Motor City Blue (The Amos Walker Series #1) (Paperback)

by Loren D. Estleman (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review
"Amos Walker ... is the very model of a Hammett-Chandler descendant ... Mr. Estleman writes with a surer touch than most practitioners ..." -- THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW

Product Description

"If I see my name in tomorrow's paper yours will be in the next edition. Bordered in black."

Marla Bernstein is a pretty, dark-haired teenager? who also happens to be the ward of Ben Morningstar-a semi-retired mobster who prefers to keep family business out of the newspapers. When Marla suddenly disappears, the gang boss is forced to call in private eve Amos Walker, who quickly learns his new employer doesn't take "no" for an answer when he offers a job opportunity.

Unfortunately, the only clue to Marla's whereabouts is a pornographic photograph that clearly proves that she's become part of a world that disgusts even her criminal guardian. .

The photo, in turn leads Walker into the seedy world of Detroit's porn shops and blue movies, where Marla's trail becomes even murkier?.and increasingly more dangerous to follow. .

As first cases go, Walker could have certainly asked for one less challenging?...

You can share your thoughts about Loren D.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 256 pages
• Publisher: I Books (January 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0671038982
• ISBN-13: 978-0671038984
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.3 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.5 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #816,038 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

  Popular in this category: (What's this?)

  #24 in

  Books > Mystery & Thrillers > Authors, A-Z > ( E ) > Estleman, Loren

• This is item 1 in The Amos Walker Series.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent P.I. Series Debut, February 18, 2001

By	Brian D. Rubendall (Oakton, VA) - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Loren D. Estleman has talent to burn and it shows in his first novel featuring private detective Amos Walker (originally published in 1980). Like any good P.I., Walker doesn't work the streets of his native Detroit, he INHABITS them. Also like any good P.I., Walker drinks a little too much despite his cynicism, cares a little too much and his personal life leaves a lot to be desired. The plot is more complex than is the norm with such stories, and perhaps it pushes credibility a bit towards the end. Nevertheless, Estleman has both talent and style to burn. He is among the best at using metaphors to describe the action.

Fans of John D. MacDonald's Travis McGee, Lawrence Block's Matthew Scudder, George Pellaconos's Nick Stefanos and Johnathan Valin's Harry Stoner will love Amos Walker.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The afterward explains a lot!, May 13, 2006

By	Dave Schwinghammer "Dave Schwinghammer" (Little Falls, Minnesota USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

If MOTOR CITY BLUE sounds like an old movie, there's a good reason. Author Loren D. Estleman explains in an afterward that as a kid he was a fan of film noir. When he set out to make a living as an author, he wanted to imitate the writers whose books were made into movies: Dashiel Hammet, Raymond Chandler, Micey Spillane et. al. He picked the 1975 Chandler vehicle FAREWELL, MY LOVELY as an inspiration for MOTOR CITY BLUE.

Estleman's hero, Amos Walker, could pass for Phillip Marlowe or Travis McGee. He's a big lug who wears a snap-brim fedora, smokes too much, keeps a bottle of whiskey in his office drawer, and drives a Cutlass with a Cadillac engine. Like McGee, he gets beats beat up a lot; at one point two thugs pistol whip him. He also has a police connection on the force, detective John Alderdyce, the only true black man he's ever known.

The plot isn't much. Walker is hired to find the ward of ancient mafioso, Ben Morningstar. Estleman tries very hard to bend the stereotypes concerning organized crime, but in the end he choses an ex-hockey player as a bodyguard for Morningstar who looks more like a thug than a conventional hood.

There are too many characters in MOTOR CITY BLUE, more characters than in a Russian novel, Estleman says in his afterward. You would think you'd be able to remember the main ones at the end of the novel. I consistently found myself paging back a few pages to try to figure out who some of these people were.

Like Elmore Leonard, Estleman chose Detroit as a setting. I recognized a lot of place names like Grosse Point and Rouge Road, but that didn't help bring Detroit to life for me; the setting might as well have been Battle Creek for all the difference it makes in the plot.

Estleman spends so much time trying to sound like Chander that it interferes with the flow of the novel. But, remarkably, he succeeds. Listen to this: "The air was as bitter as a stiffed hooker and smelled of auto exhaust." And this, "Together they led him to the car like a whipped spaniel."

MOTOR CITY BLUE was published in 1980. For once I thought I'd try an author at the beginning of his career. Estleman has a new one out entitled, NICOTINE KISS, that I plan to read. I look forward to comparing the two.

4 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars the next elmore leonard is here!, February 9, 2000

By A Customer

if you like it noir, you'll like it Estleman