The Judge

April 1, 2024
A dogged detective tracks a slick extortionist in the City on a Hill. Boston private eye Andy Roark rings in New Year's Day 1986 with a complex case brought to him by veteran judge Ambrose Messer and his clerk, Angela Estrella, at the legendary Jacob Wirth restaurant. While he was attending a legal conference in Miami, the long-married judge had a fling with the much younger Lee Raymond, an art dealer who's now added blackmailing to his resume. Though the man is fairly elusive, it doesn't take long for Andy to uncover his felonious past and a string of aliases. Andy's fifth mystery, another nostalgic paean to Beantown, follows a classic private eye template, with gritty prose, lively characters, and deep local color. It's no surprise when Andy enters into an affair with the alluring Angela. A Vietnam vet, he's regularly haunted by vivid flashbacks of his grim service in that unwinnable war. The case takes a dark turn when, in the middle of his search for Raymond, Andy's attacked in a rundown apartment building by a burly, bat-wielding thug whom he kills in self-defense. The incident strains Andy's relationship with flinty police sergeant Billy Devaney, a colleague from his years on the force. Other series regulars who make cameo appearances include Andy's lawyer buddy Terry McVicker and tough-as-nails FBI agent Brenda Watts. The road to Raymond leads through shady lawyer Johnny O'Day, who's nothing but deadly trouble. A smooth, atmospheric mystery with a shamus you'll root for.

COPYRIGHT(2024) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

April 15, 2024
He watches Gruy�re leak from his breakfast sandwich. He delights in ""hot, buttery garlic-laden escargot"" and steak with sauteed mushrooms. He'll discourse on his skill with a martini. But he's not a Bond clone, he's Boston PI Andy Roark, star and narrator of this deft and (a word you don't see much in this genre) gracious crime novel, the fifth in Colt's series. Andy is called in when a judge ruling on a case of corporate villainy--toxic dumping likely causing mutations and death--is blackmailed. But it's not the judge who recruits Andy, it's his lovely female aide. She believes such a fine man doesn't deserve this. When we meet the man, we agree. Andy's sense that nice guys shouldn't lose all the time is really all that propels him to keep going after a couple of brutal attacks, and his conviction fairly glows in the finale. That's when the main characters gather and become like pieces on a chessboard who all-at-once decide the hell with the rules, we'll make it up as we go along.

COPYRIGHT(2024) Booklist, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.