This novel was much more fun than I expected. I like crime and mystery novels, but I've never read anything as noir as One Good Deed. Baldacci does a great job building his characters and his post WWII world. Not having experienced it for read, it feels real enough for me to be immersed.

The state detective could be Bogart or Lorre from their noir performances. He's straight out of the movies, dialog and all. Some of his dialog is so corny I couldn't help but laugh, and this only made me appreciate the story more.

And what would a good noir detective story be without a femme fatale, and this story has two great ones.

I know Baldacci kept a couple of secrets toward the end to maintain some suspense, like Archer finding a note critical to solving the mystery while the narrator conveniently avoids revealing the contents of the note. However, this feels a bit like a cheat. Of course that note is going to be pivotable, just tell me! Either way, hiding the contents served it's purpose. At that point, I couldn't stop reading until I got to the big reveal.

I certainly don't think this novel is for everyone. It's not high literature or even a modern mystery, but it is a lot of fun when read with the understanding of what Baldacci is doing with the setting and the style.