What Smiled at Him is a mystery in which two childhood friends find every clue they need to solve a grisly double murder, but, for their own reasons, choose not to.
Lynn and Marv, are in their late twenties, one a struggling musician, the other a salesman and both have begun to question the choices they’ve made. One night, far from home, alcohol, irresponsibility and coincidence reunite them with Caroline, the longtime object of their desires. Married into a wealthy Chicago family and unhappy, she begins an affair with Marv.
A few weeks later, she’s arrested and charged with murdering her husband and infant son. As her trial nears, the unwelcome mystery pursues the friends through their searches for love, stabs at success, self-destructive lapses and leads one of them to his death.
“The novel has an angry edge to it, recalling the spirit of the Beats. Many of the peripheral characters speak like prophets… Marv and Lynn are just as self-aware as their supporting cast, and their abundance of wisdom sometimes stretches believability; it’s tempered, however, by the flaw of their continually self-destructive behavior. Watching them ignore their better instincts… makes the characters more endearing.”
-Kirkus Reviews
About the Author
Colin Dodds grew up in Massachusetts and completed his education at The New School in New York City. He is the author of Another Broken Wizard, which came out to widespread acclaim in 2011. Norman Mailer wrote that Dodds’ novel The Last Bad Job showed “something that very few writers have; a species of inner talent that owes very little to other people.” His screenplay Refreshment – A Tragedy was named a semi-finalist in 2010 American Zoetrope Contest. Dodds’ writing has also appeared in The Wall Street Journal Online, Folio, Explosion-Proof, Block Magazine, The Architect’s Newspaper, The Main Street Rag, The Reno News & Review and Lungfull! Magazine. He lives in Brooklyn, New York, with his wife Samantha.
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13635426-what-smiled-at-him
[...] Dodds, What Smiled At Him Colin Dodds has produced another fine novel. It comes on the heels of his 2011 novel, Another Broken [...]