Disgraced journalist Benjamin Justice, at loose ends between jobs, takes a short vacation with a friend, Los Angeles Times reporter Alexandra Templeton, to a movie set at a faded resort hotel in the California desert. The film being shot is about a star's death in the 1950's and the lynching of a local black man for the murder--the last lynching in California. But the set is in an uproar over the appearance--and then the brutal murder--of a feared Hollywood gossip journalist who had promised to reveal 'explosive' new information. Now Justice finds himself enmeshed in two old deaths and a new murder as he attempts to uncover the truth before another falls victim.

CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 4.0 based on 10 reviews)

"Rhapsody In Blood" is an excellent book

My favorite gay mystery writer John Morgan Wilson is back with a seventh Benjamin Justice novel, Rhapsody in Blood. Benjamin Justice is a 40-something, HIV+ white gay man missing one eye who lives in West Hollywood and is a disgraced former Los Angeles Times reporter who was forced to return a Pulitzer Prize after it was revealed he faked his award-winning article. Somehow he finds himself in situations where people harboring secrets frequently meet violent deaths (and he is often in mortal danger, too--when we first met Justice he was HIV- and intact). His sidekick is Alexandra Stevenson, a statuesque African American trust fund baby in her early 30s who also happens to be a star Times reporter. Other characters in the Justice series are Maurice and Fred, a 70-something gay couple who have been together for over 50 years and who rent out the room over their garage to Justice in the heart of Boystown.

The first six books in the series have also used Los Angeles (and usually West Hollywood) as a character. One of the most enjoyable features was reading Wilson's descriptions of locales around the city complete with historical nuggets of places that I can (and often do) drive by whenever I want. Initially the books in the series had the cute affectation of always including Justice in the title: Simple Justice, Revision of Justice, Justice at Risk, The Limits of Justice. Then the series took a harrowingly dark turn during the last one and continued in that vein in Blind Eye with some relief coming in Moth and Flame.

The latest installment is Rhapsody in Blood, which is not set in Los Angeles but is a classic Hollywood murder mystery. Justice and Stevenson go up to a small mountain town a few hours away from L.A. now called Haunted Springs. Fifty years ago gorgeous movie star Rebecca Fox was found murdered in one of the family-run hotel's rooms on March 15th while shooting a movie in Eternal Springs. She had recently had sex with someone and the hotel owner's teenage son claimed he had seen a black man coming out of the room. The man Ed Jones was immediately arrested by the local sherrif (who happened to be related to the hotel owner) and lynched later that same night--no murder weapon was ever found in the hotel room. Twenty-five years ago Rebecca Fox's daughter Brandy Fox checked into the same hotel room on the 25th anniversary of her mother's murder and was found dead in her room with her throat cut and the knife in her hand. The death was ruled a suicide. The name of the town was changed to Haunted Springs and the mythology of the two Hollywood deaths and the creepy hotel grew, particularly after the publication of a best-selling true crime book about the ill-fated town. Now Hollywood is filming a movie based on the Rebecca and Brandy Fox deaths at the hotel. Templeton is writing a story about the filming of the movie, which stars one of the current top female box-office stars, a very attractive up and coming male starlet and a popular rapper.

What makes the Justice novels so interesting is that even though they are firmly ensconced in the murder mystery genre the author has no qualms about including social commentary on any number of urgent comtemporary topics. In Rhapsody in Blue there are threads about race (from the DL or "down low" phenomenon, to a dissection of the psychological motivations behind the panic caused by Black male/White female couplings, lynching, among other topics), sexuality (outing, the coming out process, childhood precociousness, age-based anxieties), music (hip hop/rap, the music business, the title is a pun on Rhapsody in Blue which is a key theme throughout the book), history (who controls what the nature of 'truth' is, how the past influences the present and the future, basic historical facts about lynching in the United States), fame (it's fragility and allure, the Hollywood public relations apparatus, the extremes to which people will go to get it, gossip, etc) all weaved together in a well-crafted mosaic which provides a backdrop for a satisfying, insightful and fun read.

I can't wait for the next one!

GRADE: A.

July 23, 2008

The Mellower Justice

Justice accompanies his friend Alexandra Templeton to the remote Haunted Springs Hotel, where they uncover evidence relating to a race-related murder that happened many years before. Justice is still on Prozac, and he's a mellower hero, though still putting himself in danger periodically. My favorites are still the earlier books.

Neil Plakcy, author of Mahu Surfer: A Hawaiian Mystery (An Alyson Mystery)
August 06, 2007

Not His Best

While it is still worth a read (although you may want to wait for the paperback),this is my least favorite installment of the Benjamin Justice series. I was disappointed because the book was nowhere near the excellence I had come to expect from John Morgan Wilson. In my opinion, the story was formulaic and trite, compared to Wilson's other books. Other descriptions that come to mind are pale, tame, and completely lacking in punch, compared to his other work. Most authors suffer in comparison to John Morgan Wilson, and in Rhapsody in Blood, unfortunately, so does he.
September 21, 2006

A winner

Mr. Wilson, yet again, spins a very interesting tale with interesting characters. This one seems a bit like an old hollywood mystery movie. Lonely hotel, stranded guests, rainy night, and the old "one of you in this room is a murderer" type atomosphere. I loved it.

I like that BJ seems a bit more mature and I'm so glad he's off Prozac. I have nothing against Prozac, but his last adventure it seemed to focus of his life and it irritated me. :)

June 15, 2006

This is why we read mysteries . . .

John Morgan Wilson's books have always been filled with beautifully drawn characters, especially his lead storyteller, Benjamin Justice. The stories are richly layered, and each one has become darker than the last. Rhapsody in Blood is as compelling as every other book in the way it gently but surely draws you into the mystery, but it's a definite departure from the world in which the other stories take place. Justice is lured away from Los Angeles for what is supposed to be a mountain resort getaway and gets pulled very quickly into a mystery that spans generations and leads to killing in a remote hotel occupied by a handful of people with many potential motives for murder. It's amazingingly engaging . . . a true page turner. It's also a pleasant sojourn from the rest of the Justice series -- by taking the action away from West Hollywood and the broader Los Angeles area it becomes a different kind of story, with less emphasis on Justice's downward psychological spiral and more on the characters around him. It might have been inspired, in part, by Chandler's The Lady in the Lake, given the sequestered setting and the layers of corruption that conceal what really happened in the 1950s murder that sets the current story on its course. And it should be a must-read for anyone who's drawn to character-driven mysteries that become more complex with every page. It's a unique -- and standout -- entry to this amazing series.
May 18, 2006

SIMILAR PRODUCTS

Moth and Flame: A Benjamin Justice Novel (Benjamin Justice Novels)
by John Morgan Wilson

Blind Eye: A Benjamin Justice Novel
by John Morgan Wilson

The Limits of Justice
by John Morgan Wilson

Revision of Justice
by John Morgan Wilson

Simple Justice
by John Morgan Wilson