding out in the West Hollywood neighborhood known as the Norma Triangle. He is called back to the world of the living by an unexpected, and unwelcome, visit from Harry Brofsky, his former boss. Brofsky wants Ben to do some background work (strictly off the record) with another reporter on the investigation of a seemingly motiveless killing outside a local gay bar. The investigation throws Justice back into the life of gay bars, spurned lovers, dysfunctional families, and tawdry secrets--all the things he had been trying to escape. And it leads, ultimately, to the reexamination of his own dark past, and his own crimes of passion. Simple Justice is a subtly plotted mystery that takes a piercing look at not only violent crime but also violations of the heart and soul in the sometimes glamorous, more often dark and gritty gay world of West Hollywood.

My Review: Simple? Simplistic. Subtle? Clichéd. Voices are muffled as if through handkerchiefs. (Seriously...try that sometime...all you are is inaudible.) Gunshots? Are you sure it wasn't a car backfiring? (In the past 20 years, the ubiquity of fuel injection has made this once-frequent occurrence unusual enough to be more noteworthy than a mere gunshot.) The large, muscular African-American bouncer at a gay bar says the victim was “all by hisself.”

Nauseous.

The murderer, when revealed, is so boringly predictable that, on the character's first appearance, I noted “killer” on the page. (Since erased. Hey, quit frowning, some people dog-ear.) The red herrings were days old, and smelt up the place. (Punishment will continue until praise is heaped upon me.)

So why did I finish it? It's the sixteen-year-old first book in a series that has eight books. First books are seldom all that wonderful, and a series that's lasted eight has something. Maybe I won't like that something, but I'll try one more to see. It only took about three hours to read this one, so it's not like I'm making a major time commitment. Plus the Pearl Rule looms behind each page-flip, dangling its gorgeously made invitation to say “sayonara” and sail away for better-written shores. ( )

Excellent! Ben Justice is a down-and-out journalist; 6 years earlier his lover died and his Pulitzer was taken from him when it was revealed that his articles were a work of fiction. Disgraced, he mooches off dear friends and drinks.

A former colleague comes to see him out of the blue with an offer he should refuse, but an opportunity that could pull him out of the abyss. A fair-haired gay man is murdered outside a gay bar and a young man found leaning over the body is quickly jailed. But things are not as they appear. Ben delves into the murder and begins interviewing bar patrons, the dead man's mother and his roommate, and even distant friends, like a closeted tennis star. Each character is well fleshed-out to the point that you feel you are in the room with them.

Excellent character development, including that of the SoCal area. Through Wilson's prose you can feel the sun, the gritty heat, smell the tacos cooking from taco trucks, and experience the gridlock of traffic. Amazing sense of place.

Excellent mystery and I can't wait to read the next books in the series. ( )