The Hours of the Virgin

Amos Walker, an alcohol-guzzling embittered Detroit Private investigator has a new case: protect a man who is paying ransom for the retrieval of a valuable illuminated text called: Hours of the Virgin. When his client is killed, Amos feels obligated to investigate, leading him plunging head first into the seamy side of the porn and art-theft industry.I really enjoyed this latest installment of Loren Estleman's Amos Walker series. In this 'episode,' Amos must confront some ghosts from his past, and make some hard choices.While I like the Amos Walker series, I keep hoping for Amos to have some FURTHER character development. Sometimes his inability to find a woman, and his habits (alcohol and cigarettes), are a little over-done. Must Amos attempt to smoke in every possible unacceptable place? I.E.: The art institute, the library, the massage parlor, and the Green House? And do we really need this to be described /Every/ time? It's time for Amos to get the nicotine patch!Overall a solid Amos Walker story.

For a dozen previous novels, P.I. Amos Walker would occasionally mention the death of his former partner and mentor, who was killed during a stakeout of an adulterous husband. But not until "The Hours of the Virgin," do we find out just how much that tragic event affected him. Walker is investigating a case involving a missing fifteenth century manuscript when he is double crossed and disciovers that his partner's murderer is involved. Along the way, Walker learns much about his partner's death, and life, that he never knew. All of this leads to a satisfying climax in which Walker finally confronts some of his own inner demons.Estlemen's Walker P.I. series is one of the best currently going. Unlike a lot of the fluff that passes for hard boiled detective novels these days, Walker is the real deal. All of his novels have the kind of downcast loneliness that is vital to the genre. The spirit of Phillip Marlowe lives on in Amos Walker.

As usual, Mr. Estelman does not disapoint. I turned to this book after a real stinker and I was well rewarded. Mr. Estlemen is a great mystery writer for a number of reasons. He's a master with the hardboiled writing. He's prolific (at least one mystery per year). He's good. The last mystery I had read, by another author, I figured out in chapter three. This one held me to the end and it also made me laugh. I think this is an excellent read for mysteryphiles and non-mysteryphiles alike. His writing is pure poetry.

One wonders what the city fathers of Detroit think about Loren D. Estleman. His vision of the city, as seen through the jaundiced eye of Amos Walker, private investigator, is nearly uniformly morose, a city on the greased skids to palookaville, a one-hit wonder whose 15 minutes has been over for an hour and a half. But like the city, the Motor City investigator keeps on trucking in the 13th novel of this highly praised series. Walker agrees to help a curator at the Detroit Institute of Arts to help recover a recently stolen medieval illuminated manuscript. But the meeting at a rundown porn theater is interrupted when Walker is distractedby a young woman, then shot at. When the smoke clears, the woman, the manuscript and the curator have all disappeared. While tracking down the leads, Walker is also following a trail into his past. Twenty years ago, Dale Leopard, his boss and mentor, was found dead while on a case, and Earl North, the man who beat the charge, has reappeared, seeking the manuscript. Is there a connection between the murder and the Hours? Did North really kill Leopard? Estleman writes like an aria; his prose sings with metaphors and observations that strike just the right note. He's been around long enough so that comparing him to Dashielle Hammett and Raymond Chandler isn't an original thought, but it's true and it'll have to do. He gives Detroit its unique identity of a crumbling and crooked but proud city trying to find itself.

Harold Boyette, an antique book expert for the Detroit Institute of Arts, hires private investigator Amos Walker to recover a stolen segment of the invaluable Plymouth Book of Hours. Harold demands secrecy from Amos because he fears that he won't regain the stolen item if the loss becomes public. Amos agrees to remain silent though he knew about the robbery from hearing about it on the streets. On Christmas Eve, Harold left the valuable pages inside a locked cabinet. By the next morning, someone stole the nine-page document. The criminal returned one page accompanied by a ransom demand for one-hundred thousand dollars with the swap to occur in a local porno theater.In the theater, Harold waits for the appointment in the front row while Amos sits a few rows behind him. All hell breaks loose around Amos. By the time things calm down, Harold and the cash are missing. The case already was personal due to the identify of the prime suspect, but now Amos' honor requires he continue with inquiries that will lead him into the ugly side of professional world of art.Though his thirteenth tale, Amos Walker remains one of the more intelligent and vigorous private detective series on the market today. Amos continues to excel as a throwback to the hard boiled detectives of the Golden Age, who valued honor above all else. The support cast augments the entertaining story line of THE HOURS OF THE VIRGIN by bringing Detroit alive through their eccentric personalities. The story line never eases off the accelerator as Loren D. Estleman continues to pay homage to the Motor City with this pleasurable novel that will bring new fans seeking his old novels.Harriet Klausner