The Do-Re-Mi

(4.5 / 5)

Evergreen, near the Oregon/California border, is a different town than the last time Clifford Hickey visited, only a year ago. Then it was an Eden, a garden of peace and delights, of music and lovely hippies sharing all they had. Now it’s the site of a range war. Bikers have descended upon the place to poach from the hippies’ marijuana plantations. And a home town boy gets murdered the very night Clifford arrives.

Clifford, a recent college graduate, and his adopted brother Alvaro, a gifted musician who hasn’t yet adjusted well following a tour in Vietnam, are scheduled to perform at the Evergreen folk festival. But when sheriffs crash the brothers’ reunion at Alvaro’s camp in a redwood forest, Alvaro runs.

In the effort to clear his brother, who is charged with the murder of a sheriff’s nephew, Clifford makes deadly enemies of a gang of outlaw bikers led by a tiny sociopath. When Clifford seeks help from hippies living in Evergreen’s communes, they shun him. So do the locals. Which means he’s on his own, unless the girlfriend of the murdered boy chooses to trust him, or unless he decides to call for help from Pop, detective Tom Hickey.

But Tom’s busy trying to keep Clifford’s mama from returning to the sanitarium.

A Shamus Best P.I. novel finalist.

“… the endearing Hickey clan brings the social and cultural scene of the period vividly to life.” ~ Publisher’s Weekly