City Walls by Loren D. Estleman

Published by ‎ Forge Books on April 4, 2023

Amos Walker novels are a throwback to the days when detective stories were tight, plots were smart, and snappy dialog made readers think “wish I’d said that.” Loren D. Estleman turns them out at a steady rate and never misses.

Emmett Yale made himself rich by building electric self-driving cars, although he’s still working the bugs out of the self-driving part. His stepson, Lloyd Lipton, was shot by a sniper from a highway overpass while driving a classic Stingray. The shooter, Melvin Weatherall, was arrested. Disagreeing with the theory of the judge who granted bail to Weatherall, Yale believes his son wasn’t the random victim of a disgruntled gun owner who was taking out his animosity toward wealthy people by shooting sports car enthusiasts.

Lipton knew that Yale added to his fortune by using his inside knowledge of his own financial shenanigans to make a killing in the stock market. Yale believes that Lipton sold his knowledge of Yale’s unlawful behavior to Clare Strickling. Yale’s head of security, Gabe Parrish, caught Strickling stealing trade secrets while Strickling was still employed by Yale’s car company. Yale wants Amos to prove that Strickling hired Weatherall to kill Lipton.

As is common in novels of noir, the first murder is not the last. The most dramatic killing occurs after Walker tails Strickland to a private airfield. Walker assumes that a portfolio Strickland is carrying is stuffed with cash that Strickland intends to take on a clandestine flight to Canada. Before Strickland can leave the ground, however, someone points a prop plane at him and lets it taxi. Walker watches the prop tear Strickland to shreds.

Walker’s investigation should probably end at that point, but Walker lets no mystery go unsolved. Why did Weatherall kill Lipton? Who killed Strickland and why? Walker’s investigation includes an interview with the beautiful Palm Volker, a pilot and partner in the private airfield where Strickland died. Palm is making an investment in a historic biplane that will play a key role in the story.

Other murders ensue before Walker gets his answers, including a sniper shot into Walker’s office from a roof on the other side of his street. One mystery gives birth to another as Yale’s theory about Lipton’s killing becomes secondary to the events that follow. The final action scene had me wondering “Didn’t Walker realize he was putting himself in danger?” but the scene is so much fun that I forgave Walker for being a bonehead.

Estleman describes cars on a freeway, viewed from the vantage point of an overpass, as “aerodynamically approved cough drops on wheels.” He describes “a chain-link fence topped by coils of razor wire” as “Detroit’s official flower.” That’s the kind of writing that made detective fiction great in its golden age. Kudos to Estleman for keeping the tradition alive with classic stories about an old-school gumshoe.

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Paperback Jack by Loren D. Estleman

Published by Forge Books on November 15, 2022

Paperback Jack is a tribute to the writers who published their original creations in paperback (as opposed to writers whose books appeared in hardcover before they were republished in paperback) when paperbacks were first being widely distributed. As Loren D. Estleman tells the story, pulp fiction magazines that were popular before the war gave way to paperback originals in the post-war years. Many pulp writers made the transition to paperbacks because that’s where the money was. New writers also seized the opportunity of mass readership that paperbacks made available.

Estleman cites his sources for the history of paperback publishing in a Recommended Reading section at the end of the novel. He also gives a shout out to writers like David Goodis, John D. MacDonald, Harlan Ellison, Donald Hamilton, and Leigh Brackett, important and gifted writers who primarily published their original novels and story collections in paperback. He left Philip K. Dick off the list, but I’ll forgive him. Dozens and dozens of outstanding writers wrote paperback originals during the post-war years.

History lessons aside, Paperback Jack is a work of fiction. Before the Second World War, Jacob Heppleman wrote stories when he wasn't working in his day job. He sold a few, then wrote a crime novel that was serialized over five issues of a pulp magazine. The novel caught the attention of an agent who persauded Heppleman to retain his services.

Heppleman is drafted before his agent can sell his novel. He comes home to an America that has abandoned the pulp market. Preferring the life of a writer to a job that made him listen to a boss, Heppleman tries to buy a slick portable typewriter from a pawnshop owner. When Heppleman attempts to negotiate a better price, the shop owner insults his war service. That night, Heppleman gets drunk, tosses a brick through the shop window, and steals the typewriter.

Heppleman writes a war novel and tracks down his old agent, who tells him that the public has had enough of war. Paperback crime novels with lurid covers (as well as westerns with lurid covers and comic books with lurid covers) are the new rage. Heppleman is skeptical until he learns that while he was overseas, the agent sold his crime novel to a paperback publisher for a hefty sum.

The publisher is focused on brand identity rather than literary quality. Heppleman has reservations about writing books that will be marketed with lurid covers, but he needs to make a living so he signs a book contract. He pitches a novel about a reformed fence. To gather accurate background information, Heppleman gains an introduction to an actual fence who expects a share of the profits (including movie royalties) if the book does well.

The publisher changes Heppleman’s name to Jack Holly, has the company’s best artist paint a lurid cover, and Heppleman is on a reluctant road to success. The plot takes Heppleman through his writing career, a courtship and marriage, a friendship with a gay cover artist, testimony before a congressional committee that puts on a show at the expense of comic books and paperbacks with lurid covers, and a conflict with the fence. The novel’s ending flashes forward to give Heppleman a chance to be grateful for an industry that allowed him to make a living.

Estleman always writes with economy and purpose. As his publisher says of Heppleman, Estleman is incapable of writing a bad sentence. He’s the kind of prolific writer whose books would have been published as paperback originals in the 1950s, although his work began in the 1980s and Paperback Jack is currently published in hardcover. I wouldn’t call the cover of Paperback Jack lurid (it’s missing blood and a dead body while the busty blonde only bares her shoulders), but it does suggest a tame version of a cover from the golden age of paperback originals.

Heppleman struggles to maintain his independence and decency while respecting the practical advice of his wife, who understands that raising a child requires at least a modest income. Heppleman, his wife, and the artist are all likable characters. The story is entertaining, but its true value lies in Estleman’s reminder that the post-war explosion of paperback originals made an important contribution to the history of American literature.

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Cutthroat Dogs by Loren D. Estleman

Published by Forge Books on January 4, 2022

I came late to Loren D. Estleman. If my application for a second life comes through, I’ll go back and read his Amos Walker series from the beginning. Estleman pushes all the buttons I look for in private detective fiction. Walker isn’t a brainless action hero. The novels move at a brisk pace, but Estleman doesn’t depend on shootouts and fistfights to carry the story. Walker spends most of his time solving puzzles by piecing together clues and getting a handle on ambiguous personalities.

Not that the novels are free of violence. Walker begins Cutthroat Dogs by shooting a bank robber in the leg. He’s arrested for his trouble. John Alderdyce, back from retirement in a new role as a consultant for the Detroit Police, gives Walker a pass for carrying a firearm into a bank. The gunplay gets Amos some good press that attracts a bunch of kooks and one paying client. Chrys Corbel wants Amos to look into her brother’s murder case. Dan Corbel has been in prison for almost twenty years.

Corbel was convicted of murdering April Goss, a woman he dated in college. April’s father, Chester Goss, used her death as the foundation for one of those horrid “true crime” television shows. Viewers phone in tips and Goss brags about how the show helps put away bad guys. Since ratings depend on a high capture rate, the show cherry-picks crimes that will probably be solvable with massive publicity.

I’ve never been a fan of shows that exploit a family member’s victimization to create wealth for the host. Estleman is savage in his depiction of Chester Gross as a greedy, self-aggrandizing, unfeeling hypocrite. Since most television hosts who style themselves as champions for crime victims fall into that category, I was pleased that Estleman took a well-deserved shot at them. Cutthroat Dogs scored points with me by suggesting that television hosts who position themselves as vigilante crime fighters might have more interest in their bank accounts than in justice for victims.

Amos is repeatedly targeted for murder as he investigates Dan Corbel’s conviction. The investigation also has unfortunate ramifications for Corbel, a fact that causes Amos to wonder whether he is doing more harm than good. Amos is, in fact, pursuing justice in his own way, not as a vigilante but as a man with a passion for the truth.

Amos gets unexpected help from Stan Kopernick, a cop who has alienated his boss by gambling on duty. Kopernick claims that earning favorable publicity by helping Amos (whether he proves or disproves Corbel’s guilt) will balance the most recent black mark on his record. Kopernick is such a loser that he’s almost likable.

Estleman is a master at telling a tight story. He doesn’t waste a word. His prose is smart and snappy. When Amos is surprised that a woman wants to drink her scotch neat, he thinks “It didn’t go with your outfit. She should have asked for something tall and green with a garden in it.”

Amos solves the case with legwork and close observation and a keen understanding of human nature — particularly the nature of sociopaths who have no human nature. The ending is remarkable. Estelman sets up a standard crime plot and turns it upside down. I don’t know if Estleman gets the same notice as best-selling crime fiction authors who have mastered the art of self-promotion, but he’s a writer who fans of the genre shouldn’t miss.

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Indigo by Loren D. Estleman

Published by Forge Books on July 28, 2020

I don’t have enough fingers and toes to count all the books Loren D. Estleman has written. Indigo is the sixth novel in his Valentino, Film Detective series. I’ve dipped into and enjoyed his Amos Walker mysteries but this was my first exposure to Valentino.

Valentino tracks down lost motion pictures for the Film and Television Archive at UCLA. He’s also rehabilitating an old theater called The Oracle and lives in an apartment in the projection booth. His girlfriend, Harriet Johansen, is a forensic pathologist but she doesn’t have much of a role in this novel.

Among Valentino’s many friends is Ignacio Bozal, who made some money somewhere, then bought and restored a resort in Acapulco that made even more money before he showed up in Hollywood and began making generous contributions to the Film and Television Archive. Bozal gets Valentino interested in a Hollywood actor named Van Oliver who made one movie, a noir called Bleak Street. Insiders who saw Oliver work thought the realism he brought to the part was revolutionary. Bozal suggests that Oliver had a shady past that gave him insight into the behavior of gangsters. Oliver disappeared in 1957 and was widely presumed to have been murdered.

Bozal got his hands on the only surviving copy of Bleak Street. He gives it to Valentino, whose boss thinks the premiere will get huge press if Valentino can solve the mystery of Van Oliver’s disappearance. As the plot unfolds, Valentino discovers that multiple people for multiple reasons want Bleak Street to remain out of the public eye.

Indigo is a pleasant novel written in Estleman’s erudite prose style. Estleman’s investigation introduces the reader to a variety of credible characters, including gangsters, cops, and a Hollywood retiree who might have something of value to contribute if he has a lucid moment. The story misdirects, as a classic mystery should. The solution to the mystery caught me off guard, as a classic mystery should.

Indigo is, in short, the kind of book that should appeal to fans of classic mysteries. It isn’t a thriller — don’t expect shootouts or car chases — but it does create tension at key moments. Valentino is a bright, unassuming fellow whose knowledge of film trivia seems to be unparalleled. That makes Indigo a good choice for fans of film noir as well as fans of mysteries.

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When Old Midnight Comes Along by Loren D. Estleman

Published by Macmillan/Forge Books on December 3, 2019

When Old Midnight Comes Along is the kind of detective novel that should be a model for the genre. Loren D. Estleman’s plot is tight and credible. He conveys the depth of his characters without exploring their backgrounds in unnecessary detail. His prose style is clear and uncluttered while retaining a literary flair. Estelman has distilled, in this 28th Amos Walker mystery, the essence of what a detective novel should be.

Francis Xavier Lawes, a prominent Detroit businessman, hires Amos to find his wife. That could be tricky since Paula Lawes has been missing for more than six years and in less than a year will be presumed dead. Lawes tells Amos he wants to know his wife’s fate because he plans to remarry and would like to get the declaration of death out of the way without delay. Lawes’ intended is Holly Pride, who began working for him as a receptionist before (in my uncharitable interpretation of her intent) she decided to become a gold digger.

Amos starts by charming Deborah Stonesmith at the Detroit Police Department to let him review the file regarding Paula’s disappearance (in other words, she wants Amos to get out of her hair). He learns that Lawes and his wife were overextended on vacation home mortgages and credit card debt. That brings Amos to the police detective who ran the investigation. John Alderdyce has moved on to private security, but he's convinced Lawes murdered Paula and regrets his inability to prove it.

A complicating fact involves Paula’s car, found abandoned near the site where a cop named Marcus Root was killed. A retired police commander, Albert White, tells Amos that Root was shot while he was following Paula’s car. Root’s notebook was missing from his patrol car, suggesting that Root was killed because he had information about Paula that his notebook (or Root) would have revealed.

Other key characters include Oakes Steadman, a former gang member who now works for the police as a gang consultant, George Hoyle, who was having an affair with Paula, and Andrea Dawson, a publicist who was working with Paula when she dropped off the grid. As Amos wears down his shoe leather, the information he gathers about Paula from each character becomes even more confusing. The confusion is compounded when he discovers that a ring — probably but not certainly Paula’s engagement ring — might be connected to a crime.

The various characters provide conflicting clues that Amos and the reader will need to sort out to discover Paula’s fate. The characters have the fullness of unique individuals, unlike the stock characters that so many genre writers recycle. Estleman creates atmosphere without dwelling on needless lessons in Detroit's architecture or political history. The solution to the mystery is clever and not easily guessed (at least not by me). Unlike many modern crime novelists, Estleman finds a plausible way to bring all the characters and clues together and leaves no loose ends dangling. When Old Midnight Comes Along is exactly what an old-school detective novel should be: entertaining, challenging, and satisfying.

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