It’s been decades since I became absorbed enough in a novel series to read one book after another as soon as they came out. I thought those days were behind me. But then along came Cory Doctorow and his novels about the idiosyncratic forensic accountant Martin Hench. I first became acquainted with Hench after attending a question-and-answer with Doctorow and Neal Stephenson at a local bookstore. Soon afterwards, I picked up the second Hench novel, The Bezzle, which Doctorow was promoting at the interview, and then the first Hench novel, Red Team Blues. As an example of the idiosyncrasy of the series, as Doctorow progresses from one book to the next, Hench gets younger and younger. In Red Team Blues, he is a sixty-seven year old man, already successful in his chosen field of endeavor and incredibly rich, who wanders around California in a bus-sized RV that used to belong to a rock star. In The Bezzle, he is middle-aged. The story opens on Catalina Island, off the coast of California, where he uncovers a scheme of the ultra-rich to get richer at the expense of their less-affluent neighbors.

Picks and Shovels is Martin Hench’s origin story. It takes place from the late 1970s to the mid-1980s. Hench flunks out of MIT after discovering and devoting his time (instead of studying) to the new phenomenon of personal computers, and then compromises with his father in obtaining an accounting degree. After an ill-fated venture in Massachusetts in which he and his friend are exploited by ruthless businessmen, they both move to the San Francisco Bay area and Silicon Valley at the beginning of the tech revolution. There they get caught up in a nefarious scheme of some pseudo-religious gangsters (a Catholic priest, an Orthodox rabbi, and a Mormon bishop) who run a computer company, and they ally themselves with a team of plucky young women programmers who are determined to bring the miscreant fake religionists down. The unholy gangsters don’t give up easily, though, and send out hit squads to stamp out the competition.

This all makes for a rousing tale of adventure set in a vibrant San Francisco, both laid-back and party-rich, innocent and inclusive, a cultural backwater about to be inundated by the tech revolution. It’s the perfect setting and story for Doctorow to promote his ubiquitous theme of open-sourcing technology so that it can be available to all, and it serves as a fitting introduction to the fascinating character of Hench, who goes on to make his living as a super-sleuth forensic accountant, recovering funds for individuals and organization in exchange for a hefty percentage of the take. Here, though, in Picks and Shovels, Hench is just starting out, still finding his footing, discovering his talents, and engaging in his first serious relationships.

Like the other Hench novels, this book is a lot of fun to read, and Doctorow’s representations of the era and the locations in which it takes place carry a strong sense of verisimilitude. It made me nostalgic for the days when the Bay Area was an inexpensive backwater, home to all sorts of free-thinking nonconformists. But whether or not you knew firsthand what San Francisco and its environs were like way back then, you’re in for an absorbing and joyous read with Picks and Shovels. Sometimes it’s thrilling and sometimes it’s slapstick, but it’s always entertaining.