Detroit Is Our Beat is a terrific period piece taking the reader back to World War II era Detroit where the factories are converted to making tanks and any able bodied young man who hasn't been drafted better have a good excuse. The Four Horsemen are the four tough Hardboiled policemen in the Rackets Squad. They have been excused from military service because of their essential service and nobody bangs heads and asks questions later better than these guys. What Estleman does great here is being you back authentically to a time and place that no longer exists from the clothes to the cars to the Chesterfields. It's a time when a young Frank Sinatra isn't well known and a time where ethnic Germans are suspected of spying. It is however ten short stories rather than a full length novel and, after a while, the stories kind of run together. Great job overall, though. ( )

It’s the 1940s. It’s Detroit. WWII is raging and most able-bodied men are serving in Europe, or the Pacific. Except for the criminals that stalk Detroit’s mean streets and those involved in “essential” services—such as law enforcement. And when these two groups clash it’s often hard to distinguish between the good guys and the bad guys straight. Loren Estleman is a master of noir crime fiction and Detroit Is Our Beat is one of his best.

DP Lyle, award-winning author of the Samantha Cody and Dub Walker thriller series ( )