Gabriel Valjan’s first Shane Cleary mystery, Dirty Old Town, impressed me. He took an idealistic ex-cop turned PI, put him in Boston where he struggles to make a living while dealing with cops who hate him for his integrity and his willingness to testify against a bad cop. Shane Cleary is in even more trouble in the latest excellent PI novel, Symphony Road.

Nobody is surprised when another apartment building goes up in flames on Symphony Road. It’s a regular occurrence as slumlords pay arsonists to torch buildings so they don’t have to renovate them while collecting insurance. This time there’s a body in the basement, though. And, the arsonist arrested, Jimmy C., would never be that careless. It’s a phone call that sends PI Shane Cleary to a Boston Police station house where he’ll run into several cops who hate him.

Before he can get there, though, Shane is picked up by Tony Two-Times, a bodyguard and associate for Mr. B., a Mafia don. Mr. B. wants Shane to look for a missing person, his grandnephew. He wants answers.

Shane barely has time to accept either case when he’s handed a third. A mysterious man in a Pinto offers him payment into a private pension fund if he’ll investigate a cold case for Boston’s Commissioner of Police. Luisa Ramirez, a community activist fighting for better housing conditions, died of a drug overdose. Did she kill herself? There are promises of more if Shane finds the truth behind her death.

Cleary now has to juggle three cases; one investigation of arson, one missing persons case for the don, and one cold case for the Commissioner. There’s a variety of clients, and cases that lead to violence. Asked what cops and PIs have in common, the answer is, “The instinct to right wrongs. The savior complex is a blessing and a curse.”

Shane Cleary has that complex in common with so many PIs. It leads him into trouble, into violence. Cleary’s young, not even thirty yet, but he can handle himself, and he has friends he can count on, even if most of them aren’t on the police force. Several of his friends recognize Shane’s need to wear a white hat, to protect women, children, and the innocent while finding his own type of justice.

There’s so much to like about Symphony Road, beginning, as I said for Dirty Old Town, with the list of characters. I liked that first novel. Symphony Road, with three cases, is even better. If you’re looking for a complex private investigator character, with interesting friends, involved in an intriguing story, check out Gabriel Valjan’s latest Shane Cleary mystery.

Gabriel Valjan’s website is http://www.gabrielvaljan.com/

Symphony Road by Gabriel Valjan. Level Best Books, 2021. ISBN 978193789075 (paperback), 222p.

FTC Full Disclosure – The author sent a copy of the book, hoping I would review it.