Bad to the Bone (Casey Jones) by Katy Munger

I managed to pick up this book at a very low price but it was worth more. Casey Jones reads like a more hardboiled Stephanie Plum or a precursor of Lori Armstrong’s strong female lead.
When she gets involved in a child custody case where the father allegedly abducted the kid her ex-husband also gets involved and someone turns up dead.
With the help of a handsome cop, her PI-partner and her own stubborn attitude Casey manages to find the killer, sleep around, drink, smoke and serve up some fantastic oneliners. While there is a lot to laugh during the novel it can at times get pretty dark as well, making this a very entertaining ride.

Q & A with Arlene Hunt

We had the pleasure of doing an interview with Irish writer Arlene Hunt.


Q: What makes Sarah and John different from other (unofficial) PIs?
I suppose it's because neither of them are mavericks or even particularly good at what they do. But they have tenacity and they have heart and if you pare back John's insouciance and Sarah's hard front you find yourself dealing with two flawed yet ultimately decent people who are trying to make a difference.

Q: What are the biggest differences of having a PI story set in Ireland as opposed to where the genre originated, the USA?
We have a different class of criminal and law enforcement and a tighter scope with regard to geography. Also because Ireland is quite small, it's entirely feasible that people unconnected might know someone who knows somebody else.

Q: How did you get published?
I wrote my first novel and was lucky enough to gain an agent from it- although not a publishing house. But with my second book I joined Hachette.

Q: What’s next for you and Quick Investigations?
The book I am currently working on is a stand alone called Blood MOney about the illegal trade in body organs. What's next for John and Sarah and Quick? I cannot say at the moment, but there will have to be some soul searching for both of my detectives.

Q: How do you promote your books?
I have my own website and when ever a book is launched I do the usual round of promotions and signings.

Q: Do you have any favorite Sons of Spade yourself?
Elvis Cole and Joe Pike.

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 and in what way?
I believe the reality based gritty realism of David Simon ( the wire) will have a huge influence in future books. I think we're moving away from a stylised form of novel and entering into a visceral and ultimately more tangibly violent era.

Q: Steven Hague came up with the following question: If you had to choose to write in a genre other than crime, which one would it be and why?Romantic fiction- but with a high body count.

Q: What question should we ask every PI writer we interview and what is your answer?
When faced with opening an closing your office one hundred time a day, should you A) put in a cat flap, or B) Leave the buggers outside.
Answer, B.

Prodigal Sons: Alex Rasmussen (by David Daniel)

We tracked down David Daniel to get to know if there's a chance we'll be seeing Alex Rasmussen again any time soon. He answered this:

''Many thanks for your "missing persons" inquiry about Alex Rasmussen. Briefly, I've got three additional AR novels in development:

The Croak Factor, about a sinister killer who has taken several victims one rainy spring in Lowell, MA, and Rasmussen joins forces with the police to hunt him.

Chin Music, about a professional baseball player accused by one of Rasmussen's friends of raping her.

Rounded with a Sleep, in which an again stage actress is convinced she is being stalked and hires Rasmussen to investigate.

At the moment, however, my publisher (St. Martin's Press) is more interested in a more mainstream mystery/psychological thriller that I've got in progress, Dragonfly Summer. So, bottom line, Rasmussen in on an extended unpaid vacation. If you know of any publishing houses looking for new books, let me know.''

Nervous Laughter (Thomas Black) by Earl Emerson

I picked up several Thomas Black novels at the Partners & Crime bookstore when I was visiting NYC this summer. This was the first one I read of those and it brought me back to the nineties which was a great time for PI-lovers. Together with Steven Womack’s stuff this was one of my favourite writers of that time. This one proved again why.
With witty, direct prose Earl Emerson tells us the tale of Thomas Black and his platonic girlfriend Kathy. Thomas is hired to follow a man who is suspected of adultery. When he follows the guy he turns up dead, along with a teenage girl. It seems like a murder-suicide deal but his wife, Deanna doesn’t think so and hires him to prove it.
I loved the characters like Seymore Teets (bawdy and sleazy PI), the attractive femme fatale Deanna and the villains who aren’t professional gangsters but to the unarmed Thomas just as dangerous. Those, combined with the easy-to-read and fast-paced writing made this a heck of a read.

Justice For All (Zac Hunter) by Steven Hague

Steven Hague proves he uses his inspirations with great skill. With this first offering he manages to marry successfully the twists and turns of Harlan Coben with the feeling of authenticity and mood of Michael Connelly.
Ex-cop Zac Hunter beat the crap out of a suspect child killer / molester. While out of the job he still won’t let the case of this killer rest however. Helping him out along the way is an aging detective (my favourite character in the book)..
There’s also a Russian vigilante killer who dishes out violent justice to various unsavoury characters and a female lawyer who seems to be more than meets the eye.
All these characters cross paths in this exciting tale of vengeance.
During the course of the novel we begin to see that Zac may be an unrelenting champion of justice but is by no means a ruthless vigilante. Pitting him against a killer that is one is a great choice for a first novel in this series. It makes sure you don’t mistake Zac for a Punisher (Marvel Comics) or Executioner (Don Pendleton’s novels) kind of character. These are thrillers / crime novels, not mindless, action-packed men’s adventures. So the movie version would star Mark Wahlberg, not Steven Seagal.
Zac Hunter is THE loner, the epitome of the character Dashiel Hammett invented with the Continental Op. He has no private life to speak of but a thirst for justice and the truth that makes him the ultimate detective.
I really enjoyed this one. Not only was I satisfied with the writing style, direct but not written as a documentary, characters that might become larger than life but still ended up as feeling very real, a satisfying amount of action and lots of surprises and plot twists. Also, as a Dutch writer who has decided to set his series in the same city (L.A.) as British writer Steven I must compliment him on his excellent research. I know how tough it can be sometimes.