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Ray Dyson first took up eating in Evansville, IN, just long enough ago that not only is the house he was born in no
longer there, neither is the street. He attended The Ohio State University School of Journalism, and spent several years as a newspaperman, covering crime and sports. He is a former
sports editor and sports columnist, and now lives in Mansfield, OH, with his wife, Pamela, where he works as a freelance
journalist. He has a particular interest in American history (especially the Civil War), the American West, and the American cinema. Dyson is the author of three books: Smokey Joe: A Baseball Fable, a western novel, Bannon: The Scavenger Breed, and his crime story, The Ice Cream Blonde (A Neil Brand Thriller), which is set in Hollywood in 1931. A fourth book, another Neil Brand Thriller titled The Naked Nymph in the Dark Flickers, will be published in September 2016.
Reviewed by Alyssa Elmore for Readers' Favorite
The Ice Cream Blonde (A Neil Brand Thriller) by Ray Dyson is a gripping noir novel based in the 1930s. Neil Brand is a disgraced ex-cop, framed by his crooked partner. Having lost everything, he's landed a security detail at York Brothers Studio in famed Hollywood, California. Neil's only job now requires him to keep his employer's stars out of the tabloids. A tall order. Things get complicated when one of the studio's major stars is found floating face down in his swimming pool. Soon after, Neil is up to his neck in murder, lies, and intrigue. He finds himself digging through layers of lies to uncover the truth of the mysterious deaths, uncovering more than he bargained for, including the secret of The Ice Cream Blonde.
I was hooked on page one. Having grown up on books and movies spanning the 1920s to the 1950s, I frequently get frustrated with authors who just can't seem to sell the period they are writing in. Ray Dyson is the exception. His "hard-boiled slang" is authentic and he somehow managed to stay within the confines of his chosen time period. The Ice Cream Blonde is my kind of book, a great murder mystery and rich with history from the 1920s and '30s. My only complaint is that there are several areas where the reader is taken from the 1930s to the 1920s. It was a little confusing, but eventually, it stays in the '30s. The Ice Cream Blonde has many twists, and is filled with lovable and hate-able characters that had me laughing and crying - sometimes at the same time! Definitely a must-read! In all, I loved The Ice Cream Blonde by Ray Dyson and hope to see more Neil Brand thrillers soon!
