P.I. Amos Walker helps an old flame, ex-prostitute Iris Dexter locate her long lost biological father, who was a trombone player. Meanwhile, someone seems intent to scare her so badly that she will return to Jamaica. Amos finds himself under attack by a vicious Mexican drug lord for reasons we learn as the book progresses. The police, the Feds, and the Italian mob all want the drug lord gone, with the mob and police eventually helping Amos and Iris avoid being killed, ostensibly over a video tape. Along the way, readers learn about the Detroit jazz scene in the 1950s. Some of the dialogue between Amos and the mob guys is pretty funny. ( )

Estleman throws a little bit of everything into this tale of PI Amos Walker, who in the course of searching for an old lady friend's real father, gets in the middle of a gang war between an upstart Colombian and some Italians. The plot seems a little too straightforward at first, then he throws in a few pretty good twists, but there is way too much explaining left to do at the end. On the other hand, Estleman's writing is smooth and occasionally rises to the poetic in a few passages where he seems to be channeling Raymond Chandler. To his credit, he ends up doing it with a voice of his own, and not sounding like a second rate imitator, a la Ross MacDonald in the two books of his I have read thus far.

Thought about giving this more than three stars, but I think I'm becoming a tougher reviewer. There is a lot to like here, and the next time I come across one of this series in a used book store, I may pick it up.

In addition to the novel, this edition includes a fairly good short story and a slightly self-congratulatory afterword in which Estleman calls this one of his best books. ( )