Synopses & Reviews
In Loren D. Estleman's world of muscle cars and factories the size of cities, of Greektown and downtown and the endless rows of working-class homes spawned by Henry Ford's assembly line, Amos Walker is a nonpareil guide-smart, cynical, and loving every minute of it. Walker knew Detroit way back when. The difference is that these days the highs aren't quite as high, and the lows are a lot worse...
Walker came to Iroquois Heights to meet a very rich old lady. He left with the image of a beauty in boxing gloves etched in his mind and a roughing-up from the Iroquois Heights police for driving without a license-plate light. Mrs. Rayellen Stutch, the young widow of one of Detroit's most powerful industrialists, had given Walker a little job to do. Wanting to unload part of her enormous inheritance on the illegitimate offspring of her late husband, she needed Walker to find them. And show them the money.
It's a simple case...until Walker discovers the would-be millionaires are the textbook dysfunctional family. The battered wife is on the run, the abusive husband is packing a gun and a little remorse, and the kid is caught in between. Walker knows the right places to look for a missing woman and child, but he couldn't expect what comes next: an act of horrifying violence that leaves a beautiful woman dead and a boy kidnapped.
For Walker, what started as an errand of mercy quickly turns into a dirty little war. With at least some members of the Stutch family lined up on the other side, Walker now must lay siege to the rusty, sprawling fortress that is the Stutch Motors factory. Somewhere in the building the stage is set for a bloody payoff. And trapped in the middle is a private eye who can remember when cars had fins and a city had a dream.
Review
"Estleman is a superb stylist as well as a deft storyteller; he paints his people and his city with acerbic wit and wry affection....In other words, private eye fans, the good old days are back, and better than ever." San Diego Union-Tribune
Review
"Extraordinarily observant narration, intelligent dialogue, memorable characters-and style to spare." Publishers Weekly (starred review)
Review
"Walker [is] one of the most appealing fictional sleuths working today....Estleman is a consistently excellent storyteller....Somehow this already-excellent series keeps getting better and better." Chicago Tribune
Synopsis
Leland Stutch, creator of an automobile dynasty and master of the town of Iroquois Heights, died at 100. Rayellen Stutch, the 30-something widow of Leland, calls on Amos Walker to help her share the wealth with the various mistresses and illegitimate children Leland had. As Walker locates the various individuals and picks up information about Leland's dalliances, he learns that a long life of power makes one many, many enemies.