The Do-Re-Mi

By Ken Kuhlken

In late summer, 1972, California’s redwood forests seem a “safe and wondrous place.” But some of Evergreen’s population is growing pot up in the trees and others are bent on stealing it. Then there’s the coming folk festival, a jamboree bringing in musicians, fans, and war protestors. It results in a ferment of flower power (the local hippies), raw power (the local biker gangs, notably the Cossacks), and law enforcement power (local and federal). Skirting the edges are shades of the Manson Family and the Mexican Mafia.
Enter Clifford Hickey, scheduled to perform a guitar gig before trucking off to law school. Within moments of his arrival at his brother Alvaro’s peaceful woodland campsite, six armed men with badges crash the camp, and Alvaro runs. Clifford, surprised, is arrested and so brutally cuffed he fears for his hands. He then learns that one of the sheriff’s nephews has just been murdered, and Alvaro is the posse’s quarry.
Clifford, on the brink of adult life, is pitched into a murder investigation that develops into a duel between the Hickeys—for his father and mother soon drive up—and the law, the locals, and everyone’s past.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Poisoned Pen Press
• Release date: May 27, 2010
• ISBN: 9781615951109

Ken Kuhlken

Ken Kuhlken's stories have appeared in ESQUIRE and numerous other magazines, been honorably mentioned in BEST AMERICAN SHORT STORIES, and earned a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship.His novels include MIDHEAVEN, finalist for the Ernest Hemingway Award for best first fiction book, and the Hickey family mysteries: THE BIGGEST LIAR IN LOS ANGELES; THE GOOD KNOW NOTHING; THE VENUS DEAL; THE LOUD ADIOS, Private Eye Writers of America Press Best First PI Novel; THE ANGEL GANG; THE DO-RE-MI, finalist for the Shamus Best Novel Award; THE VAGABOND VIRGINS; THE VERY LEAST; and THE ANSWER TO EVERYTHING.His five-book saga FOR AMERICA, is together a long, long novel and an incantation, a work of magic created to postpone the end of the world for at least a thousand years.His work in progress is a YA mystery.His WRITING AND THE SPIRIT advises artists seeking inspiration. He guides readers on a trip to the Kingdom of Heaven in READING BROTHER LAWRENCE.Also, he reads a lot, plays golf, watches and coaches baseball and softball, teaches at Perelandra College, and hangs out with his daughter when she comes home from her excellent college back east.

Reviews for The Do-Re-Mi

[jastbrown · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The Tom Hickey baton is handed off to son, Clifford. As a purely personal note, I enjoyed Tom and the SoCal/Tijuana storyline more.. maybe a generational thing! But still great storytelling.