The Wheel of Doll

The eponymous and hapless detective Happy Doll returns with a new philosophy and a new case in this second installment of a series “that’s a tightly coiled double helix of offbeat humor and unflinching violence” (New York Times Book Review).

• Praise for A MAN NAMED DOLL
  
  "I loved this book - it's quirky, edgy, charming, funny and serious, all in one. Very highly recommended."—Lee Child, #1 bestselling author of Blue Moon
  
  "While the macabre seriousness of the crimes and the narrator’s good-nature and sardonic humor might seem to be at odds, Ames makes it work through assured plotting, superb local color, and excellent prose. Readers will happily root for Doll, a good detective and a decent human, in this often funny and grisly outing."
  Publishers Weekly, Starred “A MAN NAMED DOLL is so fun and propulsive I didn’t just read it in one sitting, I read it in what felt like a single breath. Happy Doll is a tremendously likable main character, and the Los Angeles he inhabits is vibrantly alive in every detail. I hope Jonathan Ames has many more adventures planned for the newest P.I. in town.”—Lou Berney, author of the New York Times-bestselling November Road   “If Elliott Gould’s Philip Marlowe landed in the middle of Uncut Gems, you’d have something like Jonathan Ames’s A MAN NAMED DOLL, which expertly mines the dark humor, mordant wit and dreamy fatalism of great LA noir. And at its center is a detective with a battered heart and bruised conscience. I’d follow him, and his dog George, anywhere.” Megan Abbott, Edgar Award-winning author of Dare Me “Readers expecting action won’t be let down, and the sparkling yet unpretentious language gives the whole an extra kick. Recommend to noir fans, action fans, anyone who likes a good read.” Booklist, Starred review