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Nicotine Kiss: An Amos Walker Novel (Amos Walker Novels) | 
| Author: Loren D. Estleman
Publisher: Forge Books
Category: Book
List Price: $23.95
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Avg. Customer Rating:  8 reviews
Sales Rank: 148047
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 256
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.9
Dimensions (in): 8.3 x 5.7 x 1.1
ISBN: 0765312239
Dewey Decimal Number: 813.54
EAN: 9780765312235
ASIN: 0765312239
Publication Date: March 21, 2006
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Product Description
Sometimes friendship is the only thing you can count on. Just before Thanksgiving, an old friend, cigarette smuggler Jeff Starzek, saved private detective Amos Walker’s life by getting him to the hospital when he was shot. After New Year’s, Walker gets a frantic call from Starzek’s sister. Jeff’s missing; hasn’t been in touch for weeks. It’s just not like him. Now Walker, still gimpy and rehabbing, is trying to find Starzek. All he has to go on is his knowledge of Starzek’s territory—the Lake Huron shore north of Detroit—and a tip from Homeland Security agent Herbert Clemson. Clemson, who is also looking for Starzek, says the missing man might be connected to counterfeiters with ties to terrorists. Walker can't really see Starzek getting involved in a scheme so different from his usual line of work. When he visits the man's brother, a minister of an evangelical church, Walker finds a huge stack of treasury paper perfect for printing $20 bills—but Starzek's brother is also missing. The counterfeiters are damn serious—serious enough to make Starzek's brother disappear, and serious enough to try and kill Walker when he pokes around their operation. Hell of a way to protect an investment.
But Walker, gimpy, in pain, cold and tired, can’t give up on Starzek. It’s a matter of friendship, and he won’t let down a friend. He just hopes his loyalty doesn’t get him killed.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 3 more reviews...
 Smile if your from Detroit January 30, 2007
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
The Author sure knows Detroit and he seems to have researched the Thumb of Michigan well also. Having been brought up in Detroit and now retired in the Thumb I watch closely and he never misses a lick. Amos Walker seems to be a Mickey Spilane type of character with a little more added, I have read a few of his other novels and always enjoyed them. I did like the twist of homeland security in this one. All in all a great novel.
Walker will remind you of Travis McGee July 13, 2006
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
NICOTINE KISS is one of those mysteries where the lead character, Amos Walker in this case, is much more interesting than the plot. I have read only one other Amos Walker mystery, but so far he reminds me a great deal of Travis McGee. There's the wise guy repartee, the self-deprecating humor, and the penchant for getting beat up or shot. Walker is shot at least twice in NICOTINE KISS, and he's gimpy for most of it.
The second thing that I found impressive was the honor among thieves theme. Jeff Starzek, a cigarette smuggler, saves Walker's life, after Walker is shot the first time. Because of this Walker refuses to believe a Homeland Security agent when he accuses Swarzek of counterfeiting. Swarzek's adoptive sister hires Walker to find him when Swarzek goes missing. In the process we learn that Michigan has more coastline than California.
There's also lots of atmosphere in NICOTINE KISS. Estleman uses cold weather to good effect. Of course, Walker is never properly dressed for sub-zero weather. Starzek and Walker also drive souped-up cars, Walker a Cutless with a 455 engine, Starzek a Hurst Olds. At one point Starzek says it's not the money in reference to his smuggling, it's the driving. He's a modern moon-shine runner. Starzek also plays the piano, everything from Rachmaninoff to jazz, when he's not running from Homeland Security and other coppers.
Here's the kind of insouciance you get from Walker. As he's tracking Swarzek, he stops at a sort of truck stop/ bar called the Air Horn. The denizens are watching televison. "A row of exposed butt cracks seated at the bar were watching DEUL on video and rooting for the truck." You get this kind of irreverence on every other page.
There's a blurb on the back cover from the great John D. MacDonald: "A gem. Estleman goes on the very short list of the peer group I can read for pleasure." This was for SUGARTOWN, a previous Walker mystery. I'll be ordering that one soon.
 Writing quite obviously crafted by a master July 5, 2006
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Amos Walker, Detroit PI, has a moral compass. His life was saved by a hunted man, Jeff, who acted at the risk of his own freedom, possibly his life. He acquires a client who gives him the excuse he needs to find Jeff (who has disappeared) and to save his life if given the opportunity. Jeff's sister knows that he runs contraband cigarettes. Like Walker, Jeff lives a dangerous life and is very good at it. (While writing this, the Robert Mitchum movie "Thunder Road" came to mind -- I'm a visual person.)
Like the many other books in this series that Estleman has written, Walker is hard-boiled, using his wits to painstakingly solve the mystery. When he bets his life on his gun, he usually wins the fight. --A prolific writer and prize-winning author, Estleman writes more PI novels set in Michigan than any other author I know. (Jon Jackson and Elmore Leonard deliver abundant reader satisfaction as well.) I value that, having grown up in southeastern Michigan in the 50s. Nicotine Kiss is an excellent read. The fact that he uses cars almost as characters earned him an A+ from me.
NICOTINE KISS June 12, 2006
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
I read all of the Amos Walkers books by Loren Estleman and I have never been disappointed. Thou Amos is aging, ( and he should be) the character is still fresh. Estleman is an author I eagerly wait for the new book. Also read his wife D. Morgan
a reliable old friend in a contemporary world April 13, 2006
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
4.5 out of 5 stars, actually. I have been a fan of Amos Walker and Loren D. Estleman since the first Amos Walker mystery, Motor City Blue, way back in 1981. I have faithfully read all the Walker books and always read the new one as soon as it is available; Walker and Estleman are that good and engender that type of loyalty. The books never disappoint, are always entertaining, and continually breathe new life into the first-person narrated, private eye story as popularized by Raymond Chandler; Nicotine Kiss is no different. All the classic professional Estleman touches are here: great dialogue, witty observations/similes/metaphors, and action sequences that are as breathless as they are well-written. My only quibble is that Estleman seems to be straining just a little more than usual to put Walker in a contemporary world: references such as Ben Affleck, Harry Potter, the internet, and the plot device of Homeland Security are overly plentiful compared to previous Walker novels. Nevertheless, Walker and Estleman are always welcome friends in my library. If you are a fan of Walker, the p.i. mystery in general, Raymond Chandler, or classic hardboiled writing, this book is for you.
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