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Common Carnage is one of the Charlie Bradshaw mysteries from Stephen Dobyns, with the Saratoga Springs PI working a case that opens in the horse-racing world the series has been documenting across more than a decade of novels. Charlie is older here, working steady cases through his small Saratoga office, and the rhythms of the Saratoga summer-racing season provide the case's social texture.
Dobyns's strength in Common Carnage is the careful regional procedural patience. The Saratoga geography, the racing-economy class politics, and the specific late-summer feel of upstate New York are all rendered with the kind of insider attention only a longtime resident produces. Fans of William Bayer's late-Frank-Janek novels or of Joe R. Lansdale's Hap and Leonard series will recognize the careful regional-PI register operating at its peak.
The case resolves with appropriate weight. Charlie's ongoing relationship with his off-and-on girlfriend gets continued screen time.
Four stars. The Common Carnage Stephen Dobyns novel is one of the stronger Saratoga entries. Recommended for readers of regional PI fiction. New readers should start with Saratoga Longshot for the cleanest introduction to Charlie Bradshaw.
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