Thursday, May 19, 2016

Nickel Package (Burnside) by David Chill

I'm a loyal reader of the Burnside series, so of course I read this one as well. The LA PI is now a dad of a 3-year old kid and happily married. That makes for some nice warm scenes, making him very human an likable. He's hired to do a background check on an employee for a big company he gets involved in several murder investigations.
As always the story doesn't break much new ground, though of course Burnside being a married dad is a bit unusual for a PI. What it does do is entertain! Burnside investigates and solves the mysteries like a good PI should, trades some blows with thugs and clashes with the cops.
This sixth novel in the series satisfied me enough to be eager to read the 7th.

The Red Storm (William Fletcher) by Grant Bywaters

In 1930s New Orleans ex-boxer William Fletcher makes a living as a PI. He's a black man in an era not ready for black snoops but he makes the most of it.
An old criminal friend asks him to track down his missing daughter. As Fletcher investigates he soon has to do battle with both cops and robbers.
While the story takes place in the past the writing feels fresh and exciting. Fletcher is an enaging character and the ending has quite some nice pulpy action.
This one won the PWA Best First PI Novel contest in 2015 and I can see why. It ticks all the boxes a PI novel should tick while the era and race of the PI gives it that little extra to make it stand out.