The Lioness is the Hunter by Loren D. Estleman Forge/McMillan, $25.99, 246 pages, ISBN 978-0-7653-8845-2 The battered city of Detroit, Michigan seems like the perfect setting for a beat-down, cynical and wise-cracking private eye who’d be considered a real loser . . . if he wasn’t so damn good at solving the toughest cases in the face of near-impossible conditions. His name is Amos Walker and he’s as hard-boiled
What You Break by Reed Farrel Coleman Putnam/Penguin Random House, $27.00, 357 pages, ISBN 978-0-399-17304-2 One year ago—May 2016—in MBR No. 246, we alerted our readers to a new, compelling and haunting crime fiction character by the name of Gus Murphy. He’s the embodiment of the noir persona, a man dealing with a boatload of personal pain and grief, while living and operating on the gritty south shore of
Desperation Road by Michael Farris Smith Lee Boudreaux Books/Little Brown and Company, $26.00, 287 pages, ISBN 978-0-316-35303-8 Some writers have such a firm understanding of their sense of place and are able to write about it with such authenticity, that the reader is transported there in mind as she or he processes the printed words . . . almost seeing, hearing, and touching the people, places and events of
Night Work by David C. Taylor Forge/Tom Doherty, $25.99, 318 pages, ISBN 978-0-7653-7485-1 Author David C. Taylor hit the literary ground running last year when his first crime-fiction novel entitled Night Life, featuring tough-guy Michael Cassidy was first published. Cassidy’s a classic, Phillip Marlowe kind of detective, working the mean streets of 1950s New York City at a time when the Cold War—with it’s potential threat of nuclear Armageddon—was
City of Rose by Rob Hart Polis Books, PB, $14.95, 270 pages, ISBN 978-1-940610-51-1 Is there any place on earth after you’ve grown up living in New York City . . . or anyplace you’d rather be . . . after growing up and living in New York City? It’s a conundrum for Ash McKenna, the self-described human wrecking ball and unskilled, but productive private investigator who’s damned good
Bull Mountain by Brian Panowich Putnam/Penguin Random House, $26.95, 290 pages, ISBN 978-0-399-17396-7 This week’s author had a metric ton of A-list crime fiction writers heaping praise on his debut novel when it first appeared in the fall of last year. The likes of C.J. Box, John Connolly, James Ellroy and others were all highly complimentary of his work in their endorsements . . . and rightfully so, for
A Song of Shadows by John Connolly Emily Bestler Books/ATRIA- Simon & Schuster, $26.99, 436 pages, ISBN 978-1-5011-1828-9 As a long-time fan of crime fiction and the other-worldlyness of the supernatural genres, I’ve been fascinated by the work of Irish writer John Connolly and his Charlie Parker series (which is a blending of the two into something wholly new) ever since I became acquainted with his work several years
Blood on Snow by Jo Nesbo Alfred A. Knopf, $23.95, 208 pages, ISBN 978-0-385-35419-6 It seems like we’ve been reviewing a lot of first time authors lately, so we’re going to toss in a few of our favorite A-listers over the next couple of MBRs and mix it up a bit. First on the agenda is the “maddening-addictive,” critically acclaimed crown prince of Nordic Noir and a personal exemplar
The Red Storm by Grant Bywaters Minotaur Books, $25.99, 227 pages, ISBN 978-1-250-07307-5 Writers, Agents, Book Publishers and Reviewers are always looking for something different, something a bit out of the ordinary; something that grabs their attention on page one and never lets go. In today’s hyper frenetic literary world, where thousands of books are published every day, originality is a hard commodity to find. In the mystery crime
The White Van by Patrick Hoffman Atlantic Monthly Press/Grove Atlantic, Inc., $24.00, 240 pages, ISBN 978-0-8021-2304-6 We’ve all been guilty, at some time or another, of staying at the party just a wee bit too long, or succumbing to the exhortations of one of our Good Time Charlie pals, to Awwwgoahead, one more won’t killya . . . and awakened the next day feeling like hammered doggie doo-doo. But