The Lime Pit (Harry Stoner Pi) [Paperback]

Jonathan Valin (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 15, 2005 | Series: Harry Stoner Pi

The first Harry Stoner mystery Harry Stoner is a private eye in the classic tradition. A loner with a history of failed relationships with women and all-too-successful relationships with bottles of scotch, he's unable to look away from the world's corruption and unable to avoid trying--futiley--to do something about it. His latest hopeless cause is Cindy Ann, a teenage hooker. Neither pretty nor engaging, she doesn't have much to offer at all, and somehow that makes her disappearance all the more disturbing for Stoner, who knows what can happen to girls nobody wants. And he's got a sick hunch that it happened to Cindy Ann, right across the Cincinnati border. As tough as Spenser in his heyday, Stoner is as hard-boiled as they come, but he's a lot more than a standard-issue pulp P.I. The story may be ugly, but in Valin's hands it has the brutal grace of a world-class boxing match.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Rough, vivid, and impressive." --San Francisco Chronicle --San Francisco Chronicle

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Felony & Mayhem (December 15, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1933397241
• ISBN-13: 978-1933397245
• Product Dimensions: 7.4 x 5.5 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,411,589 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The first and best Stoner novel, July 15, 2000

By 

Brian D. Rubendall (Oakton, VA) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Lime Pit (Paperback)

The first entry in the Harry Stoner detective series is also the best. Harry tries to track down the whereabouts of a teenage hooker who has gotten herself involved with a ring of snuff film makers. The case takes Stoner through the underworld of his native Cincinnati, and never have the streets of the Queen city seemed so ominous. The climax is befittingly brutal and bloody. This book is for lovers of down and dirty detective fiction.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Stark and brutal and excellent., March 25, 2002

By 

"atticus99" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Lime Pit (Paperback)

I love the way Amazon.com creates lists of titles that you might enjoy based on how you rate other books. It's like finding someone who loves all the same books as you and keeps finding new ones for you to dig into. I found this book amidst the recommendations Amazon provided and snatched it up from a used book dealer. It was an excellent, hard-boiled detective story in the Robert B. Parker tradition. The plot was fairly simple and ordinary but the main character and the stark and brutal violence were enough to engage me and hook me into reading this book in a single sitting. Check it out...you won't be disappointed.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Harry Stoner - Jonathan Valin - A great combination, July 18, 2004

By 

"grim-jack" (Newport Beach, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Lime Pit (Mass Market Paperback)

Here is is, July of 2004 and I am reading this, the first of quite a few Harry Stoner books that take place in and around Cincinnati. I was first exposed to JV/HS through a friend who read through the series about 15 years ago. Recently while on a trip to Hilton Head, I wanted some beach reading and I thought of this author, looked him up on Amazon and was disappointed to find that they were OOP. A quick search at a used book store and I picked up all but 2 on the series and am working my way through them. The writing is a modernized "hard-boiled" style and takes place in a Noir Cincinnati which hides itself under an otherwise stolid, Conservative, Republican city. For those who know the city and those that do not, this is a great book. Some of the landmarks are gone, and the references dated, but the story still holds up. A great modern hard boiled detective mystery read...especially good for the beach. I;m sad I didn't read these sooner. These are a must read for those that are from Cincinnati, went to Cincinnati for school, especially those who are familar with Clifton Gaslight.