Dennis Sanchez

The Big Exoneration Dennis Sanchez

A modern day 13 year old boy and 10 year old sister travel back in time to 1939 Los Angeles in an attempt to exonerate a private detective executed for a murder he did not commit. Guided by the ghost of the detective trapped in a mirror in his office, the pair disguise themselves as guff adult private detectives as they encounter gangster and their molls in their search to find the real killer. With a skeleton key that opens a door into the past, a modern day 13 year old boy and his 10 year old sister travel in time back to 1939 Los Angeles to investigate a seventy-five year old crime that sent an innocent man to the gas chamber. Their mission is to uncover the real killer, get his confession and return with it to modern day and exonerate the ghost of Archer Wolfe, private detective. New to L. A, the brother and sister find a skeleton key in front of an odd looking door. With this key, they enter a private detective office, and find they have traveled back in time to the year of 1939. Searching around, they come upon the ghost of a private detective trapped in a mirror on the wall. With only two weeks before his presence disappears from the mirror, the detective pleads with the kids to uncover the real murderer and exonerate him of the crime. Agreeing to take up the challenge, the kids dress themselves in the fashions of gruff 1939 private detectives and comb Los Angeles for evidence. Along the way, they must confront mobsters and molls and press them for information. However, they are helped by the fact the adults they encounter do not see them as children, but as fellow adults. With its period slang and references, this novel is an homage to noir detective mysteries of the 1930s and a literary feast for fans of hardboiled fiction, such as those of Hammett and Chandler. Also, readers who are familiar with the history of Los Angeles will appreciate the shout-outs to Coles, the Fred Harvey House at Union Station, the Aztec Hotel on Route 66, and other local landmarks.
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