Bad Penny (Frank Shaw) by John D. Brown

This is an action-packed book, more action/adventure than hardboiled crime fiction. Ex-con, Army Special Forces vet Frank Shaw gets into trouble when some old prison ''buddies'' show up asking for a favor and his nephew gets kidnapped. Trying to get him back he clashes with his old prison ''buddies'' and encounters a ring of people smugglers. Luckily he is aided by some unexpected heroes.
Basically, this is one long action movie. Frank shoots, flies, drives and fights his way into and out of trouble. Along the way there's some buddy movie style banter to lighten the mood and to give some moments of rest between the action scenes.
I'm not a big fan of this kind of book, preferring just a bit more mystery to the mix but I have to admit that John Brown knows how to write an action scene. You can just see the bullets flying in your head.
Good reading for fans of Lee Child, Matt Hilton and action blockbusters of the nineties.

Exit Strategy (Nick Mason) by Steve Hamilton

I absolutely loved the first book in this series. The original premise, the whole coolness of it all were so great I really was waiting for this novel to come out. I got a little bit worried reading it as it seemed to go to a definite end. Would it be only two books? That couldn't be the case! Come on, it's going to be a movie I read! Or would the direction change so much I wouldn't enjoy it as much anymore? Wrong! I won't spoil things, but the ending WILL make you eager to read the third book and only takes the idea of the first books to an even stronger direction.
Like the first novel ex-con Nick Mason has to do a mission for the man who got him out of jail, Darius Cole. This time he has to kill some enemies of Cole who are in the witness protection program. There's some very strong action scenes that take place because of this mission sometimes taking this novel even beyond Lee Child / Jack Reacher territory. It's not all shooting and car chases, though! We get into Nick's relationship with his ex-wife and daughter, with the woman he is sharing a house with and his own conscience.
It's full of twists and turns, it's very dark and it's very action-packed. Reacher meets Parker I would say. You simply need to read this series.

Q & A with Sam Wiebe

It's not just the guys from the USA writing good PI fiction. Sam Wiebe is a Canadian example of that. Here's a little talk with the author of the Dave Wakeland series

Q: What makes Dave Wakeland different from other hardboiled characters? 
He's young, in his late twenties, and successful--he and his partner Jeff Chen run a growing security company. This causes Dave some unease, as he's more comfortable taking a hands-on, street-level approach.  Wakeland has a social conscience, but like all of us he must temper that with the dictates of making a living, and trying to make ethical choices that he can live with.

Q: How did you come up with the character?
 When I finished grad school I was buried in student debt and searching for my niche, a way to make money in an ethical manner. When I started the book I'd gotten a job at a private college teaching, and was falling back in love with the city of Vancouver. At the same time, there was a major judicial hearing, the Oppal Conmission, looking into the many disappearances of at-risk women in the city. I wanted to write about that doubleness, that sense of not really knowing a place that you've lived all your life, and not quite knowing your place in it. Wakeland was born out of those tensions.

Q: What are your thoughts on the whole eBook revolution?
If you prefer reading on a tablet or phone, that's great; I prefer paper, but ultimately it's about the story.

Q: What's next for you and your characters?
The second Wakeland novel, CUT YOU DOWN, will be out February 2018 from Random House Canada and Quercus USA.

Q: What do you do when you're not writing?
Hang out with my girlfriend and watch NYPD Blue reruns, or take walks around East Vancouver.

Q: How do you promote your work? 
 As well as I can. I'm on twitter, @sam_wiebe, on Facebook at facebook.com/wiebesam, and at samwiebe.com.

Q: What other genres besides crime do you like? 
I'll read pretty much anything, if it's good and if I'm in the mood.

Q: In the last century we've seen new waves of PI writers, first influenced by Hammett, then Chandler, Macdonald, Parker, later Lehane. Who do you think will influence the coming generation?
That list is great, but leaves off Walter Mosley, John D MacDonald, Sue Grafton, Laura Lippmann, Sara Paretsky and others. I think the future of PI fiction will have to be diverse, but will stay working class. I hope it keeps a little philosophical and sociological insight, because that's what I love about those authors--they have something to say.

Q: Why do you write in this genre?
I'm fascinated by work, and ultimately that's what the PI genre is about--not trenchoats or fistfights, but the ethical dilemmas of running an independent business, testing your ethical boundaries while trying to get ahead. As Chandler put it, "How to be in business and stay reasonably honest." That's the heart of the genre, to me, and that's something that applies to everyone.

The Promise (Elvis Cole) by Robert Crais

The Elvis Cole series is without a doubt one of my favorites. I loved how Crais managed to take the Spenser template and breathe some youth into it and without him there probably would be no Noah Milano. Lately they have read more like thrillers than PI novels and I haven't loved them as much. Still, it is always a joy to read about Cole and his buddy Pike. This one also stars Scott James and K-9 Maggie from the earlier novel, Suspect.
Cole is hired to find a missing, grieving mother and finds himself encountering a suspect at a house in Echo Park. Scott James and Maggie are there as well, trying to track the fleeing suspect. The suspect turns out to be a dangerous killer who now targets Scott.
While Cole investigates he finds out the grieving mother was quite a complex person and discovers links to terrorism. He needs the help of mercenary Jon Stone to get through to things.
The scenes written through the eyes of Maggie are pretty amazing and they helped me understand my own dog better! Those scenes and those that shine a different light on Jon Stone save this novel. I thought the plot could get too confusing and a bit too unlikely. Also, often Cole seems to be an almost passive character in a plot and has only a very small part to play in the conclusion.

Q & A with John D. Brown

John D. Brown writes, besides a fantasy series, a series about ex-con, Special Forces vet Frank Shaw. The series is doing pretty good, so I figured I'd ask him all about his series and his view on our favorite genre.

Q: What makes Frank Shaw different from other hardboiled characters? 
Frank is an ex-con who is out of prison and trying to fly straight. Yes, he has skills. He is a Special Forces veteran and worked for a private contractor afterwards. But the thing that distinguishes Frank from many other characters is his down-to-earth appeal. There are some action thriller characters who never make a mistake and always seem to have the upper hand. Not Frank. I also enjoy his sardonic wit.

 Q: How did you come up with the character?
Frank was inspired by a fine old brother in my church in Ohio who was one of those salt of the earth folks who also happened to have at one time been a bank robber. When he got out of prison, he determined his life would change. He married a good Methodist girl he met at a church dance, went into the laundry business, and never looked back. It was my privilege to record his life history. At the time, it struck me that I rarely saw stories about ex-cons who actually make it out of the recidivism cycle. I thought, I’m going to write one and have a ball doing it.

Q: What are your thoughts on the whole eBook revolution?
I love it. My debut was with a big New York publisher, and I learned a lot working with them. But there’s so much freedom with indie ebooks.

 Q: What's next for you and your characters?
Frank’s nephew Tony makes a reappearance in the third book, which is called Gray Hat. I’ll be working on that in the coming months. Tony and a group of his nerd friends have stumbled onto a crime and have gotten way in over their heads. And Frank comes in to work with them to save the day. After that, I was invited to co-author a book with New York Times bestselling author Larry Correia. That one will be a big, fun, high-action science fiction story about gun runners in space.

 Q: What do you do when you're not writing?
Teach, hike, and enjoy my time with my wife and children. And have a blast researching the next book. For example, some of that recent research included shooting carbines, riding horses, taking a class from those who have trained our special operations forces on how to disable an attacker, and traveling to Southern Utah where my second novel is set.

Q: How do you promote your work? 
The most effective promotions I’ve found are advertisements on social media and discount book services.

Q: What other genres besides crime do you like? 
I like almost all genres. What I’m looking for is a good story.

 Q: In the last century we've seen new waves of PI writers, first influenced by Hammett, then Chandler, Macdonald, Parker, later Lehane. Who do you think will influence the coming generation?
I have no idea. In the last century you had a small set of publishers effectively controlling which stories and authors made it to the market. With the ebook revolution those constraints are gone. And so you will have thousands of authors inspiring thousands of other authors. As for who the next biggie will be, that’s like predicting who will win the lottery.

 Q: Why do you write in this genre?
Because it’s fun. Really, it boils down to that.