A and B and the Cricket

Trio from the 1991 novel A Country of Old Men by Joseph Hansen.

Lineup: Alan Marsh, Brice Tyner, and Cricket Shales, only Shales got murdered, and David Brandstetter has to solve the case.

When Dave unfolded the last letter, a snapshot fell out and fluttered to the floor. He laid down the letter, got off the stool, bent painfully and retrieved the snapshot. He sat on the stool and studied it, frowning. It showed three slim young men, long-haired, one with an electric guitar, one with a Fender bass, one boxed in by keyboards. They were grouped on an outdoor stage cluttered with microphones. Part of a banner in the background had gotten into the photograph. It said Estival. The guitarist must be Cricket. The bass player was dark, with sunglasses, something feminine about him. The keyboard man had stood up, smiling, and raised his right hand in a wave. He wore a beard. Dave turned the photo over. Alan Marsh, Brice Tyner, Cricket Shales. August 1985. What might be a town came next, but the ink had gotten wet and unreadable.