The Witchfinder [Hardcover]

Loren D. Estleman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 1998

In Puritan days, a "witchfinder" was the man responsible for accumulating the evidence that would put an accused witch on the gallows...or, rather, to manufacture it. At least according to Stuart Lund, the florid and flamboyant attorney for legendary architect Jay Bell Furlong, America's greatest designer since Frank Lloyd Wright...and the richest. The architect had had Wright's libido as well as his talent: he had married, over the age of eighty, an alluring young designer in his firm. Now, as he lies on his deathbed, his ex-wives and children wrangle over his fortune, and a photo arrives in the mail of Lily, his young wife, naked in the embrace of another man...Amos Walker's task: to find the witchfinder.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

"Stuart Lund came in at six-two and three hundred pounds in gray silk tailoring with a large head of wavy yellow hair, blue eyes like wax drippings, and a black chevron-shaped moustache he hadn't bothered to bleach." That description of a lawyer who summons private detective Amos Walker to a secret meeting with Jay Bell Furlong, a world-famous architect who is supposedly dying in Los Angeles, could have come straight from Raymond Chandler. So could characters with names like Royce Grayling and Lynn Arsenault. That's why Chandler fans should rejoice that Loren D. Estleman's Walker--who first appeared in 1997's Never Street--returns in grand style in The Witchfinder. Walking the wickedly hot streets of a Detroit described as vividly and lovingly as Chandler's Los Angeles, Walker searches for the nasty parties who faked a photo that shows Furlong's much younger lady friend in bed with another man, thereby scuttling the architect's last chance for romance. Walker takes a bullet to the head, sneaks out of the hospital too early, and generally behaves as though he hasn't heard that this classic branch of the mystery tree has been declared dead by so-called experts. Other Estleman outings in paperback include Red Highway, Stamping Ground, and Stress.

From Publishers Weekly

Mystery fans who think that Estleman's novels about the Detroit-based PI Amos Walker (returned after a seven-year retirement in 1997's Never Street) make him the natural heir of Raymond Chandler will have that conviction confirmed here. Walker's latest tale is so rich in Chandler-esque dialogue and description that it would likely elicit a boozy chuckle of recognition from the master himself: "Stuart Lund came in at six-two and three hundred pounds in gray silk tailoring with a large head of wavy yellow hair, blue eyes like wax drippings, and a black chevron-shaped moustach he hadn't bothered to bleach." Lund is a lawyer who summons Walker to a secret meeting at a Detroit airport hotel with Jay Bell Furlong, a world-famous architect who is supposedly dying in Los Angeles. Before he passes on, Furlong wants Walker to find the person who ended the architect's romance with a much younger woman eight years ago by sending him a photo of her in bed with another man. Furlong has just discovered that the photo was a fake. The possible suspects include various Furlong family members and several rivals. Struggling through an overheated Detroit described as vividly and lovingly as Chandler's L.A., Walker survives a bullet to his head and sneaks out of the hospital against doctors' orders to get on with the case, just as Philip Marlowe would have. There may be a few too many descriptions of staircases, buildings and old cars, but Estleman more than makes up for these digressions by drawing new life from one of the genre's classic resources.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 306 pages
• Publisher: The Mysterious Press (May 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0892966637
• ISBN-13: 978-0892966639
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,730,400 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Since the appearance of his first novel in 1976, Loren D. Estleman has written more than 65 books and hundreds of short stories and articles. Alone (Dec 2009, Forge Books) is the second in a new series about L.A. film detective Valentino, and features Greta Garbo.

To kick off the new decade, Estleman's The Book of Murdock (eighth in the U.S. Deputy Marshal Page Murdock series) will appear in March and, to celebrate the 30 year anniversary of Private Detective Amos Walker, The Left-Handed Dollar will publish in December. It's the 20th novel in the award-winning series.

An authority on both criminal history and the American West, Estleman has been called the most critically acclaimed author of his generation. He has been nominated for the National Book Award and the Mystery Writers of America Edgar Allan Poe Award.

He has received seventeen national writing awards: four Shamuses from the Private Eye Writers of America, five Spurs from the Western Writers of America, two American Mystery Awards from Mystery Scene Magazine, two Outstanding Mystery Writer of the Year awards from Popular Fiction Monthly, two Stirrup Awards for outstanding articles in the Western Writers of America magazine, The Roundup, and three Western Heritage Awards from the National Cowboy Hall of Fame. In 1987, the Michigan Foundation of the Arts presented him with its award for literature. In 1997, the Michigan Library Association named him the recipient of the Michigan Author's Award. In 2007, Nicotine Kiss was named a Notable Book by the Library of Michigan.

Estleman graduated from Eastern Michigan University in 1974 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English Literature and Journalism. On April 27, 2002, EMU presented him with an honorary doctorate in letters. He left the job market in 1980 to write full time. He lives in Michigan and is married to writer Deborah Morgan. For more information, please visit his website: www.lorenestleman.com

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Prose punching and verbal martial arts., December 2, 1999

By 

"mambodog" - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Witchfinder (Hardcover)

Amos walker is a heavyweight prose puncher and a verbal jujitsu master. There are so many one-liners here that you could squash a pack mule under their combined weight. But what great one-liners! The kind of lines you write down on 3 x 5 cards and study before parties. Jab and punch phrases like, "He is so rich that the amount of his property taxes alone would keep the Third World in rice and prayer rugs for the next decade." Not a direct quote, but something close; you kinda make em' your own after a while because Amos Walker is your friend and you know he won't mind.

Yeah, OK. The one-liners distract a little, but they don't disguise how smart Amos is. He notices everything, and as Hard-Boiled fiction fate would have it, the smallest details hold the most significant revelations. This is a Motor City mystery and Amos details city life with quick sour sketches guaranteed to make you pucker with delight.

Amos is an old-school detective: He pours his own drinks-straight, packs simple heat-concealed; he's tougher than a 99 cent steak-well done, and is never more than two phone calls away from finding out anything needing finding out. If you've gone a few rounds with the likes of Chandler, Hammett, Parker or Leonard, than at least come ringside with Estleman cuz he can go the distance.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great story, February 9, 2002

By 

Angel L. Soto (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Witch Finder (The Amos Walker Series #13) (Mass Market Paperback)

Jay Bell Furlong is a successful architect who only has a few weeks left to live. Before he dies he wants to make sure that all his affairs are in order. His biggest regret was losing the love of his life, Lily Talbot. Eight years ago, Furlong received a picture that showed Lily and another man in an uncompromising position. Feeling betrayed, Jay broke off his relationship Lily without giving her a chance to explain. Furlong recently discovered that the picture was a fake and that this lie has caused him the love of his life. He hires Amos Walker, a Detroit Private Investigator, to find out who was the instigator that wrecked his chance at happiness.

Amos Walker is a riot. He does not take guff from anyone and he has a quick mind that helps him with his detective job as well as coming up with great one-liners. Estleman explores most of the aspects in the life of Jay Bell Furlong. He introduces several of his relatives and acquaintances and shows how he affected each of their lives. He does not make Furlong to be a saint but he does a great job in developing him as a character.

The plot is well done and I did not feel lost at any point in this book. I have read some of Estleman's short stories and none of them have been very memorable to me, however I digress with his character of Amos Walker. This is the first Amos Walker novel I read and it will not be my last. One reason I consider him a winner was that I was able to understand the character without having read any of his previous adventures. I have read some novels that take readers for granted and assumes one knows everything about their main series character. This particular author does not do that and for that I am grateful.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars You'll find this Amos Walker novel to be typical, August 15, 2001

By 

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

This review is from: The Witch Finder (The Amos Walker Series #13) (Mass Market Paperback)

The Amos Walker private detective series is one of the best ones currently going, as is also one that a reader who has never indulged can pick up any entry in the series and not feel lost. Loren Estleman has all the moves down by this time for Walker, and "The Witchfinder" is typical of the series. Walker has run-ins with the cops, gets mixed up in a homicide investigation, and comes up against an assortment of low lifes and homicidal killers, your typical day at the office. He's hired by a dying millionaire archetect to find out who "framed" the love of his life eight years ago and caused him to break off their relationship. The story takes an appropriate number of twists and turns, and as usual Walker remains uncorruptable throughout.

Though not among the best of the Walker series (that would be "Sugartown," or "The Glass Highway"), it is still a solid effort from one of the best P.I.s since Phillip Marlowe.