PUBLISHERS WEEKLY Starred Review
July 26, 2010

Tyrus (Consortium, dist.), $32.95 (600p) ISBN 978-1-935562-24-5

All the elements that have made Estleman one of the best hard-boiled writers of all time--just a notch below Chandler and Hammett--are present in these 32 short stories. Remarkably, he has kept his Detroit-based Amos Walker series (Motor City Blue) fresh after three decades and 20 novels, and any fan of the genre who has yet to encounter the ex-cop turned PI will get a great introduction through this collection. What's most impressive is Estleman's ability to blend sharp-edged language, cynical characters, betrayals, twists, and a memorable narrative voice within the short story format. He also manages to inject dark humor into his work that keeps the violence, corruption, and double-crosses from becoming too grim ("I don't have so many friends I can afford to drop one just because he tried to kill me"). Longtime fans will welcome the author's informative introduction.

LIBRARY JOURNAL Starred Review

Detroit's most famous gumshoe, Amos Walker, is back in this mammoth collection of short stories. The omnibus contains 32 tales, including the previously unpublished "Sometimes a Hyena," and flawlessly showcases Estleman's distinct and penetrating style. With the release of Motor City Blue in 1980, Estleman was one of the first mystery writers to set a detective series in Detroit. For the past three decades, his gumshoe has tirelessly championed its denizens against the crime and corruption that can often define Motown. The collection begins with a wonderful introduction by Estleman tracing the history of the series and the endurance of his protagonist. The stories, much like the city in which they are set, are gritty and tough, and yet there is always a sliver of optimism to be found. Standouts include "Kill the Cat," "Anniversary Waltz," and "Cigarette Stop."
Verdict: Estleman's writing is noir fiction at its best with a distinct sense of place that few can rival. Fans of the hard-boiled detective genre and regional mysteries will rejoice in this collection.
                                                            --Amy Nolan, MSIS, St. Joseph, MI

BOOKLIST

Hard-boiled Detroit private investigator Amos Walker debuted 30 years ago in the novel Motor City Blue (1980). The series has earned Estleman four Shamus awards, and two entries in the series were New York Times Notable Books selections. The 32 stories in the collection range from standard missing-person cases, to a bizarre investigation that hinges on a tattoo, to a few in which Walker ventures outside his black-and-white hometown to the greener but sometimes more deadly Michigan countryside. In the latter category is “Cigarette Stop” in which deadly trouble follows Walker after he makes a simple stop for a pack of smokes. Walker investigates a possible suicide in “Major Crimes” for an insurance company looking to avoid a large life insurance payout. Even Walker’s cynicism is tested when everyone involved in the case—including the insurance company—is complicit in the victim’s death. Walker has a built-in audience of devoted fans; new readers who check out this sampler will be pleased to know they have 30 years of fine novels waiting for them.

BOOKGASM
August 13, 2010

Some 30 years ago, Loren D. Estleman decided to write a private detective novel … and his then-editor immediately tried to talk him out of it. The author was already enjoying respectable sales with his various Westerns and Sherlock Holmes pastiches, so why rock the boat with such a risky and dormant genre as a P.I. novel?

Fortunately, Estleman didn’t listen, and went on to write MOTOR CITY BLUE, introducing readers to Detroit-based P.I. Amos Walker and reviving the genre along the way. Now, in celebration of this anniversary, Estleman has collected every Walker tale into one huge, 600-page volume, AMOS WALKER: THE COMPLETE STORY COLLECTION.

(It should be noted, however, that the edition provided to reviewers is abridged, with roughly half of the stories promised for the retail edition. Among the missing entries is a never-before-published story, unnamed in the review copy, but titled “Sometimes a Hyena,” according to Estleman’s website.)

The stylistic challenges of a short story, as Estleman notes in his reflective and informative introduction, have resulted in many noteworthy authors giving up on the form. Estleman, however, knows how to present the right balance of ambiance and action in the shorter form and makes it every bit as satisfying as any of his Walker novels.

Many of the stories are, at heart, intriguing and inventive puzzles, such as “Cigarette Stop,” where Walker picks up a hitchhiking sailor and ends up in the middle of an unusual robbery and murder scheme. Or “The Anniversary Waltz,” where Walker finds himself racing with a vengeful local sheriff to find an escaped woman prisoner accused of murdering her husband as she makes her annual visit to the dead husband’s grave.

But there are also stories that manage to provoke deeper, more thoughtful insights along with their plots. Such is the case with “People Who Kill,” with its probe into the nature of killing and murderers. And especially the stunning and subtle “Needle,” involving one of Walker’s neighbors, a holocaust survivor, that quietly ends with Walker (and the reader) questioning the very nature of the term “victim.”

All of these are drenched in Estleman’s evocative descriptions of Detroit and the surrounding areas. All are also narrated by Walker with the same world-weary humor and sarcasm that distinguish the novels. And while Walker’s wisecracking attitude (and, indeed, his entire persona) is a direct descendant of Raymond Chandler’s Phillip Marlowe, Estleman has managed to make Walker and his voice surprisingly individual.

AMOS WALKER: THE COMPLETE STORY COLLECTION is reason enough to not only celebrate, but finally acknowledge Estleman as one of the essential and influential authors of modern crime fiction, right up there with the likes of Ross Macdonald, Robert B. Parker and all the rest. It is essential reading. So much so that at least one unnamed BOOKGASM reviewer is now saving his milk money to buy the fully complete, complete collection. —Alan Cranis