Father's Day: A Mystery [Hardcover]

Keith Gilman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 28, 2009

Keith Gilman’s provocative debut is a dark and atmospheric tale of an ex-cop from Philadelphia who must face old ghosts.

 

Louis Kline, PI, is asked to track down the missing teenage daughter of an old friend. In doing so, he uncovers truths about the alleged suicide of his friend, a fellow officer with the Philadelphia Police Department. They shared accusations that ended both their careers, and a love for the same woman. As Louis further investigates, he comes to understand the tortured life of the girl he’s trying to find, and some truths about himself.

 

Keith Gilman knows how cops think and he pulls back the curtain on a disturbing vision of a decaying urban world, haunted by shadows of deceit and death. Father’s Day, a novel of great psychological depth and stark visual imagery, is a terrifying exploration of what lies at the heart of our deepest fears.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Some overly familiar situations, including a kidnap victim held in an abandoned warehouse and an unwilling patient kept at a remote sanitarium, undermine Gilman's otherwise promising debut, winner of the Minotaur Books/PWA Best First Private Eye Novel award. Former Philadelphia cop Louis Klein returns to the decaying and dangerous neighborhood he grew up in to help Sarah Blackwell—the widow of his old partner, Sam, who supposedly committed suicide—find her missing teenage daughter, Carol Ann. Klein and Sam vowed that if anything happened to one of them, the other would look after the partner's daughter. Klein, who has problems with his own feisty and impulsive daughter, navigates a bleak and unforgiving Philadelphia with grim bravado as he unravels the unsavory history of Carol Ann and her family. An impressive conclusion provides a serious jolt and appears to set Klein on the path to further gritty adventures. (May)
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From School Library Journal

Starred Review. Lou Klein, an ex-Philadelphia cop-turned-PI, returns to his old neighborhood and moves into his deceased mother's house. He has been asked to find the missing daughter of one of his oldest friends. Complications arise when Lou's own daughter comes to stay and bodies begin springing up all over Philadelphia with possible connections to his case. Narrated in a wise-old-guy tone that is matched by Lou's knack for getting under people's skin, this debut takes us on a roller-coaster ride of surprises. This winner of the Minotaur Books/PWA Best First Private Eye Novel competition is essential for fans of the genre. [Library marketing.]
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 272 pages
• Publisher: Minotaur Books; First Edition edition (April 28, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312383657
• ISBN-13: 978-0312383657
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.8 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.1 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,508,512 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I'm a writer and a cop.

My books are dark and cold and paint a picture of life on the street. Life and Death.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars "Anonymity might be acceptable to God, but it never sat right with a cop.", April 28, 2009

By 

Luan Gaines "luansos" (Dana Point, CA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Father's Day: A Mystery (Hardcover)

Louis Klein has returned to the scene of his broken life in Philadelphia. A hard-nosed ex-cop, Klein is currently living in his dead mother's house- her murder still unsolved- attempting to honor a long ago commitment to his dead ex-partner, Sam Blackwell. Sam's widow, Sarah, who has a brief history with Lou as well, has begged him to locate her missing daughter, Carol Ann, a deeply troubled teenager. Appealing to Lou's knight-in-shining-armor instincts, however dulled by time, Sarah is not above using her feminine wiles to reveal only what she wants Klein to know about her daughter's recent activities. Married now to a powerful, dangerous man who controls most of the city's movers and shakers, Sarah is a woman who usually gets her way, even though she pays a high price for it. It is up to Klein to sift fact from fiction, to track Carol Ann through the detritus of a rebellious life and unsavory acquaintances.

Like the noir films of the 50s, Gilman's Philadelphia is riddled with crime, graft and corruption, his own path shadowed by a less-than-stellar career, a cop given to excessive force, a troubled marriage and a tenuous relationship with his only daughter, Maggie. Things get rough as soon as Lou begins asking questions and banging heads; people die; a distraught Sarah overdoses. But Klein hangs on like a dog with a bone, refusing to relinquish the little progress he has made. In taking on this case, Lou has opened old wounds to meet the obligation of the past, a process of self-flagellation and determination, revealing his own flaws along with the ugly secrets of Carol Ann, Sarah and Sam Blackwell. Filled with wise guys, weary cops and people stumbling under the burden of past mistakes, this is a humorless, dark tale, Carol Ann's prospects looking worse as the time passes.

Klein retreats to the past to recover his integrity and some small hope for the future, pragmatically cleansed of regrets. Gilman writes of this world with familiarity and compassion, big city America not yet robbed of all its promise, albeit severely damaged. Klein embraces the cop's life, that murky terrain of law and order where well-intentioned men face too much of humanity's depravity to remain unscathed. To walk around with Louis Klein is to understand this particular environment: each step closer to Carol Ann's fate puts Klein on a collision course with his own conscience, his survival in an indifferent world. Luan Gaines/2009.

5.0 out of 5 stars AWESOME BOOK, May 27, 2009

By 

Harvey J. Pike II - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Father's Day: A Mystery (Hardcover)

I love murder mystry books and this was a wonderful well written book. It had some wonderful twists and turns. Good book thanks Keith

4.0 out of 5 stars terrific investigative Noir, May 8, 2009

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Father's Day: A Mystery (Hardcover)

Louis Klein and Sam Blackwell were partners on the Philadelphia Police Department. Knowing how dangerous their jobs were, they not just had each other's back, they vowed to take care of each others dependents if something happened to one of them. Sam ultimately committed suicide while Louis left the force.

Sam's widow Sarah begs Louis to help her. Her teenage daughter, Carol Ann has disappeared somewhere on the streets of Philadelphia. Mindful of his vow to Sam and having a free spirited daughter of his own, Louis begins the search for Carol Ann, but soon finds out some sleazy information about the Blackwell family.

Though some of the crime scenes detract from an otherwise terrific investigative Noir as they have been overused in books and movies, FATHER'S DAY will hook readers once Klein works the mean streets of the City of Brotherly Love. Klein makes the tale work as he is propelled to find Sam's daughter as much from their joint vows as from the nightmarish thought that this could be his late partner searching for his offspring. Fans will agrees FATHER'S DAY is a worthy winner of the Minotaur Books/PWA Best First Private Eye Novel award.

Harriet Klausner