Good news: Sam’s back. That’s corporate dropout, East End denizen, independent sleuth Sam Acquillo making his 10th appearance in a Chris Knopf murder mystery. Knopf’s novels are all engaging and feature unusual protagonists, but the Sam series is special because Sam is – he’s smart, sexy, sarcastic. Knopf cleverly doesn’t say how old Sam is now in Blood Bank, but he seems immortal, along with his beloved dog, Eddie, named for the famous rock musician, Eddie Van Halen. Sam still has his beloved 1967 Pontiac Grand Prix and next-door neighbor girlfriend Amanda Anselma, whom women readers will envy for her easy access to Sam’s cottage off Little Peconic Bay in Southampton, and to his heart. And yes, Sam is still a guy for a glass of vodka. Make that two or three, glasses.
Who cares how old he is now -- he’s still got it --energy to initiate boxing moves and bedroom moves, loyal friends to assist in detective work, frenemies in the police department who begrudgingly acknowledge his courage and intelligence, and humanity to take up and pursue what to others seem like lost causes.
And so it is in Blood Bank, a title that references the death of a principal in a major drug development firm and the sudden disappearance of his brilliant partner, a Latina biochemist who it is feared is either kidnapped or dead.
She worked in the highly competitive pharmaceutical industry full of what the media calls, ”wicked bioengineers and rapacious venture capitalists.” And she was particularly interested in Alzheimer’s research. A hot topic with billions of dollars at stake. In fact, the more Sam looks into the case, the more perspective evildoers mount, and he finds himself in danger.
And what if you haven’t read any of the previous Sam Acquillo Hamptons mysteries? No problem: The award-winning author skillfully works in past references that are not necessary to the plot but make for happy recollections, like greeting likable family members one doesn’t see that often. These minor characters, with their talents and tics, age, of course, but it’s always good to welcome them back. And to read Knopf’s elegant prose.
Speaking early on of the delights of sunset where he lives, Sam notes his pleasure in the “slightly tipsy somnambulance of evening” that was ready “to commence.” That’s Sam, an MIT graduate, a witty wordsmith who often loads his observations and ruminations with polysyllables and intricate syntax, but he can also be entertainingly blunt. “It’s easy to get to Montauk”, he muses: “You just head east until you run out of Long Island.” He admires Einstein who once said, “imagination was more important than information.” By extension, Same concludes, “intuition” can be more powerful than calculation. He does it all --theorizing and mathematical practicalities. He’s also an expert in woodworking and architectural design, an appreciator of those who work well in trade as well as the science lab.
Blood Bank may be among Knopf’s more technical crime capers. But it’s certainly timely, as the woman scientist’s research comes in the wake of the 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry going to Jennifer Doudna and Emmanuelle Charpentier for their breakthrough work on CRISPR - the DNA gene splicing sequencing technology. Sam understands.
Knopf graciously thanks those who assisted him with his research, including a woman scientist who contributed to the development of the Pfizer vaccine. He also acknowledges help from a former public corruption prosecutor for the US Department of Justice and a retired principal of a law firm specializing in mergers and acquisitions. In addition, Knopf gives a shout-out to his Sag Harbor Indie publisher, The Permanent Press, which for 45 years has been providing readers with intelligent fiction – and nonfiction – of “social and literary merit.”
