Category: Stu’s Reviews

Genre: Book

Grade: A-

Notable People: Steve Hamilton

Title: Let it Burn

Review: Hamilton gets better in every one of these installments of the retired cop-curmudgeon, Alex McKnight, now living in the remotest part of Michigan’s’ Upper Peninsula, on the shores of deep and dark Lake Superior. This one is a creative leap with McKnight telling his story in alternating chapters from a case from 20 summers ago and the revival of that same case during the current summer. Both stories take place back in Detroit. I figured this one out half way through, since I must be getting used to his style, but it’s still quite suspenseful. Missed some of the usual characters that McKnight pairs with home in Paradises, but still stands as a fine piece of the genre. His portrayal of the decline of Detroit, and the larger picture of race relations in that city, are quite potent. Another really good Hamilton read.

Genre: Book

Grade: B+

Notable People: Paul Doiron

Title: The Bone Orchard

Review: Penned in 2014, this is the 5th in the Maine Game Warden, Mike Bowditch series. The first few entries in the series had left me unsure of whether I would continue, but, Doiron’s writing is improving dramatically. If you like Game Warden stuff, better to check out CJ Box’s Joe Pickett-Wyoming series…in another class altogether- but Bowditch is an interesting and complex character and the very far Northern Maine setting is somewhat unique. In this one, Bowditch has left the Maine Warden Service after his mother’s death and is working as a fishing guide in the North Woods. His mentor (Sgt. Kathy Frost) is forced to kill a troubled war veteran in an apparent case of “suicide by cop,” and soon, Bowditch, winds up in the middle of the whole thing, and the usual murder and mayhem ensues. Doiron seems to feel about the gentrification of Southern Maine (Bowditch likes stay in the North woods instead), the way David Mapstone feels about the sullying of Phoenix, in the Jon Talton series I am reading simultaneously. The constant bitching about change gets a bit old in both series. But the story here is captivating, the writing smooth and the characters and setting engaging. Very quick read and worth a try (start at the beginning).

Genre: Book

Grade: B+

Notable People: Jon Talton

Title: South Phoenix Rules

Review: This is the seventh in the Phoenix/Arizona based series featuring the detective/history shamus, David Mapstone. Quite an intriguing story and the characters continue to grow and develop. Now ex-sheriff Peraltha continues to be a story in himself. Talton’s a good writer and his stories move really quickly, capturing all kinds of wacked out contemporary themes. These books will tell you more than you ever wanted to know about the citification of Phoenix…and Talton (a lifelong Arizonian) is obsessed with what once was…gets a bit pedantic after a while. I’m kind of satisfied to be done with this series pretty soon…there are better “noir” genre writers out there….but I did read it in three days….

Genre: Book

Grade: A-

Notable People: Tony Dunbar

Title: Trick Question

Review: The fourth in Dunbar’s Tubby Dubonnet series is winner. Dunbar’s writing seems to improve with each entry in the series, and the usual suspect- characters are getting sharper and sharper. Tubby is a true everyman and hard not to love. His associates are to die for. Best thing about these books is Dunbar’s obvious infatuation with, and love for, NOLA. You can easily plan your next trip to The Easy by making a map of where Tubby frequents –and especially, eats- in his books….and that would make a great visit. Great short, winter reads.

Genre: Book

Grade: A

Notable People: Steve Hamilton

Title: Die a Stranger

Review: for my money, Hamilton’s Alex McKnight series is the best around these days in the detective/mystery genre. The icy waters of Lake Superior in Michigan’s UP provide the dramatic backdrop for the barn burner tales of the ex-Detroit cop trying to lead a quiet life renting cabins his father built in the boonies in 20 years ago. Hard to imagine one guy getting into this much sturm and drang….but the stories are top notch. McKnight is a powerhouse character and he is surrounded by both extraordinarily portrayed environments and rich cohorts. What a read for the beach in San Diego on a mid-winter’s sojourn. Try this guy out.

Genre: Book

Grade: A-/B+

Notable People: Walter Mosley

Title: John Woman

Review: Mosley is back! The creator of the wonderful Easy Rawlins post war LA Noir series, periodically steps back into free standing novels…and this is a long awaited doozy. Complex, haunting, dark and at times, funny….a sweeping story of a young Black man , raised by a self-taught, share-croppers’ son, bed-ridden mystic and a wild gangster- involved lower east side Italian woman (separately). The tale wanders form the Alphabet –city mean streets of New York to the Arizona desert…and the transformation of young Cornelius Jones in to the Deconstructionist historian working at a cult university in the dessert. Murder, mayhem, dangerous right wing organizations, Zen-like prostitutes….this book is a whirlwind….Not for everyone….very heady and rich in language, Freudian analytic diatribes and metaphors galore. I found it hard going for the first half of the book, but enjoyed the ride once a groove was established with language an complexity. Very unpredictable.

Genre: Book

Grade: A-

Notable People: Tony Dunbar

Title: City of Beads

Review: this it he second in Dunbar’s N’Awlins- centric Tubby Dubonnet mysteries…and as I had previously intimated, the writing improved A LOT from book one to book two. This one is much more Noir-ish and philosophical. Dubonnet is an interesting character- torn daily between being a shyster lawyer and doing the right thing for his family, friends and the city he loves. He has a little bit of early Saul Goodman in him- for Better Call Saul fans. The books are a spectacular visit to the Big Easy, for anyone who has spent considerable time there…..Tony frequents all the classic out of the way places that you would want to go to, if you knew about them. The story is good, the characters are evolving impressively. There’s a lot more of these- so I will keep busy this winter.