The fact that author Hal Glatzer is a musician himself shows in the musical discussions, but also in the way he uses the rhythm of his writing to create the setting. This is the swing era, and swing defined a culture as much as a type of music. The dialogue rat-a-tats along from the start with a syncopated beat reminiscent of The Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy of Company B and a vocabulary to match that catapults you straight into the time. The geographical settings are equally vivid, particularly the time spent in a Hawaii that clearly didn't just come from tourist brochures, with racial and cultural conflicts that still echo today. There's also the proverbial roller coaster of a plot, with little room to breathe and enough tangles and subplot loopdeloops to keep the reader happily engaged and puzzled to the end.

This was an enjoyable mystery with a unique flavor completely unlike the usual tough guy PI or life among the upper middle classes stories that are the usual fare for stories set back then. Recommended.