Motor City Blue

If MOTOR CITY BLUE sounds like an old movie, there's a good reason. Author Loren D. Estleman explains in an afterward that as a kid he was a fan of film noir. When he set out to make a living as an author, he wanted to imitate the writers whose books were made into movies: Dashiel Hammet, Raymond Chandler, Micey Spillane et. al. He picked the 1975 Chandler vehicle FAREWELL, MY LOVELY as an inspiration for MOTOR CITY BLUE. Estleman's hero, Amos Walker, could pass for Phillip Marlowe or Travis McGee. He's a big lug who wears a snap-brim fedora, smokes too much, keeps a bottle of whiskey in his office drawer, and drives a Cutlass with a Cadillac engine. Like McGee, he gets beats beat up a lot; at one point two thugs pistol whip him. He also has a police connection on the force, detective John Alderdyce, the only true black man he's ever known. The plot isn't much. Walker is hired to find the ward of ancient mafioso, Ben Morningstar. Estleman tries very hard to bend the stereotypes concerning organized crime, but in the end he choses an ex-hockey player as a bodyguard for Morningstar who looks more like a thug than a conventional hood. There are too many characters in MOTOR CITY BLUE, more characters than in a Russian novel, Estleman says in his afterward. You would think you'd be able to remember the main ones at the end of the novel. I consistently found myself paging back a few pages to try to figure out who some of these people were. Like Elmore Leonard, Estleman chose Detroit as a setting. I recognized a lot of place names like Grosse Point and Rouge Road, but that didn't help bring Detroit to life for me; the setting might as well have been Battle Creek for all the difference it makes in the plot. Estleman spends so much time trying to sound like Chander that it interferes with the flow of the novel. But, remarkably, he succeeds. Listen to this: "The air was as bitter as a stiffed hooker and smelled of auto exhaust." And this, "Together they led him to the car like a whipped spaniel." MOTOR CITY BLUE was published in 1980. For once I thought I'd try an author at the beginning of his career. Estleman has a new one out entitled, NICOTINE KISS, that I plan to read. I look forward to comparing the two.

this story is well writen, You get more than your money's worth Amos Walker private Eye is the main character in this novel,, He is in the rythm of investigating a client from the front of an apartment building when he sees his old seargent from army days accosted by two Secret service men who warn him to butt out when he attemps to inquire,he is still curious so talks with a newsbuddy of his Barry Stackpole. Later he talks with his Police buddy who hates to see him coming and explains what he saw. In the same day he is grabbed by goons from the head of the detroit underworld Old Ben Morningstar who happens to be jewish and to be retired,he is about 80 years old. Ben Morningstar forced another assignment on him,he is to search through the Detroit Porno industry and find Old Ben's niece. In the course of his search he is beatten up and almost killed in his search. At appropriate times Amos Walker gives the history of detroit as well as his cynical view of humanity,he confronts Old Ben at the appropriate time with his findings, A number of people end up dead before he is able to reach them but he finds the girl who does not want to be found.

Loren D. Estleman has talent to burn and it shows in his first novel featuring private detective Amos Walker (originally published in 1980). Like any good P.I., Walker doesn't work the streets of his native Detroit, he INHABITS them. Also like any good P.I., Walker drinks a little too much despite his cynicism, cares a little too much and his personal life leaves a lot to be desired. The plot is more complex than is the norm with such stories, and perhaps it pushes credibility a bit towards the end. Nevertheless, Estleman has both talent and style to burn. He is among the best at using metaphors to describe the action.Fans of John D. MacDonald's Travis McGee, Lawrence Block's Matthew Scudder, George Pellaconos's Nick Stefanos and Johnathan Valin's Harry Stoner will love Amos Walker.

if you like it noir, you'll like it Estleman