Shelf Life — Scott Dickensheets: Former Las Vegan jazzes up murder mystery

Friday, July 2, 1999 | 9:59 a.m.

Scott Dickensheets' books/magazines column appears Fridays. Reach him at 259-4022 or dickens@vegas.com.

So who among us hasn't wanted to kill Kenny G? OK, maybe not kill kill. Not exactly. A nice wounding would suffice. Perhaps dropping heavyish objects on him from a great height. Or pounding him and pounding him with a shovel. Or ... or ...

... Er, sorry, lapsed into pleasant reverie there. The point is, something about the man and his elevator music -- and the undemanding noodlings of his "smooth jazz" brethren -- can arouse deep, deep revulsion in a guy. And while I personally would never raise a shovel against such musicians and their perfectly, if unfortunately, legal recordings, not everyone possesses such restraint.

Specifically, the culprit in "Bird Lives!" (Walker and Co., $23.95), the latest mystery by former Las Vegan Bill Moody. In his fourth novel starring jazzman-turned-reluctant crimebuster Evan Horne, Moody sets up a delicious premise: A lunatic jazz purist is murdering Kenny G clones. The killer scrawls "Bird Lives!" at the crime scenes, a reference to saxophonist Charlie Parker, the embodiment of all that is good and right about real jazz. It's a plot device doubly appealing to Moody who, in addition to being a writer, is also a jazz drummer, and definitely not in the smooth vein.

"I've talked to a lot of musicians," Moody says by phone from Northern California, where he teaches writing at Sonoma State University. "When I tell them the premise, they all laugh. 'Too bad they have to catch the killer!' "

Moody laughs a bit too, then quickly adds a qualifier. "It's not Kenny G himself," he says. "It's the fact that the jazz tag gets put on it, and it's really not."

Jazz is central to Moody's Evan Horne series. It's the soundtrack, the milieu, the plot engine, the reason for being. But he can't forget that some readers don't give a toot about jazz and just want a good yarn.

"I'm walking a fine line," Moody admits. "Jazz is obviously central to the story, but not everybody is a jazz fan." He likens his approach to that of Tony Hillerman, who sets his mysteries in Navajo country, or Dick Francis, who sets his in the world of horse racing. Like jazz, neither is exactly familiar ground to mainstream readers.

"You can't read their books without learning something about Navajo culture or horse racing," he says, "but they integrate it into the story. I try not to stop the story and lecture."

In "Bird Lives!," the jazz content isn't intrusive. In fact, some critics have said -- by way of dissing his books -- that the music is the high point of the series. "As usual," one wrote, "Moody is much stronger on the jazz elements than on the human interaction."

"As with all the books, I didn't outline much," Moody says of his method. "I just sat down with the premise, What if someone was killing smooth jazz stars? Who would be doing it? Why would they be doing it? How would Evan Horne get involved?"

That last is a key question. To prevent Horne from being more gimmick than well-rounded character, Moody has to devise storylines his guy can be drawn into naturally. In "Bird Lives!," a police friend brings Horne into the murder investigation because no one in the cop shop knows enough about jazz to make sense of the clues.

"Moody has come up with one of the most unlikely premises in crime fiction," one reviewer wrote of a previous Horne mystery, "but so far it works." But for how long? Too many outings and he risks implausibility. It's the Angela Lansbury syndrome: How often can this character, who, after all, isn't a real cop, stumble over conveniently placed dead bodies without straining credibility?

Fortunately for Moody, jazz history is full of dark, unexplored nooks Horne can probe. "I've already been toying with the idea of doing something about (trumpeter) Chet Baker," Moody says. "He died under somewhat mysterious circumstances in Amsterdam ..."

Moody, a Las Vegan for two decades, puts his knowledge of the city to good use; large chunks of the series are set here. And there is at least one small karate chop of serious local meaning in the book. In one scene, the fictional Ace Buffington, an English professor at UNLV, complains to Horne about his department's screwy priorities:

"One meeting after another," he says. "They all think literary criticism stopped in 1950, and the chair spends more time in a bar than his office ..."

Yowch!

That passage comes loaded with back story: A few years ago, Moody and several other instructors were canned by the UNLV English Department. Clearly, Moody still has separation issues. He chuckles when I bring it up. "I guess that's one of the perks of being a writer of fiction," he says. "You can take a few jabs."

Moody will sign copies of "Bird Lives!" at 7 p.m. July 13 in the Borders Book Shop at 2323 S. Decatur Blvd. (258-0999).

Reading List

* GQ, July 1999: In his first editor's note, Mark Golin, the new boss at Details, urges readers to write in if they like what he's doing with the magazine; if they don't, he says, "write to (editor) Art Cooper at GQ." Implication: Details -- young, hip, happening; GQ -- stodge city, a retirement home for old fogeys.

Yet, whereas the writing in Details tends to be so light it barely sticks to the page, an average edition of GQ contains a surplus of good reading. Example: the July issue.

From the eye-opening report on prostate cancer (almost as many men die from it as do women from breast cancer, yet it gets a fraction of the attention) to a white-knuckle account of a Mexican road race, this issue belies the stereotype of GQ as an old guy's style mag.

After all, I read it every month and, as anyone who's ever laid eyes on me will agree, it ain't for the fashion advice. The tie I'm wearing in the photo to your left: strictly for show. I don't even know where it is now.

Footnote

* Book signing: Barbara Land, co-author of "A Short History of Las Vegas," will appear at two book signings this month: 7 p.m., July 27, in the Barnes & Noble store at 2191 Rainbow Blvd. (631-1775); and at 7 p.m., July 28, in the Borders Books and Music at 1445 W. Sunset Road (433-6222).