Customer Reviews:
 American Detective December 13, 2007
The book is great but Amazon shows it as #20 in the series when it is really just #19 in a large type format.
 Three Strikes, Yer Out November 17, 2007
This is the 19th Amos Walker but the first in the series this reviewer has read. Walker comes from a long line of hard-boiled wise-cracking PIs. He makes his home in Detroit, whose slippage from the heights of the auto industry heyday provides substantial background and commentary.
Walker is asked by Darius Fuller, who pitched a no-hitter for the Detroit Tigers at a much younger age than his present 60 years, to undertake convincing his daughter's intended, one Hilary Bairn, to "go away." Toward that end, the ex-pitcher gives him $50,000 to bribe the man. However, Walker discovers Hilary is in debt to gambling and gangster elements. Then, the daughter is found dead in the boyfriend's apartment of a head blow. The gentleman in question is nowhere to be found. Who's responsible for the death?
The novel is fast-paced, and Walker, typical of the genre, takes severe punishment along the way. Some of the baseball dialogue is quite amusing, and the author has a way with words. The plot moves to a crescendo, and a completely unexpected finale.
Classic Noir Detection July 26, 2007
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
American Detective isn't for those who like to look on the sunny side of the street. Instead, this dark and troubling book digs deep into the stinking garbage piles that ordinary people and villains have made out of their lives. It's a cautionary tale of how deeply evil clutches at each of us.
We all know about sports heroes . . . or do we? While they are on top, we read about the accomplishments, the records, and the contracts they sign. But no one is a sports hero forever. What's it like after that? American Detective gives us a poignant profile of one such fictional character, Darius Fuller who hadn't been such a good family man, at age sixty while his home's contents are auctioned off to pay back taxes to the IRS.
While his goods disappear, Fuller's heart is aching for his daughter, Deirdre (Dee-dee), who seems determined to marry Hilary Bairn. Dee-dee is about to come into over two million dollars from a trust fund, and Darius fears that Hilary is all about the money. Fuller hires Amos Walker to pay $50,000 he's hidden from the IRS if Bairn will disappear without marrying Dee-dee. Tapped out, Fuller gives Walker a World Series ring as collateral against Walker's fee.
Walker soon discovers that something is not right. Bairn gives Dee-dee a watch to pawn . . . and the pawn shop refuses the watch because it's hot. An unauthorized visit to Bairn's apartment yields a chilling clue tying Bairn to one of the most successful criminals in the area. Tracking down that lead makes it clear that Bairn has bigger money problems than Fuller does.
But Walker never gets to make his offer. A call to Bairn's apartment elicits an invitation to come over, but Walker finds the cops and a corpse rather than Bairn. Soon Walker is trying to keep his business with Fuller private while protecting the $50,000 for Fuller.
In classic detection style, Walker decides to become his own client after telling Fuller what had happened. Something is going on that needs to be stopped. From there, Walker meets some of the scummiest characters that you can imagine and gradually uncovers a decidedly evil empire.
In homage to Charlie Chan, the story reverses roles with the American detective tracking down a Korean-American's crimes. The title reference comes in a sequence between Walker and a beautiful Asian woman who tells Walker that he looks just like he stopped off the cover of American Detective, a reference to the pulp fiction era and its fictional detectives.
The plot is deliciously spiced with unexpected twists and turns. The villains are ones you'll be glad to hate. If you find a weakness in this story, it will probably be that there aren't enough innocents to identify with. Walker and justice are the center of this story. If you don't like either one, skip American Detective. If you like right versus wrong stories, you'll like this one.
 very disappointing May 10, 2007
2 out of 6 found this review helpful
I was very excited to see Estleman was going give us another adventure of Amos Walker. I don't always love his tales but I do love his writing. He fleshes his characters out and has us walk
the streets with him. We see through the eyes of Amos, and we are there. So sorry to say, not a hint of that was present, in this flat novel, of many characters, not one, of which we could care a bit about.
This book was a great disappointment.
 Great bad guys add spice to this fine novel May 5, 2007
7 out of 7 found this review helpful
Walker's nineteenth adventure opens with the PI attending a tax-motivated lawn sale at the mansion of ex-Tigers pitcher Darius Fuller. Fuller has a simple request of Walker--he needs the gumshoe to be his agent in a transaction with daughter Deirdre's ne'er do well fiance, Hilary Bairn. Fuller is prepared to offer the young man fifty thousand dollars to call off the wedding and disappear, primarily because he fears that Bairn is after Hilary's two million dollar trust fund.
Walker agrees to take on the case, and begins shadowing Bairn in order to figure out when to approach him. It soon becomes obvious to Walker that Bairn is trying to work his way out of some deep trouble, apparently financial. The case takes on a new urgency for the PI when Deirdre's body is found in Bairn's apartment. As usual, Walker finds himself caught between the crooks and the cops as he works to solve the crime.
As usual, there's little to find fault with in Estleman's work--Walker is as intriguing as ever, as is the city he works in, Detroit. What makes this one stand out a little from its predecessors is the sheer variety of the supporting cast, especially the villains, like union hitman Ernesto Esmeralda and the apelike lackey Elron. Not one of these folks, however, approach the villainy demonstrated by one Madame Sing, the criminal mastermind and real estate tycoon who lurks on the edges of Walker's case. Lovely and lethal, her presence alone is reason enough to purchase this fine novel.
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