Customer Reviews

When Last Seen Alive (Aaron Gunner Mysteries)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

South Central Los Angeles private investigator Aaron Gunner is working on two cases that seemed simple when he first accepted both of them. However, as Aaron should know by now, one never should judge a case by its inital appearance, especially when women are the clients. City Council man Gil Everson's spouse Connie hires Aaron to catch, in living color, her husband committing adultery. Yolanda McCreary wants Aaron to locate her missing sibling, Elroy Covington. Elroy has been missing since the Million Man March, a historical event attended by Aaron also.

The Everson case is a snap until Aaron learns that a weird prenuptial agreement muddies what should have been lucid waters. The Covington case should also be relatively easy, but instead the trail is pure frozen tundra. Aaron begins to wonder if Covington has been offed by a black separatist group, "The Defenders of the Bloodline". The group expects Aaron to join them as part of the solution or die as part of the problem. If that is not enough pressure on the private investigator, his inquiries has brought Aaron to the attention of the FBI, who want to use him to bring about the end of the group. Trapped between a hard place (the Defenders) and a rock (the FBI), Aaron continues his tour into hell (also called LA) in trying to learn what happened to Covington.

WHEN LAST SEEN ALIVE is a great private detective story, starring the wonderful Aaron Gunner in his fifth mystery. The bomb story line is fast and hip and loaded with social insight without turning the star into a preacher (Garth Ennis does that well enough). Aaron is a top gun who is one of the leading sleuths on the market today. This reviewer strongly recommends all five of Gar Anthony Haywood's Gunner mysteries if readers want enjoyable detective stories that provide insight into living in South Central. California.

Harriet Klausner

Gar Anthony Haywood has done it again. As usual, he has two plots going at once and the reader has to figure out "who done it" for both of them. He doesn't have predictable endings.

This was my first Aaron Gunner story, and it won't be my last. This book had the the P.I. tackling two mysteries at the same time. Looking for a disreputable writer missing for over 9 months and tailing a congressman in search of his indiscretions had Gunner at his wit's end, but each plot had it's own twists and turns, and there was no way to guess each ending. Believe me, I tried! It is so hard sometimes to settle down with a good mystery, because in order for the story to work, the detective must be familiar and accessable to the reader. With this P.I., it was no problem. If you are a fan of Walter Mosley's Easy Rollins or Valerie Wilson Wesley's Tamara Hayle, then this guy is for you. Good Work, Mr. Haywood!

Aaron Gunner is a streetwise private eye working out of an office in Mickey Moore's Barber Shop in Los Angeles. He's already working for Connie Everson who wants him to find out who her City Councilman husband is having an affair with--she already knows about his white woman, but fears she has a black rival. Now, he's also hired to find Yolanda McCreary's brother, Elroy Covington. Elroy never returned home from the Million Man March. When last seen, he was in LA at the Stage Door Hotel and he had Gunner's card in his room.

Looking for Elroy leads Gunner to Barber Jack Frerotte, a notorious razor blade wielding psychopath and then to the Defenders of the Bloodline, who are dedicated to ridding the African-American community of "Uncle Toms".

As always, Haywood is stronger on setting, character & dialogue than on the actual mechanics of the mystery. While he doesn't measure up to James Sallis or Walter Mosely, it's still a fun series.

GRADE: C

This is the first book by this author that I read and I was not disappointed. The charachters and the incidents were fairly realistic, likeable, and had real lives. What's more is that I did not figure out the book in the very first chapter.

Aaron Gunner fans will find this the BEST ever. You'll want to finish it in one sitting, every turn of the page brings new challenges and plot twists. There's a missing person, an adulterous politican, a radical group, murder, the FBI and South Central L.A.. Haywood has taken a disturbing commentary on black on black relations and wrapped it around a character that the reader will find believable, honest and courageous.

Those of us who like detectives with character and courage will find bits of Walter Mosley's - Easy Rawlins, Sallis's - Lew Griffin and Parker's - Spenser sidekick Hawk, neatly packaged in Aaron Gunner.

Well written and a good story. I'm going to buy some of his other books.