Sunday, May 6, 2012

A Cold Day in Paradise-Steve Hamilton

A Cold Day in Paradise


Steve Hamilton

Minotaur, May 22 2012, $14.99

ISBN: 9781250012685



Detroit police officer Alex McKnight was forced to accept a disability retirement when he took a bullet near his heart. Alex moves to Paradise, a small community in Michigan's Upper Peninsula where he rents cabins to hunters. Local attorney Lane Uttley urges Alex to get his private investigator's license by promising to send the former cop his investigating business.



When Edwin Fulton of the wealthy Detroit family is mixed up with the murder of his bookie, Alex is hired to protect the Fulton name. However, a second murder of another local bookie and the disappearance of Eddie change the case. Alex and Lane begin to investigate the murders and the disappearance. However, at the same time the ex-cop begins to receive mail and calls allegedly from the individual who shot him near the heart fourteen years ago, a person supposedly spending life behind bars without parole.



This is a reprint of the first engaging Alex McKnight Upper Peninsular private investigator case. The characters are brilliantly developed and the mysteries are fun puzzles that blend together in a witty and wonderful story line. However, what really makes Steve Hamilton's debut a smashing success is the clever way the author provides background material from several different years and incidents from Alex's past in the context of a current situational dilemma. Readers who have spent cold days in paradise with Alex and the local community will want to do so with other McKnight tales.



Harriet Klausner

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