The western genre can usually be found on the bottom rack of the book display in most supermarkets. It seldoms rates more than a thin display at bookstores as well because, well, let's face it! it's snubbed by those who look down on 'cowboy' stories. However Loren Estleman's books and particularly Billy Gashade deserve a more prominent place in book displays and certainly more attention.
This is taleneted writing, skilled craftsmanship, and shucks buckaroos, just fine storytelling! History comes alive in this adventurous run and more than once you're going to catch yourself thumbing to the end of the book and swearing because you're running out of pages!
If you're not hooked yet then give Estleman's books a read. You will be.

I bought this book because I love Estleman's mysteries. I thought I would try one of his non-mystery books.
I was amazed. The book takes us from one coast to the other during the time of the cival war. We see it through the eyes of a young musician on the run. Along the way we see Billy meet some famous folk of the old west, including the James Brothers, Custer, and Billy The Kid. It reads so real, that you want to check for the name Billy Gashade in history books. Estleman did his homework and it shows.A history lesson that entertains every step of the way.

I picked this book up in the airport looking for something to do on a marathon flight. What a great surprise! This is an interesting tale that keeps you intrigued with characters from the past. Very much worth the time.

Amos Walker, an alcohol-guzzling embittered Detroit Private investigator has a new case: protect a man who is paying ransom for the retrieval of a valuable illuminated text called: Hours of the Virgin. When his client is killed, Amos feels obligated to investigate, leading him plunging head first into the seamy side of the porn and art-theft industry.

I really enjoyed this latest installment of Loren Estleman's Amos Walker series. In this 'episode,' Amos must confront some ghosts from his past, and make some hard choices.

While I like the Amos Walker series, I keep hoping for Amos to have some FURTHER character development. Sometimes his inability to find a woman, and his habits (alcohol and cigarettes), are a little over-done. Must Amos attempt to smoke in every possible unacceptable place? I.E.: The art institute, the library, the massage parlor, and the Green House? And do we really need this to be described /Every/ time? It's time for Amos to get the nicotine patch!

Overall a solid Amos Walker story.

For a dozen previous novels, P.I. Amos Walker would occasionally mention the death of his former partner and mentor, who was killed during a stakeout of an adulterous husband. But not until "The Hours of the Virgin," do we find out just how much that tragic event affected him. Walker is investigating a case involving a missing fifteenth century manuscript when he is double crossed and disciovers that his partner's murderer is involved. Along the way, Walker learns much about his partner's death, and life, that he never knew. All of this leads to a satisfying climax in which Walker finally confronts some of his own inner demons.

Estlemen's Walker P.I. series is one of the best currently going. Unlike a lot of the fluff that passes for hard boiled detective novels these days, Walker is the real deal. All of his novels have the kind of downcast loneliness that is vital to the genre. The spirit of Phillip Marlowe lives on in Amos Walker.

As usual, Mr. Estelman does not disapoint. I turned to this book after a real stinker and I was well rewarded. Mr. Estlemen is a great mystery writer for a number of reasons. He's a master with the hardboiled writing. He's prolific (at least one mystery per year). He's good. The last mystery I had read, by another author, I figured out in chapter three. This one held me to the end and it also made me laugh. I think this is an excellent read for mysteryphiles and non-mysteryphiles alike. His writing is pure poetry.

Most mystery series have become either worn out or routine by the time they get around to their 15th outing. Not so Loren Estlemen's Amos Walker P.I. series. If anything, Estlemen and his hero are getting better. "A Smile of the Face of the Tiger" is the fourth Walker book since Estlemen took a seven year hiatus from his favorite shamus, and it is easily the best of the "comeback" novels. Walker remains one of the few who truly does carry on the torch of Phillip Marlowe with his lonliness, cynicism and uncorruptible nature.

This time out, he tracks a old pulp fiction writer who has disappeared after turning down an advance to reprint one of his old novels. I've seen this story line several times before, but Estlemen gets clever with it. Along the way, he weaves in his usual menacing mobster (a Sammy "the Bull" Gravano clone, no less) and corrupt police officer angles, also in a fresh and unique way. It also helps that Estlemen puts two of the series's better supporting characters, police Lieutenant Mary Ann Thaler and beguiling publisher's representative Louise Starr, to good use this time out. As always, the real hero of the story is the once great city of Detroit, still struggling to regain some of its lost luster, this time with casino gambling.

Overall, Walker is among the best private detectives in the literary world today, and this is one of his best novels to date.

As a mystery writer with my first novel in initial release, I fondly recall the hours I spent reading Loren Estleman's Amos Walker series as I learned to write PI fiction. Amos Walker is a masterful creation, and A SMILE ON THE FACE OF THE TIGER is a masterful work. In this novel, Walker is hired by a New York publisher to hunt down a paperback mystery writer who will not allow his fifty-year-old classic to be reprinted. Along the way, Walker discovers the author's reasons and undercovers sordid truths about race relations in America. Estleman has dealt with Detroit's history thoroughly in past works, and he has also touched upon the interesting literary history of paperback pulp fiction. Mr. Estleman is at his most effective here in A SMILE ON THE FACE OF THE TIGER. It is a great book, and I recommend it highly.

Amos Walker is a hard-boiled private eye of the old school. in A Smile On The Face Of The Tiger, Walker is tracking down a man named Eugene Booth as part of a missing-person case. But something is going on he wasn't expecting that involves a New York mob hit man and a half-century-old murder. Just as with his previous Amos Walker mysteries, Loren Estleman writes a vividly crafted, gritty, pulp fiction style novel set in an underworld of passion, lies, murder, and unexpected revelations. A "must" for all classic, two-fisted private eye mystery fans

Legend is a wonderfully enjoyable story that will give you tears from every possible mood you can be in. Why it is listed in Amazon with Loren D. Estleman's name first is beyond me, he did not put this book together. I think it was Robert J. Randisi. At any rate, in my opinion all of the authors put in their best work. A book to be read again.

Another great anthology from some of the best western writers ever, and this is just a beginning. We can look forward to more great fiction from the new Western Writers of America anthology to be released next year. Great news for the genre! Meanwhile, read LEGEND!

I just recently finished Legend and throughly enjoyed it. I admit that I read "most" of the part about Speaks first love. Overall this was a very enjoyable western that kept me turning pages to see what would happen next. I have already passed it on to my neighbors father who enjoys westerns.

After reading a few self-help books that couldn't even make Fred Astaire feel light on his feet and positive in nature I turned to helping myself all year long in my freshman year at a high school in Maine. Today I put a cherry on top of my emotional acheivements for this year by completing Thunder City. The story is as inspiring as it is intricate, and as relative to today as it is historically accurate.

David Mamet recently published an elegy to Patrick O'Brian in The New York Times. In it he said that only the genre writers are writing interesting English, creating characters that we eagerly wish to know and becoming part of our everyday lives. Loren Estleman is one of the best of the genre writers. His Amos Walker mysteries carry the torch of Chandler and MacDonald. His westerns carry the torch of L'Amour. But, unlike any of the others currently writing, he has also invented a new fictional genre. It is one in which the main character is a place, with a supporting cast that weaves in and out of its history. "Thunder City" is the seventh (and last) of the City of Detroit series, which seeks to define the character of Twentieth Century Detroit, one of the most gritty, down-to-earth, hard-working, corrupt, in-your-face, dangerous and exciting cities in America. I know. I grew up there. This series is recommended reading for anyone interested in genre fiction, but it is essential reading for anyone who feels connected to Detroit. You will recognize the culture, the locations, the history, the trivia, the conflicts, the voices, the attitude. It is a one-of-a-kind fictional endeavor that will someday compare with the formative novels of established genres. Not to be missed. You need them all: "Whiskey River," "Motown," "Edsel," "Stress," "King of the Corner," "Jitterbug" and "Thunder City." I suppose Loren Estleman will finally get his "best seller" due when he turns eighty, like Patrick O'Brian. Life just works out that way sometimes. But maybe, just maybe, there is a David Mamet somewhere who will speak out sooner this time around. Then maybe, just maybe, Loren Estleman will continue this marvelous series about the City of Detroit.

Harlan Crownover pleads with his father Abner to provide him with money to invest in Henry Ford's automobile business. Abner, who made a fortune with his patented suspension system for coaches, rejects the idea of investing in any enterprise headed by a failure like Ford.

Harlan turns to politician Big Jim Dolan for a loan, but receives the same treatment afforded him by his father. Harlan next turns to Mafioso boss Sal Borneo who is Jim's business associate. Soon everyone seems to be turning on everyone else and even family ties are not a sure shot from treachery. Worse yet, Ford appears ready to use Abner's suspension system to solve the only major problem inhibiting him from mass producing his vehicles.

Loren D. Estleman's latest Detroit novel, THUNDER CITY, is an incredible work of historical fiction that makes the turning point era of changing to automobiles seem like yesterday. The story line is filled with action and authentic items from real life. The characters are exciting and their harmony and conflicts make for more interesting reading. However, this tale is clearly that of Detroit, which seems to do a classy JIITERBUG under the direction of that Grand Prix writer Mr. Estleman.

Harriet Klausner

This book chronicles the welcome and overdue return of Estleman's character Peter Macklin, here a retired hitman for the Detroit mob. A newlywed on his honeymoon, Macklin is spotted by an associate of Carlo Maggiore, "Carl Major", an old acquaintance and onetime target, who presses him into doing one more job. Macklin's young bride is monitored by Abilene, a pseudo-cowboy associate of Maggiore's and during the course of his duties, he lets slip who Macklin is and also shows off his own psycho tendencies, leading Laurie Macklin to attempt to slip his clutches.

The book switches back and forth from San Antonio, the site of Macklin's hit, to Los Angeles, and is very effective in building suspense, and supplying the viewpoints of several characters, including a detective transplanted to Texas from the Midwest and concerned about becoming too much of a Texan.

Macklin is a hard, tough character who previously appeared in Estleman's _Kill Zone_, _Any Man's Death_, and _Roses Are Dead_. He's reminiscent of Richard Stark's tough guy, Parker, though Parker is a thief who only kills when he has to, while Macklin is a killer, first and foremost. Hopefully, we won't have to wait another 10 years or more for the next Macklin book.

In his mid forties, Peter Macklin retired several years ago as a hit man and recently married the much younger Laurie. They are enjoying their honeymoon in Los Angeles when crime boss Carlo Maggiore spots Peter. Though Macklin tried to kill Carlo years ago, business is business so the mobster "hires" Peter to complete a hit that one of his thugs messed up. The fee is fifty large ones plus the safe return of his wife if he kills San Antonio bookie Johns Davis.

Peter hides what he is doing from Laurie, insisting he is going to Sacramento on business. Instead Peter goes to Texas to complete the job. Though out of practice, a hit feels like riding a bike to the retired professional. As Peter works on the details of how he will execute the assignment, Laurie realizes that her "baby-sitter" is no friend of her spouse. She knows that she must depend on herself to remain safe from this goon, while patiently waiting until Peter returns to force the truth from him.

The latest Macklin tale is an exciting crime thriller that showcases the talent of award-winning Loren D. Estleman and demonstrates why the antihero is so popular. The story line is loaded with action whether Peter is the focus or Laurie takes center stage. Though the tale fails to provide Laurie's reactions to Peter's former profession (stay tuned for that in the next novel), fans of the author, especially of Macklin, will appreciate this gratifying thriller.

Harriet Klausner

Loren Estleman writes in the author's notes that follow the story at the end of this i-books edition of "Sugartown," that the novel was his angriest in the series. Interestingly, Estleman places the source of his anger as the backdrop for the story. In the early 1980s, Detroit Mayor Coleman Young made a legally shaky eminent domain deal with General Motors that forced hundreds of long time residents from their homes so that a new assembly plant could be built. The displaced homeowners got a very raw deal and a historic neighborhood was destroyed.

But the story Estleman weaves around these events is actually one of Amos Walker's more lively and fun. For once he finds a love interest to lighten his dreary existance. And the two cases he investigates involving Eastern European immigrants lead him in some interesting directions. Overall, this makes the fifth Amos Walker book the best so far in the series (I've been reading them in order) a fact which was confirmed when the book won the Shamus Award for best private eye novel of 1984. This i-books edition also includes inaddition to the newly published author's notes, a recent vintage Amos Walker short story at the end. Think of it as dessert after a fine meal.

There are a lot of better known writers today. But, there are none better than Estelman.The Amos Walker series is fun, exciting and challenging. Strong characters and good stories. If you like noir mysteries and the Chandler hardboiled style, you'll love Estelman. This entry is one of his finest. But, whatever Estelman(Amos Walker) book you begin with, you cannot go wrong.

"The Midnight Man" is a bit darker than usual for an Amos Walker novel. Death hangs omnipresent as the intrepid Walker tries to bring a cop killer to justice before he is killed by the police. Along the way he encounters black militants, a bounty hunter, a sex-starved cop's wife and more dead bodies than he would care to count. Author Loren D. Estleman runs his hero through the wringer in this adventure and it is a great ride indeed. Walker is everything a great P.I. ought to be, tough, sarcastic, somewhat alcoholic and beholden to a his own private code of justice. He is Phillip Marlowe updated for modern times.

This "I-Book" edition features the added bonus of an essay by the author regarding his inspiriations for the novel. Addtionally, it also has an Amos Walker short story, "Redneck" that comes along at the end like the desert to a fine meal. Overall a very worthwhile package.

Amos Walker has one heck of a rollercoaster ride in the third installment of Loren D. Estleman's suberb P.I. series. Its Christmas in Detroit and our hero gets seduced, beaten up, arrested, threatened; your usual yuletide activities. Along the way he encouters crooked cops, media hungry politicians, spoiled rich kids and ham-handed Federal agents. I'd rate "The Glass Highway" a notch above the first two novels in the series ("Motor City Blue" and "Angel Eyes") because its plot is tighter and more plausible. Nevertheless, there seems to be no such thing as a bad Amos Walker mystery.

As a bonus, this I-Books edition features an afterword from the author regarding his inspirations for the novel. It also contains an Amos Walker short story, "Cigarette Stop" as the dessert to a very fine meal.

After a seven year absence, tough guy Detroit private detective Amos Walker returned in 1997 with "Never Street." I'm a huge fan of P.I. fiction, and Walker is one of the best around. He doesn't work the streets of Detroit so much as he INHABITS them. "Never Street" is longer and more complex than any Walker story up until that time as Amos tries to find a missing video producer and noir film buff who appears to be acting out his fantasy of sisappearing into one of his movies. For any fan of classic film noir, this is a MUST read. As a mystery, it reads reasonably well, although is not nearly as good as the best of the Walker series (novels such as "Sugartown" and "The Glass Highway"). Walker novels suffer a bit from too little reliance on supporting characters. Reappearing cops John Alderdyce and Mary Ann Thaler make a brief turn here, but only in the background of the story. Walker does have a rare romance this time out, and that helps give the story a bit of a lift.

Overall, fans of Amos Walker should enjoy this entry in the series. His is a welcome return.

If, for some reason, you must read books that are well written, with tough talking, wise-cracking, good intentioned, interesting, likeable private eyes who live in the atmospheric pages of a master crime writer, then you must read this book. Great fun for lovers of the hard-boiled genre. Read all of Estelman's Amos Walker series and you'll be have something to measure all the rest by.

I just finished Never Street. I had to. It nagged me when I put it down. Like the late show movie, I was hooked when I first put eyes on it, wanting to know what happened next. Amos Walker is the genuine article, a renaissance man to the bygone era of street wise 'private dicks' who often find out more than they wanted to. Walker is the real gem. He's involved in a track down of a nut case hooked on film noir by the worried movie widow during a Detriot heatwave. A conniving partner, a crooked shrink, an ex-con, a bumbling P.I. competitor, and a sultry mistress later, produces a couple of bodies and more than one headache the kind a couple of aspirin can't help. Walker's wisecracks alone are worth the cover price. It's no wonder Estleman is one of the most decorated mystery writers in the business.