It’s been quite a while since I had this much fun reading a novel. The last one I remember enjoying this much is this same author’s old-time Western novel, “Whisper Valley”. It’s amazing to me how one author can write two such amazing stories in totally different genres.
“Where Flamingos Fly” is a masterpiece of old-time noir fiction that reminds me of Raymond Chandler at his best. It has the delightful feel you get while watching one of those classic films of the ‘40s, like “The Glass Key”, “Key Largo”, and “The Big Sleep”.

Bobby Underwood does an unusual, but very cool thing at the beginning of this book. He gives a list of the characters, and names of actors and actresses of the ‘30s and ‘40s who would play their roles if it were a film. The cast he chose to represent his creations is perfect.

Picture Alan Ladd playing the lead as reporter Ed Sanderson. He’s not your typical reporter, being a fresh veteran of WWII, he owns a .45, and knows how to use it. He leaves his home in Chicago and settles in Miami, the place “where flamingos fly”, and stumbles on to a potential big story that originated from the murder of a Chicago mobster, and ends up in Miami when Ed spots the beautiful “Mystery girl”. In his pursuit of the story, he recruits the help of Anne, a fellow Chicago reporter he’s sweet on, but reluctantly left behind in the windy city.

“Anne was a very pretty blonde whose rear end or smile could stop traffic. She could easily have doubled for Priscilla Lane in the pictures.”

For anyone familiar with Frank Capra’s “Arsenic and Old Lace”, you can see why Underwood sees her playing his female lead.

Anne jumps at the chance to join Ed in Miami, and the adventure begins.

With additional help from an excellent cast of memorable characters who could be portrayed by such stars as James Craig, Phyllis Brooks, Gail Russell, Hugh Beaumont, and Dan Duryea, Ed and Anne find themselves up to their necks in danger from mobsters in the exotic and glamorous 1940s Miami. Underwood is a master bringing a time and place to life through his economical and sharp prose. He’s so historically accurate and precise with his descriptions, you feel like you’ve traveled back in time, and are a part of the action. The sights, sounds, and smells are interwoven so perfectly, you can feel the Miami sun and smell the salty air.

The dialogue is as good or better than any noir film I’ve ever seen, or any book of the same genre.
And, of course, there’s the romance! Few writers can match Underwood’s pure style in that regard. This guy could turn a Boris Karloff character into a romantic leading man.

Whether you’re a nostalgia buff, lover of noir, or just an old-fashion romantic, you owe it to yourself to read this fantastic novel.
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