Peace, Love & Haight

This immersive suspense novel from Talley (Yesterday We Forget Tomorrow) captures the chaotic rhythm of San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury district in late 1969. Frederick Dorn, owner of United Hallucinations Gallery, is distraught that the mafia has moved into the neighborhood, bringing “cheap speed and strong heroin” with them. Pressured by his friend, police detective Victor Rodriguez, Frederick goes undercover to help the SFPD bust dirty dealers like “Rat-Man” Rathkin, whose tainted drugs have left a swath of dead users in their wake. During a meeting with Frederick, an earthquake causes Rathkin to fall off the Golden Gate Bridge, which triggers a domino effect that sees Frederick harassed by a rogue cop, avoiding recruitment from a dangerous mob kingpin, and struggling to hide his involvement with the police from his friends. To top it off, his finances are foundering, so he accepts a job as a “private third eye” for a couple looking for their teenage daughter, who has joined a cult. Talley introduces a daunting number of plot threads, but he skillfully weaves them into a dazzling tie-dye tapestry that brings a well-covered corner of American history to vivid life. It’s a trip. (Oct.)