|
THE GOLDEN ORANGE, 1990
Joseph Wambaugh focuses on a special part of the California scene, the Gold Coast of Orange County, to give us death of chicanery amidst yachts, mansions, and millionaires.
The setting for this story is Newport Beach, an area noted for yachts that seldom leave the dock and for millionaires actively pursued by oft-divorced women--the latter dedicated to improving themselves via plastic surgery and bikini-basking and to improving their futures by their precise knowledge of who is worth what.
Winnie Farlowe, forty-year-old ex-cop, is more interested in drinking than in looking over yachts and bikinis. Since his retirement with a bad back, the result of chasing a boat burglar, Winnie hasn’t been able to do much well: Even his job as a ferry captain leads to a wild night of disaster at sea.
But his notoriety for that mishap brings him to the attention of Tess Binder, a stunningly beautiful and sexually spirited three-time divorcee with an uncertain future. She searches him out in his favorite waterfront saloon, introduces him to the world of clubs, ranches, and to the boat of his dreams. But she brings with her the mystery of her father’s death and the fear of her own fate. And soon Winnie too is the target of an unknown assailant.
Joseph Wambaugh takes on the world of the rich and depicts it in one of his richest settings. Newport Beach and its waters, and the California desert and its mountains are so vivid and so important to the plot that they are almost characters in their own right.
The Golden Orange is filled with the author’s surprises of plot, celebrated humor, and sure sense of human foibles--an offbeat suspense story by a master of the art.
|
