Blue Lonesome by Bill Pronzini

First published in 1995; published digitally by Open Road Media on April 22, 2014

Jim Messenger is a lonely CPA. If he had the talent of Duke Ellington, he would write a ballad called "Blue Lonesome" for the woman who eats alone every night at the Harmony Café. He views her with a sort of "seductive bewilderment." Sensing a kindred spirit, Messenger tries to strike up a friendship. His efforts are rebuffed but he becomes obsessed with her. He soon learns that the woman, who has been living under an alias and withdrawing cash from a safe deposit box to meet her needs, has committed suicide.

Messenger makes it his mission to discover the woman's identity. The quest takes him to Beulah, Nevada, where he meets the woman's sister and learns about her past. Or rather, he learns a horrific version of the woman's past, a version he doesn't believe. That prompts him to search for the truth. Most people in Beulah don't want to know the truth. They are comforted by the lies they tell themselves. For Messenger, the small town of Beulah becomes a dangerous and unwelcoming place.

Bill Pronzini establishes Messenger as a dull man living a lonesome life, a man who is afraid to take chances (and who lost the only love of his life for that reason). Messenger's mission forces him to abandon his safe life and to take risks for the first time. Blue Lonesome is therefore more than a crime novel; it is a story of personal growth. As the story evolves, Messenger begins working as a ranch hand, an experience that transforms him as much as his growing feelings for the woman who employs him.

Blue Lonesome is not the best of Pronzini's crime novels. The crimes are ordinary and the "whodunit" reveal comes as no great surprise, although a wicked twist at the end is satisfying. In many respects, the story is secondary to the novel's other virtues. The atmosphere of a traumatized town that refuses to heal, a town built upon dark secrets and intolerant attitudes, is chilling. Unlike many current crime writers, Ponzini writes tight prose that moves the plot forward at a steady pace. While the characters in Blue Lonesome are better than the story, they are enough to make the novel worth reading.

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