Book Review: Bayou City Burning by D. B. Borton

Bayou City Burning introduces a new, riveting father/daughter investigative team. Welcome to Houston, TX! The year is 1960, Jack Kennedy is president, and his dream is to launch humans into space. Mere days have passed since NASA launched Alan Shepherd into space and the excitement in the air remains visceral.

The story opens in ace detective Harry Lark’s rather seedy office. I was sitting at my desk reading the Post when the light changed and I looked up to see a man standing in the doorway. The rain hammered against my windows and the air conditioner was grinding away at my back and I thought, not for the first time, that someday somebody was going to get the drop on me and I wouldn’t even hear it coming.

Harry is also a single dad of two bright kids: a teenage son and younger daughter. Harry’s son knows only three tones when he talks with his dad: bored, superior, and disgruntled. Daughter Dizzy, on the other hand, is a curious girl and seems a natural to follow Harry’s investigative footsteps. If Nancy Drew and Philip Marlowe come to mind as you read, that would reflect my experience as well.

Harry’s ex-wife, a professor at Rice University, is out of the country, and Harry is staying at her home to parent their children. Dizzy and her friends, B.D. and Mel, have recently opened a lost and found business in Dizzy’s mother’s garage. The girls search for lost neighborhood items; the rule is: search only after homework is complete, which Dizzy dutifully obeys.

As the inventory increases–barrettes, grubby tennis balls, a slightly dented hubcap, and jacks–so does business. To date, the most exciting find has been a lost cat.

Then one day, little Sissy Heffelman, seven years old, walks into the garage and pleads with Dizzy to find her lost father. Dizzy knows Mr. Heffelman died in a recent horrible Houston train crash. But then an anonymous gift, a Barbie doll, arrives for Sissy after the accident. Sissy believes her father is still alive and convinces Dizzy to find him. Dizzy starts immediately, using some of Harry’s investigative procedures. Her search soon reaches a point where she needs to consult with an expert, however, and Dizzy turns to Harry.

As Harry advises his daughter, he senses that Dizzy’s search appears to link with a potentially huge case he is currently investigating. Since mob involvement is likely, he begins to work closely with his daughter. As a team, the two become unstoppable as they follow one clue after another.

There is so much to love and enjoy about Bayou City Burning. Harry’s down-on-his luck detective character brings to mind the likable Marlowe mysteries of the 60s. And, while Dizzy shares common threads with Nancy Drew, she is also–as was Nancy–unique in her moment in time. The plot has rich intensity and curvy twists, as well as much detail of the real life characters of that time in Houston. The cover reflects the intensity and depth of detail that rise from the pages inside. For me, Bayou City Burning is, in part, a celebration of a particular time and place in our country’s history, compellingly written by an author who grew up there.

I also encourage you to learn more about native Texan D. B. Borton, who has a fascinating story of her own. One fact: as a teen, Borton owned a blue roadster. Do you recall the car Nancy Drew drove?

I wanted to read Bayou City Burning in one sitting. This book–my first reading of Borton’s many mysteries–will not be the last I read. In truth, my hope is, as I write this review, that Borton is busily penning another fascinating and endearing Harry and Dizzy Lark mystery. I highly recommend this book for all mystery lovers.

Note: I received a copy of Bayou City Burning from the author’s publicist in exchange for a review that stated my genuine thoughts and reactions to the mystery.