Polo's Long Shot (Nick Polo) by Jerry Kennealy

How cool is it to see Nick Polo back in action? He was one of those cool PI's in the nineties when the PI novel was pretty popular. Nick is an ex-cop and ex-con who likes to unwind by watching the bubbles go from a bubble machine. He's also very believable in his investigations, due to the fact his creator is an actual PI himself.
In his return he is hired to track down a stolen antique knife. During this investigation he meets rich folks, other private eyes, gangsters and a femme fatale. The prose or story aren't ground-breaking. There are no huge twists to the archetypical PI character either.
What we do get is a solid PI tale that is easy to read with an engaging protagonist. I applaud Down & Out Books for getting him back on the streets and hope they will do that with more PI's from the nineties.

Fifty Shades of Fedora (Anthology) by Robert J. Randisi

One of the most important reasons I developed the Shamus Sampler series of anthologies was that the Private Eye Writers of America didn't seem to put out theirs anymore. Lucky for me, they're back with this one, as always expertly edited by Robert J. Randisi. I'm sorry he didn't do introductions for each tale, used to love those.

The running theme, as can be guessed a bit by the title is sex. Some graphic and kinky, some more implied. Some tales didn't really seem to be real PI tales to me, but of course that wasn't advertised either. A LOT of them are, I'm happy to say, though.

Among the writers are Carolina Garcia-Aquilera, Justin Scott, Gary Phillips, Jerry Kennealy, Michael Bracken, Christine Matthews, Robert J. Randisi, Warren Murphy, Ted Fitzgerald, Dick Lochte, and John Lutz. I loved seeing Max Allan Collins with a Nate Heller story and Jerry Kennealy put in a short and sweet Nick Polo tale. The fact there's a VI Warshawski tale in it should sell some extra copies. Some tales are a bit raunchier than others, Bracken's probably the more hardcore one. If you don't like that kind of stuff, don't worry, it is at the beginning but  not indicative to the rest.

Special mention should go to Ted Fitzgerald's Tex Texeira who is a PI that does background checks for a nudie magazine. I thought that idea was very original and the tale very enjoyable. @Ted: if you are reading this, be sure to contact me for an interview.