City of Dark Corners by Jon Talton

May 10, 2021

I loved Jon Talton’s standalone, City of Dark Corners. Before you jump to get it at your local library or bookstore, though, you need to know it’s set in Phoenix and the Valley of the Sun in 1933. I lived in the Valley for 8 1/2 years, and I recognize the...

A Man Named Doll by Jonathan Ames

April 20, 2021

The notes referred to Jonathan Ames’ detective novel, A Man Named Doll, as quirky and “deliciously noir”. Quirky, maybe. It seemed a little too dependent on old tropes. Stolen kidneys? Really? Ames is the creator of two television shows, Bored to...

Dead-End Detective by Amanda Flower

August 24, 2020

I loved the two main characters in Amanda Flower’s first Piper & Porter mystery, Dead-End Detective. And, I like a cozy mystery that features a detective agency. It’s not quite as cozy as some books. Best of all, it took me forever to figure out who...

Dirty Old Town by Gabriel Valjan

August 16, 2020

Raymond Chandler’s Marlowe is the model for how many private investigators? He defines that hero in The Simple Art of Murder. “He must be a complete man and a common man and yet an unusual man. He must be, to use a rather weathered phrase, a man of...

Lucky Bones by Michael Wiley

August 03, 2020

I wasn’t sure what to make of Michael Wiley’s second book featuring ex-cop turned PI, Sam Kelson. While the first book was gritty, the second in the series has many more comic elements, although it is still violent. I finally decided  Lucky Bones...