Loren Estleman – författare

The first book in the long-running Amos Walker Mysteries introduces the hard-boiled Detroit detective as he searches for an aging mobster''s missing adopted daughterPrivate eye Amos Walker is a Vietnam veteran who was thrown out of the Police Academy for punching a fellow cadet. He''s a hard man in a ruined city, scratching out a living looking for lost things. Walker''s latest case comes by way of ex-mobster Ben Morningstar, who''s been living out his retirement in Phoenix while raising Maria, the daughter of a long-ago murdered friend. Only now, Maria is missing and the gangster needs Walker''s help. But the trail has gone cold—the only clue is a faded pornographic snapshot. Never one to give up, Walker witnesses the kidnapping of a former Vietnam friend and solves the murder of a young black labor leader while slugging his way to a solution. Fans of Raymond Chandler and Elmore Leonard''s crime fiction will find Estleman''s lean prose, retro style, and tough-guy hero irresistible. This ebook features an illustrated biography of Loren D. Estleman including rare photos from the author''s personal collection.

Hardboiled noir starring Detroit PI Amos Walker: "For readers who can''t get enough of Elmore Leonard and Ross Thomas, try Estleman. He''s that good" (People). After a tour in Vietnam and several years working the streets of Detroit as a private investigator, Amos Walker has seen a lot. But he''s never encountered anything quite like his newest assignment. Ann Maringer, an aging stripper hard at work at one of the city''s many low-grade joints, hires him to find a missing person: herself. She expects to disappear any day now, she says, and she wants to be found. He goes to her apartment the next day, hoping for more information, but Ann was true to her word and has disappeared completely, leaving behind nothing but a carton of Bel-Airs and a dead man on the floor. Unshaken by the body or the circumstances, Walker sets out to find his client. After all, she paid in advance. This ebook features an illustrated biography of Loren D. Estleman including rare photos from the author''s personal collection.

A New York Times Notable Book: A cop is shot and a Detroit PI is determined to find the culprit in this mystery by a multiple Shamus Award winner. A routine case puts Amos Walker on the highway to Ann Arbor, but the trip turns deadly just a few miles outside of Detroit. Tailing a trucker suspected of faking hijackings, Walker does his best to keep a safe distance, but is recognized anyway. The trucker runs him off the road, and it''s only the tight handling of an American-made Cutlass that keeps Walker from becoming roadkill. A good-natured policeman helps him out, and the detective continues on his way. But the next day, a bullet near the spine sends Walker''s new friend into intensive care, and Walker sets out to find the scum who shot the cop. This ebook features an illustrated biography of Loren D. Estleman including rare photos from the author''s personal collection.

A PI scours Detroit for a newscaster''s missing son: "[Estleman] remains among the top echelon of American private-eye specialists" (The New York Times). On screen, Sandy Broderick is everything a newscaster is supposed to be. He has a deep voice, a ten-thousand-watt smile, and the God-given ability to banter with weathermen until his ears fall off. But when the cameras turn off, he has a private problem: His twenty-year old son, Bud, has disappeared. Amos Walker is going to find him. The boy and his junkie girlfriend are both gone, and Broderick is terrified—not for his son, but for his career. The station is about to do an exposé on drugs in Detroit, and the newscaster doesn''t want his boy''s addict girlfriend to get in the way of his Pulitzer. This new client may be sleazy, but Walker handles scum for a living, and it''s time to go to work. This ebook features an illustrated biography of Loren D. Estleman including rare photos from the author''s personal collection.

A missing boy forces Detroit PI Amos Walker to investigate a long-cold caseIt is hardly unusual for an elderly woman to ask Amos Walker to search for her grandchild. As a private detective in one of the country''s roughest cities, tracking missing persons is the way he makes most of his money. But Martha Evancek''s grandson Michael has been missing for nearly twenty years, having disappeared in the aftermath of a murder. When Michael''s father was laid off from the Chrysler plant, he quarreled with his wife and then reached for his shotgun, killing her, his daughter, and finally himself. An eleven-year-old Michael was left to find the bodies, and he vanished soon after. Now, for the old woman''s sake, Amos Walker takes up a cold scent. He expects to find nothing, but he''s in for an unpleasant surprise. This ebook features an illustrated biography of Loren D. Estleman including rare photos from the author''s personal collection.

"For readers who can''t get enough of Elmore Leonard and Ross Thomas, try Estleman. He''s that good" (People). Barry Stackpole was tough once. Amos Walker met him in a Cambodian shell crater when Walker was serving his country and Stackpole was on the payroll of the DetroitNews, and they formed the kind of bond that war often creates. At war''s end, they returned to the Motor City, where Stackpole took to reporting crimes and Walker to solving them. A violent run-in with a big time mobster left Stackpole a leg and two fingers short, and he became an alcoholic. He has made several attempts to get his life straight since, but never quite managed. Now he''s fallen off the wagon again, harder than ever before, and his girlfriend begs Walker to find him before he drinks himself to death. But in Detroit, death can find a man in many ways. This ebook features an illustrated biography of Loren D. Estleman including rare photos from the author''s personal collection.

A chance encounter with an old flame sends Detroit PI Amos Walker on a hunt for her long-lost fatherIris was a great beauty when Amos Walker first saw her—a Jamaican goddess striding stark naked through an unworthy whorehouse. When he bumps into her at a high-class steakhouse just outside of Detroit, she still looks good. She’s come back from the Caribbean to seek out her father. Raised by her mother, Iris grew up thinking the man was dead, but has just learned the old trombone player may still be alive. Walker offers to dig for him: a welcome-home present for an old flame. The search leads him straight to the dark heart of the Detroit jazz scene, a seedy world where Walker is right at home, and into the crosshairs of some of the cruelest men in a very mean town. This ebook features an illustrated biography of Loren D. Estleman including rare photos from the author’s personal collection.

An ex-con hires Detroit PI Amos Walker to find the people who put him behind barsCountless tragedies occurred in the three days of the 1967 Detroit riots, and one of them belonged to Richard DeVries. A twenty-two-year-old black man about to get his chance to play for the Pistons, he was spotted tossing a Molotov cocktail at an abandoned building and arrested on the spot. The police added armed robbery to the arson charge, and sent DeVries up the river for knocking over an armored car that he had never seen before. Twenty years later he’s set free, and the first man he calls on is Amos Walker. With twenty years of savings he buys a month of Walker’s time, asking him for help finding the men who robbed the armored car. DeVries has already paid for stealing that $200,000, and now it’s time to collect it. This ebook features an illustrated biography of Loren D. Estleman including rare photos from the author’s personal collection.

Detroit PI Amos Walker attempts to clear the name of a woman accused of murdering her husbandConstance Thayer probably isn’t a nice woman. If she was, she wouldn’t have shot her husband to death. But just because she has a taste for nightlife—drinking, clubbing, and the finest hard drugs—doesn’t mean her husband didn’t deserve it. An automobile magnate in a city where internal combustion still reigns supreme, Doyle Thayer Jr. was a wife-beater with a collection of assault weapons that could furnish an army. At least that’s the story spun by Amos Walker’s new client, a large investigatory outfit hired by Mrs. Thayer to clear her name. Walker’s job is to get the dirt on her late husband, to learn enough about him that her shooting looks like an act of heroism. And please, his new bossbegs, don’t make any waves—a sure sign that the man doesn’t know Amos Walker. This ebook features an illustrated biography of Loren D. Estleman including rare photos from the author’s personal collection.

A faded film star asks Detroit PI Amos Walker to get her out of a relationship with a deadly mobster When Amos Walker was a teen, he had a poster of Gail Hope on his wall. A 60s bombshell in the beach-blanket tradition, she has fallen hard since her glory days as one of the dying studio system’s final starlets. But when she calls on Amos Walker she remains as lovely as ever: an elegant beauty with a $750,000 problem. Since her career evaporated, she has played the part of moll to one of Detroit’s big-name gangsters, a powerful man stalked by death. Tired of a life looking over her shoulder, Hope pawns everything she owns in an attempt to buy her way out. She entrusts Walker with a suitcase heavy with cash, and asks him to play delivery boy—a simple assignment that doesn’t take long to turn deadly. This ebook features an illustrated biography of Loren D. Estleman including rare photos from the author’s personal collection.

Detroit PI Amos Walker must find a missing movie fan before the credits start to roll—"Sharp and energetic . . . a joy from start to finish" (Chicago Tribune). What could be more innocent than watching old movies? For Neil Catalin, a wealthy man with a happy home, old-fashioned pictures were a hobby that became an obsession. But he wasn''t watching The Wizard of Oz. Crime movies were his passion, the sort where life is cheap and death is free, and Catalin sank himself into them as an escape from the stresses of suburbia, when soaring debt threatened to overwhelm the life he had created. Now he has disappeared, and his wife believes the clue may be in his collection of gruesome classics. She calls on Amos Walker, who ventures into a black-and-white past in his hunt for the missing man. The journey is far from escapism, because this is Detroit, where the guns don''t fire blanks. This ebook features an illustrated biography of Loren D. Estleman including rare photos from the author''s personal collection.

A dying architect engages Detroit PI Amos Walker to uncover someone who is spreading lies about himThe world is waiting for Jay Bell Furlong to die. The grand old man of American architecture is on deathwatch in a Los Angeles hospital, and it won''t be long before his obituary hits the front page. Only Amos Walker knows that the impending death is a bit farther off than that. In fact, Furlong has just become Walker''s client. The architect is still near death, yes, but far from the hospital. Before he goes, he has an item of revenge he wants seen to, and Walker is to be his instrument. Eight years prior, a salacious photo caused Furlong to cut loose his young lover, a photo he has now learned is a fake. He hires Walker to find out who poisoned his happiness, so that he can repay the favor before it''s too late. This ebook features an illustrated biography of Loren D. Estleman including rare photos from the author''s personal collection.

Edgar Award Finalist: In the throes of Prohibition-era Detroit, one reporter follows the gripping and violent life of a man who helped keep the booze flowing. Like nowhere else in America, Detroit flourished during Prohibition. The constant flow of liquor from across the Canadian border made Lake Erie a war zone, and lined the pockets of the men who ran the Purple Gang, the Unione Siciliana, and the Little Jewish Navy. As the mob bosses got rich, they mingled with the upper crust like never before. But Prohibition was more than just a boon for gangsters. For newspapermen, it was a dream come true. It''s 1928, and the Detroit Times'' Connie Minor knows every thug, moll, and triggerman south of Eight Mile. He''s drinking rotgut whiskey in a speakeasy on Vernor when he meets Jack Dance for the first time, and watches as the preening young hothead joins Joey Machine''s mob. Over the next few years, the two mobsters will fight a battle for the soul of Detroit''s underground, and Connie Minor will be there to cover every shot. This ebook features an illustrated biography of Loren D. Estleman including rare photos from the author''s personal collection.

Fresh out of jail, an ex-ballplayer stumbles into the world of bounty hunting and murder in urban DetroitEven prison couldn''t stop former big-league pitcher Doc Miller from playing baseball. Jailed after a teenage girl overdosed on cocaine at one of his house parties, the former Detroit Tigers ace became a star at the Michigan State Prison, bringing home the institution''s first Midwestern Penal System championship. Now out on parole, his days of ballpark heroics are over for good. Miller''s brother gets him a job selling tractor parts for John Deere, work Doc finds even duller than life in the joint. While moonlighting as a cab driver, he meets a bail bondsman who offers work as a bounty hunter. On their first job together, they find their target savagely murdered. His name was Ambrose X. Dryce, formerly Wilson McCoy, a Black Panther turned drug lord. Sucked back into the criminal underworld, Doc will need to make his best plays to stay alive without violating his parole. This ebook features an illustrated biography of Loren D. Estleman including rare photos from the author''s personal collection.

In the tense summer before Detroit''s 1967 race riots, a former cop faces off against some of the city''s most dangerous forcesRage simmers beneath the tranquil surface of 1960s Detroit. As the auto industry enjoys its last moments of prosperity, widespread discrimination infuriates the city''s black middle class. One of the most destructive riots of the twentieth century is around the corner, and Rick Amery is going to be right in the middle. A longtime cop forced out of the department on trumped-up graft charges, Amery shares Detroit''s obsession with muscle cars. It was the temptation of a white ''64 Thunderbird that cost him his badge, and it is for the sake of General Motors that he takes his first job as a private investigator, digging up dirt on a consumer advocate who calls GM cars death traps. Amery must work quickly, for no hot rod on Earth is fast enough to outrun the trouble that''s gaining on the Motor City. This ebook features an illustrated biography of Loren D. Estleman including rare photos from the author''s personal collection.

Hired to promote the new American dream car, a former reporter finds himself mired in a deadly conspiracy against a union boss and Ford Motors itselfIt''s only been two decades since Connie Minor was on top, but it feels like centuries. Once a journalist, Minor spent Prohibition with his finger on gangland''s pulse, a confidant of every rumrunner, boss, and triggerman in Detroit. But as the gangsters fell, Minor went with them, replaced by a generation of reporters more interested in the Nazi Party than the inner workings of the Purple Gang. Now it''s the 1950s, and after years writing mindless ad copy, Minor fears that his brain may be permanently atrophied—that is, until an exciting new job drops on his desk. Minor is hired to sell Ford''s most original creation, the Edsel, meant to take America by storm. But the job quickly reintroduces him to some ugly old Detroit faces. When he uncovers a conspiracy against both a union leader and the new car, his reporter''s instincts kick in. It''s been years since Minor gabbed with mobsters, but it''s never too late for an old newspaperman to get whacked. This ebook features an illustrated biography of Loren D. Estleman including rare photos from the author''s personal collection.

A young black cop goes head-to-head with Detroit''s elite undercover squad when one of its officers is accused of a racially fraught murderFor Paul Kubicek and the city of Detroit, 1972 ends in a haze of blood. A police officer in need of extra work, Kubicek spends New Year''s Eve moonlighting as a security guard at an upscale Grosse Pointe party. Just before midnight, in the sea of white faces, he sees three black men, a shotgun, and a pistol. Shooting more accurately than he ever has on the firing range, he takes out the would-be burglars in less than a minute. Only after they are all dead does he realize one man was unarmed. The police department asks Charlie Battle, one of its few African American officers, to head up the investigation into Kubicek''s shooting. As racial tensions threaten to tear Detroit apart, Battle tries to break through the department''s code of silence, fighting for truth in a city where lies are a way of life. This ebook features an illustrated biography of Loren D. Estleman including rare photos from the author''s personal collection.

Masquerading as a soldier, a serial killer savages wartime Detroit; it''s up to one detective and his ragtag team to stop himAs the United States enters World War II, Detroit converts its factories to an "arsenal of democracy," fueling the American war machine. The city''s sons leave to join the fight, but one man does not follow. Declared too unstable for combat, he steals an Air Force corporal''s uniform. Using the uniform to inspire trust, he talks ration stamp-hoarders into letting him into their homes, where he slits their throats with a bayonet. The newspapers call him Kilroy. On his tail is police Lieutenant Maximilian Zagreb, whose task it is to keep order in a city whose police department has been stripped of everyone but pensioners and army-rejects. Chasing Kilroy will force him far outside the bounds of legal police procedure, but Zag doesn''t mind cracking skulls to get results. In wartime, a little bloodshed is inevitable. This ebook features an illustrated biography of Loren D. Estleman including rare photos from the author''s personal collection.

A "tour de force" novel of crime and corruption in the early days of Detroit''s auto industry (Kirkus Reviews). At the turn of the twentieth century, Detroit is still decades away from becoming the "Motor City." The budding manufacturing town is little more than a confederation of tightly knit ethnic enclaves, ruled over by men like Abner Crownover III, horse-coach baron, and James Dolan, a portly politician who runs the city government from behind the scenes. They had thought their grip on this young city was secure, but internal combustion is about to destroy their empire. An industrial wizard named Henry Ford has come to Detroit with a dream of making a fortune from horseless carriages. Twice bankrupted, he has lost the faith of every investor in town, save for Crownover''s son Harlan. When Dolan and his father refuse to finance Harlan''s new business venture, Harlan turns to the Mafia for the money. In the battle for its future, Detroit''s streets will run with blood. This ebook features an illustrated biography of Loren D. Estleman including rare photos from the author''s personal collection.

A collection of stories featuring a UCLA film archivist who searches for lost footage—and finds trouble insteadThough he shares his name with the most famous heartthrob of the silent era, Valentino is not part of film history. Rather, he is a scholar of it, working at UCLA to help find and preserve rare films. But not all movies are lost because of careless storage. Some were hidden deliberately, and there are those who will kill to ensure they stay that way. In these short stories, Valentino''s searches for missing motion pictures become dangerous investigations, and he is forced to decide what''s more important—preserving film history, or preserving his own neck.Comprised of timeless short stories that have appeared in Ellery Queen''s Mystery Magazine, Loren D. Estleman''s Valentino: Film Detective shows why Estleman is considered a master not just of film history, but of the enduring art of murder, which golden-age Hollywood did so much to perfect.

Motor City''s criminal underworld comes to life in the first three Detroit novels from the "pithy, punchy" four-time Shamus Award winner (The New York Times Book Review). In Edsel, it has only been two decades since Connie Minor was on top, but it feels like centuries. Once a journalist, Minor spent Prohibition with his finger on gangland''s pulse, a confidant of every rumrunner, boss, and triggerman in Detroit. But as the gangsters fell, Minor went with them, replaced by a generation of reporters more interested in the Nazi Party than the inner workings of the Purple Gang. Now it''s the 1950s, and after years writing mindless ad copy, Minor fears that his brain may be permanently atrophied—that is, until an exciting new job drops on his desk. Minor is hired to sell Ford''s most original creation, the Edsel, meant to take America by storm. But the job quickly reintroduces him to some ugly old Detroit faces. When he uncovers a conspiracy, his reporter''s instincts kick in. It''s been years since Minor gabbed with mobsters, but it''s never too late for an old newspaperman to get whacked.In Stress, for Paul Kubicek and the city of Detroit, 1972 ends in a haze of blood. A police officer in need of extra work, Kubicek spends New Year''s Eve moonlighting as a security guard at an upscale party. Just before midnight, he sees three black men, a shotgun, and a pistol. He takes out the would-be burglars in less than a minute. Only after they are all dead does he realize one man was unarmed. The police department asks Charlie Battle, one of its few African American officers, to head up the investigation into Kubicek''s shooting. As racial tensions threaten to tear Detroit apart, Battle tries to break through the department''s code of silence, fighting for truth in a city where lies are a way of life.And in Motown, rage simmers beneath the tranquil surface of 1960s Detroit. As the auto industry enjoys its last moments of prosperity, widespread discrimination infuriates the city''s black middle class. One of the most destructive riots of the twentieth century is around the corner, and Rick Amery is going to be right in the middle. A longtime cop forced out of the department on trumped-up graft charges, Amery shares Detroit''s obsession with muscle cars. It was the temptation of a white ''64 Thunderbird that cost him his badge, and it is for the sake of General Motors that he takes his first job as a private investigator, digging up dirt on a consumer advocate who calls GM cars death traps. Amery must work quickly, for no hot rod on Earth is fast enough to outrun the trouble that''s gaining on the Motor City.

Detroit PI Amos Walker searches for a priceless medieval illuminated manuscript—and for evidence that can put his former partner''s killer behind barsHired by a curator at the Detroit Institute of Arts to serve as his bodyguard during a transaction involving a stolen illuminated manuscript, Amos Walker enters a darkened skin-flick theater where the exchange is supposed to take place. When the deal goes south, he''s lucky to leave with his life . . . and a new lead to pursue in collaring the man who murdered his partner 20 years ago. In a case that features a wheelchair-bound pornographer and rare book collector, an ultra-slick art expert, a trophy wife, and a white-collar criminal, Walker faces one of the greatest challenges of his career as a present-day crime draws him back to one of the darkest episodes of his past. The Hours of the Virgin is the 13th book in the Amos Walker Mysteries, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.

Detroit PI Amos Walker steps into a lethal family feud when the beautiful widow of a powerful industrialist hires him to find her late husband''s illegitimate childrenLeland Stutch was building automobiles before Henry Ford ever dreamed up the Model T. He dominated Detroit for most of the 20th century as the auto industry soared and then began its long, slow descent. When Stutch''s widow contacts Amos Walker, the private eye expects to meet a doddering old lady. Instead he encounters Rayellen, a 30-something beauty with washboard abs and 1 of the most unusual propositions he''s ever heard. Unconcerned with matrimonial vows, the most powerful man in Detroit left mistresses—and love children—all over Michigan. To stave off any future paternity suits, Rayellen hires Walker to locate Stutch''s illegitimate offspring and pay them off—a seemingly simple task that draws the detective into a dysfunctional family''s war zone and a violent case of kidnapping and murder. Sinister Heights is the 15th book in the Amos Walker Mysteries, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.

A remarkable new antihero, mob hit man Peter Macklin must end a hostage crisis on a tour boat in Lake Erie Siegfried, a terrorist group made up of a killer, a bassist, an ex-marine, a demolitions expert, a Black Panther, a national guardsman, and a couple of spoiled teenagers, is about to become Detroit''s worst nightmare. The motley gang boards a river cruise boat armed with M16s and enough explosives to burn the city down. They have eight hundred hostages, and if they don''t get what they want, Siegfried will kill every soul aboard. Rescue is impossible. No cop could get on the boat. The only man with the skills for the job is Peter Macklin, a professional killer with ties to the local mob. Hired by the FBI bureau chief to sneak aboard the ship and destroy Siegfried from the inside out, Macklin will find killers in front of him—and another on his tail. Set in Detroit, this fast-paced thriller introduces another great series from the three-time Shamus Award–winning author of the Amos Walker Mysteries. Kill Zone is the 1st book in the Peter Macklin Thrillers, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.

Hit man Peter Macklin battles divorce attorneys, mobsters, and hired assassins in this action-packed, hard-boiled thriller For years, Donna ignored the guns in her husband''s safe, his long hours, and all the cash he couldn''t possibly have made as an "efficiency expert." But finally she was forced to admit that Peter Macklin is a killer for hire. Donna wants a divorce, and she wants to take her husband for all he''s worth. But she won''t get a penny if he''s dead. Macklin, who recently cut ties with the mob, is leaving his divorce attorney''s office when he''s attacked. Quick thinking saves his life, but the Detroit mob has turned on him, and they''ll keep sending assassins until Macklin is put in the ground. He''ll have to kill like never before—or this hit man won''t live to make his first alimony payment. This riveting thriller from three-time Shamus Award–winning author Loren D. Estleman features one of the most redoubtable antiheroes in hard-boiled crime fiction. Roses Are Dead is the 2nd book in the Peter Macklin Thrillers, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.

A Detroit mob war draws Peter Macklin back into his old life as a Mafia assassin in award-winning author Loren D. Estleman''s riveting hard-boiled thriller The Reverend Thomas Aquinas Sunsmith is halfway through his sermon when killers open fire. He is preaching against the evils of gambling, which a cartel of mobsters is trying to legalize in Detroit. The hail of gunfire misses the reverend, but a choir member is cut down—the first victim in the battle for the soul of the Motor City. The Detroit mob has erupted into civil war, and professional killer Peter Macklin is caught in the middle. A former mob employee, he has since tried to stay away from the savagery of organized crime, but now they''re offering him a job too tempting to refuse. The mob will kill whomever it takes to bring gambling to Detroit, and Macklin is about to discover their secret weapon: a seventeen-year-old prodigy assassin, who happens to be Macklin''s own son. This suspenseful thriller from the three-time Shamus Award–winning author of the Amos Walker Mysteries rumbles with hard-boiled action and razor-sharp dialogue. Any Man''s Death is the 3rd book in the Peter Macklin Thrillers, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.

Trying to go straight, former contract killer Peter Macklin carries out a hit in the Lone Star state, in this page-turning hard-boiled thriller Johns Davis has just left the Alamo when he feels the garrote wrap around his neck. The bookie slams his foot on the gas, sending the car into oncoming traffic. It bounces off a van, hops the curb, and crashes into a hotel, knocking Davis unconscious and breaking the neck of his would-be assassin. Davis can breathe again, but just for a moment. When the mob wants you dead, they''ll always send another killer. The only man for the job is Peter Macklin, a veteran killer who''s trying to put his old life behind him. He''s just married Laurie, a beautiful, innocent young woman who believes her husband is a salesman. They''re on their honeymoon in Los Angeles when he gets the call, and it''s a gig he can''t refuse. Macklin is going to Texas for a battle so tough it will make the Alamo look like a fair fight. This spellbinding thriller from three-time-Shamus Award–winning author Loren D. Estleman takes hit man Peter Macklin out of his Motor City comfort zone and into the hot spots of San Antonio and Los Angeles. Something Borrowed, Something Black is the 4th book in the Peter Macklin Thrillers, but you may enjoy reading the series in any order.

During the Great Depression, a ruthless killer breaks out of prison to reclaim his status as Public Enemy Number One in this chilling, action-packed novel Before Dillinger, before Bonnie and Clyde, there was Virgil Ballard, the most ruthless killer the United States has ever seen. Ballard gets his start in the early 1920s, hijacking liquor trucks and selling the bootlegged hooch. He has a youthful face and the eyes of a killer, and it isn''t long before he baptizes himself in another man''s blood. The state gives him a life sentence, but no jail can hold Ballard. When he busts out of prison, he knows he has a date with death—but how many coppers can he take out along the way? Inspired by the author''s love of 1930s gangster movies, Loren D. Estleman''s debut thriller surges with the narrative energy and crackling dialogue that would become hallmarks of his numerous acclaimed and award-winning hard-boiled crime novels.

A priest''s death leads a Detroit gumshoe into a case of church corruption in this mordantly funny hard-boiled crime novel Ralph Poteet is forty pounds overweight, out of gin, and he hasn''t seen his gun in weeks. As far as private detectives go, he''s not much to look at. But he''s the only one in the building, and that''s enough for Lyla Dane. A call girl who''s far better at her job than Ralph is at his, she calls him in the middle of the night because she has a dead monsignor in her bed. After dealing with Lyla''s deceased client, Ralph tries his hand at blackmail, offering to keep mum about the priest''s embarrassing demise in exchange for a payoff from the diocese. But when somebody tries to kill Ralph and Lyla, Detroit''s most unsavory PI is swept into an unholy swarm of deadly secrets that resonates all the way to Washington, DC, and the Vatican. Three-time Shamus Award–winning author Loren D. Estleman delivers a witty, ribald send-up of the hard-boiled detective genre in this action-packed crime novel.