A winning cocktail of humor, suspense

REVIEWS BY BRUCE TIERNEY

The streets of Chicago, never the safest venue for a stroll after dark, have become immeasurably more unsafe since the Gingerbread Man committed the first in a series of brutal murders. Lieutenant Jacqueline "Jack" Daniels is among the first on the scene: "There were four black-and-whites already at the 7-Eleven when I arrived. Several people had gathered in the parking lot behind the yellow police tape, huddling close for protection against the freezing Chicago rain. They weren't there for the Slurpees. I parked my 1986 Nova on the street and hung my star around my neck on a cord. The radio was full of chatter about 'the lasagna on Monroe and Dearborn,' so I knew this was going to be an ugly one." Thus begins J.A. Konrath's Whiskey Sour, easily one of the best debut suspense novels of recent years. Daniels fits the mold of the smart-alecky cop, no doubt, but there is a romantic and vulnerable side to her character as well. In the early stages of the narrative, she finds that her boyfriend has left her for his personal trainer, so she reluctantly enrolls with a video dating service (with disastrous results, I might add). If humor is your bag, there are, well, bags of it. Daniels fields an ongoing rivalry with FBI profilers, who have identified the Gingerbread Man as a blue-collar right-handed truck-driving alcoholic who wears women's underwear (possibly his mother's) and enjoys line dancing. Oh, and he may have curvature of the spine. ("Is that a hunch?" asks Daniels innocently.) Fast action, involving characters, twists galore—bring on the sequel!


Murders past and present

Loren Estleman is one of the grand old men of crime fiction, with more than 50 books to his credit, 17 of which feature Detroit detective Amos Walker. The latest, Retro, finds the aging sleuth on an errand of kindness for a former madam who would like her ashes delivered to her only son upon her impending death. Problem is, the son has been in hiding in Canada since the Vietnam era. Walker turns up his quarry, but before he can carry out his mission, the man is shot to death in a Detroit hotel. To make matters worse, Walker is a suspect. In the process of trying to clear his name, he stumbles upon a murder that took place 50-odd years ago. It would be strange enough to find that the victim was the father of the man Walker had so recently located, and that the murder had never been solved, but stranger still to discover that both had been killed with the same gun! With the help of a young Canadian investigator and a retired FBI agent, Walker tries to make sense of a pair of crimes that border on the impossible, and with most surprising results. For readers who mourn the late great Ross MacDonald, Retro (and the earlier Amos Walker books) will provide ample noir divertissement.


Mystery of the month

Back in the day, mystery novels used to feature detectives, for the most part; occasionally reporters or journalists would enter the action. These days, we find mysteries surrounding vintners, little-old-lady cat lovers, used-car salesmen, even bed-and-breakfast owners. Among the most fascinating of these new-age sleuths is gamesman Tony Valentine, a retired cop available for hire by casino owners to assist them in uncovering crooked gamblers. Valentine made his debut in Grift Sense (2001) and returns for his fourth appearance in Loaded Dice. The series is particularly convincing because its author, James Swain, is an authority on casino scams, as proven by the tidbits on the how-tos of cheating which pepper the text. In this latest installment, Valentine travels to Las Vegas to investigate a lovely "amateur" who is able to break the bank at blackjack. (Did I mention that the blackjack whiz bears an uncanny resemblance to Valentine's sorely missed deceased wife?) Before Valentine has time to suss out her system, he is embroiled in a much higher stakes scenario, one which threatens to blow the proverbial lid right off Sin City. Swain is a master storyteller, often mentioned in the same breath with Elmore Leonard or Carl Hiaasen. His characters, especially Valentine and his ne'er-do-well son Gerry, are particularly well drawn; the desperation of the gamblers is palpable; the plots strong and superbly fleshed out. It is a pleasure to award the June Tip of the Ice Pick Award to James Swain.


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