The Witchfinder

This is my first Amos Walker detective novel, and I must say, Boy am I impressed! I listened to the audio version and the narrator manages to capture Amos Walker's dialog, and the dialog of the other characters with such detail, I found myself taking the long way home just to extend the listening experience!Amos Walker, is a Detroit Private Investigator hired to discover the 'witchfinder' a person who faked an incriminating photograph of a famous architect's girlfriend. While he is investigating this case, Amos finds himself up against a whole bevy of strange and interesting characters including a hitman, a pornographer, and cops from two police departments!Amos's one liners were really amusing, and quite unrepentant. If you haven't already done so, pick up the audio version of this book. You won't be disappointed. This book is a must for lovers of mystery fiction, or private investigatory fiction in general.

Jay Bell Furlong is a successful architect who only has a few weeks left to live. Before he dies he wants to make sure that all his affairs are in order. His biggest regret was losing the love of his life, Lily Talbot. Eight years ago, Furlong received a picture that showed Lily and another man in an uncompromising position. Feeling betrayed, Jay broke off his relationship Lily without giving her a chance to explain. Furlong recently discovered that the picture was a fake and that this lie has caused him the love of his life. He hires Amos Walker, a Detroit Private Investigator, to find out who was the instigator that wrecked his chance at happiness.Amos Walker is a riot. He does not take guff from anyone and he has a quick mind that helps him with his detective job as well as coming up with great one-liners. Estleman explores most of the aspects in the life of Jay Bell Furlong. He introduces several of his relatives and acquaintances and shows how he affected each of their lives. He does not make Furlong to be a saint but he does a great job in developing him as a character.The plot is well done and I did not feel lost at any point in this book. I have read some of Estleman's short stories and none of them have been very memorable to me, however I digress with his character of Amos Walker. This is the first Amos Walker novel I read and it will not be my last. One reason I consider him a winner was that I was able to understand the character without having read any of his previous adventures. I have read some novels that take readers for granted and assumes one knows everything about their main series character. This particular author does not do that and for that I am grateful.

The Amos Walker private detective series is one of the best ones currently going, as is also one that a reader who has never indulged can pick up any entry in the series and not feel lost. Loren Estleman has all the moves down by this time for Walker, and "The Witchfinder" is typical of the series. Walker has run-ins with the cops, gets mixed up in a homicide investigation, and comes up against an assortment of low lifes and homicidal killers, your typical day at the office. He's hired by a dying millionaire archetect to find out who "framed" the love of his life eight years ago and caused him to break off their relationship. The story takes an appropriate number of twists and turns, and as usual Walker remains uncorruptable throughout.Though not among the best of the Walker series (that would be "Sugartown," or "The Glass Highway"), it is still a solid effort from one of the best P.I.s since Phillip Marlowe.

Amos walker is a heavyweight prose puncher and a verbal jujitsu master. There are so many one-liners here that you could squash a pack mule under their combined weight. But what great one-liners! The kind of lines you write down on 3 x 5 cards and study before parties. Jab and punch phrases like, "He is so rich that the amount of his property taxes alone would keep the Third World in rice and prayer rugs for the next decade." Not a direct quote, but something close; you kinda make em' your own after a while because Amos Walker is your friend and you know he won't mind.Yeah, OK. The one-liners distract a little, but they don't disguise how smart Amos is. He notices everything, and as Hard-Boiled fiction fate would have it, the smallest details hold the most significant revelations. This is a Motor City mystery and Amos details city life with quick sour sketches guaranteed to make you pucker with delight.Amos is an old-school detective: He pours his own drinks-straight, packs simple heat-concealed; he's tougher than a 99 cent steak-well done, and is never more than two phone calls away from finding out anything needing finding out. If you've gone a few rounds with the likes of Chandler, Hammett, Parker or Leonard, than at least come ringside with Estleman cuz he can go the distance.

World famous architect Jay Bell Furlong is dying from cancer. He has one last request. He needs to know who destroyed his romance by sending him a phony photo of his beloved paramour Lily Talbot in bed with someone else eight years ago. Jay hires Detroit private investigator Amos Walker to locate THE WITCHFINDER, who created the evidence that ended Jay's last chance at happiness. Amos begins his investigation by determining who had much to gain by ending Jay's relationship with Lily. The list of suspects is very long and someone wants to insure Amos fails to discover the truth even if it means eliminating the sleuth, who gets shot in the head. As the architect's death comes ever closer, Amos refuses to quit as he struggles to grant a dying man his final request. THE WITCHFINDER is a great detective tale starring one of the best private eyes on the market today. Amos Walker is a thirties hard boiled detective in a nineties environment. With the return of Walker after a seven year gap (see NEVER STREET), Loren D. Estleman demonstrates that he is one of the great fiction writers of the decade.Harriet Klausner