In the most recent Charlie Waldo offering, Pay or Play, Waldo is still straddling the line between his old and new life and he just can’t decide how things should end up.
Firstly, he just keeps getting sucked back into cases he doesn’t want in the first place. His problem though, is that it doesn’t take a lot for him to get hooked. Before that though, the events of this latest novel take place a year after Below the Line. He’s still in a relationship with Lorena, who he spends a good amount of time with, but still alternates that with time at his remote cabin just outside of LA. He’s just learned his forest is on fire though and maybe counts it as a sign to move in with Lorena for good when she offers. Waldo continues to deflect though, as she also wants him to be involved permanently in her private investigator business.
This time, she wrestles him into working a case for a famous TV judge, Ida Mudge. It helps that Waldo can’t get enough of the show himself, but he gets presented with half truths the whole way through. Mudge is being blackmailed on the eve of potentially huge syndication deal and wants to know if there’s any merit to the threat. She’s confident their isn’t, but Waldo sure isn’t stopping until he gets all the answers. No matter how many stones he has to turn. He also gets involved with an inquiry from Don Q about a dead homeless man. That storyline isn’t all that interesting, but it at least leads to Waldo trying to repair some of the damage he made with his close friends at the LAPD.
This time around we also get to see more of Lorena’s private investigative team. On the surface they seem hopeless, but actually manage to help Waldo out on a few occasions. What’s clear to me though is that Waldo and Lorena do not belong together. They both try to compromise but it’s usually Waldo who breaks. And yes, I agree that his “100 Things” isn’t a great way to cope with the trauma of the Lydell Lipps case, but still. He’s trying his best to become a part of the solution to the world’s problems. I think all of us could learn from that. Also, Lorena is impulsive in a bad way most of the time. She’s hot-tempered and only really looking out for herself. I know this relationship will go the distance, I just hope through future installments that the two actually seem more suited to each other.
The twists and turns of this novel were just as fun as the other two, and now I’m just sad that I have to wait for more. This was a fun series, and as I said before, I’ll be interested to see if it gets the chance to be adapted into more films. Until next time!