Retro / by Loren D. Estleman

[Kim Allen Scott]

If you are inclined to dismiss as unbelievable stories about contemporary private investigators because they are more suited to an earlier era of American history, this novel by Loren D. Estleman is for you.  Amos Walker is an anachronism of sorts.  He is a wise cracking gumshoe with a nose for trouble that could have easily been invented by Dashell Hammett or Raymond Chandler.  The fact that Walker does his sleuthing in twenty-first century Detroit helps make his persona somewhat believable, since the first post-industrial city of the United States is in 2014 sliding backwards as abandoned houses are replaced with farmland.  But what really makes this mystery work is Walker’s involvement with a case that originated in 1949 with the murder of a Detroit prizefighter, and an attempt to locate the pugilist’s illegitimate son.  Walker is hired by the estate of a deceased brothel madam who adopted the fighter’s son and left instructions for the fellow to dispose of her ashes.  After Walker finds the son (and the son winds up dead) the detective follows a perilous trail to the truth that leads through gangsters, elderly witnesses, and a retired FBI agent with a secret.  I highly recommend this book, and this author.