The Blind Devotion of Imogene

From the genius of David Putnam, who masterfully penned the eleven-book Bruno Johnson series, comes a radically different and entertaining comedic noir crime mystery. Subtitled The Misadventures of Imogene Taylor #1, this is the first in a series featuring the quirky seventy-five-year-old Imogene. She’s in her second year of parole after serving ten years in prison for the “murder” of her husband, Wayne.

She awoke from a fitful sleep to hear and perceive a shadowy intruder entering her bedroom and instinctively reached for her gun, discharging her weapon. Unfortunately, it was Wayne, sheepishly trying to sneak home from a night of debauchery. The court deemed this murder, rather than the more appropriate manslaughter. During her prison time, she vented her anger by sending threatening letters to the POTUS, doing extensive research on the law, and penning a novel, Peekaboo POTUS, revealing her tongue-in-cheek plans to assassinate the president. She even submitted this book to multiple publishers.

To satisfy her parole conditions, she works for slave wages at Dentco, a store that offers discount prices for dented canned goods, damaged dry goods, and out-of-date pharmacy products. Her clientele are the poor and destitute. She sits behind the counter on her stool, endlessly chain-smoking Marlboros. She frequently finds herself doing internal soliloquies in times of stress and indecision, mirroring the advice of Ange (her best friend in lock-up). Whenever the President travels through a nearby area, she must accept a lunch date from Eugene, a Secret Service agent assigned to her case. After all, her prison letters placed her on a list of “crazies” assigned a “threat assessment.” Additionally, she is frequently harassed by Nancy Do-Right, the “Black Witch” of a parole officer, who continually pesters her at work and assures her of the probability of returning to prison. To make matters worse, she is subjected to a “shake-down” by low-level thug Sam Giancana, aka “The Cigar,” for weekly protection money. All of the other businesses in the strip mall are also accosted, including the Cherry Liquor Store and even Madame Woo’s: The Lotus Massage and Tea Parlor.

Then Imogene’s best friend and next-door neighbor, Suz, experiences a crisis when her father dies. He was a terrible hoarder and left a garage full of boxes of junk. Suzanne pleads for Imogene’s help. At the very bottom of the humongous pile, they find a mysterious large box. To their surprise, they reluctantly open it to find a “long-dead” woman. Suz immediately assumes this was her mother, who reportedly “abandoned” the family long ago. Imogene convinces her to bury the box in her backyard, under “Mr. Majestic,” the large avocado tree. All is well until Thelma, Suz’s mother, suddenly arrives after seeing her husband’s obituary notice.

As you can imagine, a comedy of errors ensues.

David Putnam proves to be a wonderful storyteller as he skillfully weaves multiple plotlines together, featuring a cast of colorful and quirky multi-layered characters. Tension and intrigue are ratcheted up as the cast of characters inexorably collides with unexpected twists. Utilizing pitch-perfect dialogue, this mélange of mystery, humor, and a series of misadventures evolves into a page-turner with an exhilarating denouement. Themes of redemption, love, friendship, and the ramifications of secrets are explored.

Thanks to NetGalley and Level Best Books for providing an uncorrected proof in exchange for an honest review. Hopefully, Imogene’s misadventures will continue to unfold with the same degree of entertainment