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Long Teeth is one of the strongest of Marvin Albert's Pete Sawyer Riviera PI novels, and it is the book where the Niçois texture becomes its own attraction. Sawyer takes a routine job and ends up investigating a Maghrébine immigrant family's claim against a wealthy local property developer, and the case slides into the kind of corruption that does not stop at the départemental boundary.
Albert was an American who lived for decades in the South of France, and you can feel the actual residence on every page. The Niçois Carnaval, the Italian-French border traffic at Ventimiglia, the specific geography of the old town all carry weight. Sawyer's half-French, half-American background gives him useful access to both ends of the case.
Four stars. An underrated entry in an underrated series. Recommended for hard-boiled readers who want their setting away from California.
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