Favorite Sons of 2018

I got divorced this year as most PI's seem to do as well. It kind of cut into my reading time and I had a little trouble concentrating on the written word. I didn't write a lot myself either. Next year I will probably be more active again.
Still, I managed to read and review enough to come up with my Best Of list again:


BEST PI NOVEL: Broken Ground (Jay Porter) by Joe Clifford
BEST DEBUT: August Snow (August Snow) by Stephen Mack Jones
BEST NEW PI: Marker by Marcus Pelegrimas
BEST ACTION SCENES: Miami Burn (Titus) by John D. Patten

Miami Chill (Titus) by John D. Patten

Miami tough guy Titus rolls into another hardboiled adventure. He is hired to bodyguard a hot pop singer (and manages to bed her) and sets out to take down a human trafficking ring.
There's the same amount of action as the first book served up but what makes this one so enjoyable is the banter between Titus and the pop singer. Titus is very much his own man, very unique and self-contained.
I'm not a big fan of the love interest Sofia. There's too much PI-types already lusting for hot cops.
Aside from that another nice mix of Lee Child and John D. MacDonald.

Colorblind (Jesse Parker) by Reed Farrel Coleman / Robert B. Parker

Paradise police chief Jesse Stone is just back from rehab when an African American woman gets murdered. When more racially motivated crimes are committed he gives it his all to find out who is behind this. That task doesn't become easier though when his black female officer Alisha guns down a what appears to be unarmed man.
There's also a young man named Slayton Cole (how cool does that name sound) who fills in a role that reminded me of Spenser's bond with Paul in several novels.
Coleman manages to weave a tight mystery in with another piece of  character development of Jesse Stone quite nicely. Keeping his own writing style, but offering the kind of short chapters Robert B. Paker used Mr. Coleman shows again why he was such a good choice do continue this series.

Fatal Sisters (Rafferty) by W. Glenn Duncan

Patty Akister's husband goes missing. According to her he's a secret agent. Rafferty, who is hired to find him finds that pretty hard to swallow. When her husband turns up dead in a whorehouse Rafferty tries to find his killer while he goes out of his way to prevent shattering Patty's positive view of her husband.

This one has all the hallmarks of a good Rafferty tale. That is, nice banter between him and his girlfriend, macho and witty exchanges between him and his cool sidekick Cowboy for one. Aside from that there's some nice moral choices to deal with and some good action scenes.
As ever the writing is fast-paced and loose, making this a quick and easy read.

Northtown Eclipse (Raimo Jarvi) by Robert White

It's hard to do something original with the PI story without involving robots and the undead. Robert White takes a shot, using the best weapon you can use. He has an original protagonist. A PI who has enough in common with the archetype we love but still brings something new to the table. In what reminded me of T. Jefferson Parker's Silent Joe he offers us a PI with a badly scarred face, Raimo Jarvi.
When his estranged brother is in a lot of trouble this PI steps in to help. Raimo is way less macho and slick than most guys in the genre. He's not the asskicking wisecracker but a troubled and romantic soul. There's quite some moving scenes in here and the whole writing has an interesting literate bend.