SHADOW TICKET

Edoardo Ballerini convincingly portrays thugs, a torch singer, all manner of gumshoes; he does Hungarians, Germans, English elites. His vocals are spot-on. The wildly imagined plot begins in Milwaukee and then shifts to Eastern Europe. Hicks McTaggart, a former strike breaker, now a private eye, likes to dance and to romance--until he runs afoul of the Milwaukee mob. Much of the circuitous story revolves around his locating a cheese heiress, daughter of "the Al Capone of Cheese." Misadventures abound: An Eastern European fascist motorcycle gang, British spies, and a Klezmer-playing saxophonist add to the mayhem. Now 88, Pynchon has crafted a glorious romp, and the language sparkles. The extravagantly gifted Edoardo Ballerini brings this intricate 1930s noir vividly to life. [Published: JANUARY 2026]