THE BIG BANG by Mickey Spillane and Max Allan Collins

"..I'll start with rebreaking your goddamn leg, then see where inspiration takes me."
I took Velda by the arm and guided her away, though she did smile back pleasantly at him and say, "I wish I could tell you he's all talk..."

This was the second Spillane novel released after his death, finished up by longtime friend Collins. It was supposedly based off an unfinished manuscript from the '60s but some of the language, banter and slang makes the Collins edit obvious.

The fearless and gritty P.I. Mike Hammer chalks up two more kills in the opening sequence after rescuing a teenage delivery boy from an attack by a trio of strung out druggies.

It seemed like that scene would have nothing to do with the overall story but we quickly find out that is not the case. It seems that the delivery boy, Billy Blue, works at a local hospital and has become somewhat of a surrogate son to a doctor there. Said doctor suffered the loss of his son (and wife) due to a heart attack at a young age. It is later revealed that the son died of a drug overdose.

Blue seems like kind of a wimp but he was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. A picture is painted of a local drug war between the mob, a splinter faction of the mob and a mysterious third party. The streets are dry of hard drugs and all the junkies are in need of a fix.

Hammer finds himself on the receiving end of several attempted hits and spends the early part of the novel trying to figure out why. Obviously, it is because he is meddling (much to the chagrin of his cop buddy Pat Chambers). The proverbial "big bang" is a shipment of heroin that is rumored to be hitting town any minute now.

A plethora of interesting characters litter the story, including a blonde dame at a local ceramics store and a couple of T-Men looking to capitalize on Hammer's investigative work.

Like all Hammer novels, everyone is a suspect except his lover and receptionist Velda. The ultimate goal is finding out the time and location of the H shipment.

Speaking of Velda, the interaction between her and Hammer would have been pretty risque had this actually been released in the 60s. The frequent innuendo and sexuality in these pages seemed a bit much, especially lingo such as "balled" which I guaran-damn-tee no one ever used before the 1990s.

The first 2/3 of the novel was pretty slow and boring. I kept putting it down. Thankfully, business picked up in the end and Spillane and/or Collins provided some stellar violence and dramatics (including Hammer experiencing an acid trip). None of these posthumous Spillane novels could recapture something like I, The Jury but it'll do.

C+

MISTER X by John Lutz

"We need to find out why she lied," Fedderman said.
Pearl nodded. "We need to find her."

Like with many private detective novels, the story opens up with former NYPD captain Frank Quinn sitting at the desk in his Quinn and Associates office when his next case began. A woman claiming to be the deceased Tiffany Keller wanted to hire Quinn to find out who killed her. She was a victim of the notorious serial killer known as The Carver and Quinn was a legend in The City when it came to capturing serial killers.

Obviously, Tiffany wasn't Tiffany and it turned out she was her twin sister, Chrissie. Unfortunately for Quinn, and his associates Pearl and Fedderman, Chrissie repeatedly disappeared. All three ended up working alongside the NYPD, despite the commissioner being against the case at first for political reasons.

Coincidentally, the case heated up when The Carver or Carveresque killings started happening again. Same method, all women with their nipples removed and an X carved below their chest. Also occurring was a love interest for Pearl, who was formerly with Quinn which created silent friction in the office for those of you who love a little romance with your stories of murder and violence.

Chrissie, formerly Tiffany, turned out to be a private investigator from Ohio where Tiffany and Chrissie were from. She is not the only person in the story masquerading as something she is not.

Interspersed with the current action, Lutz takes us back to Ohio when the real Chrissie and Tiffany were young for a bit of back story. We find out that their father was quite a sickie and that a troubled neighbor boy was a pervert and voyeur. The author also offers up the point of view of the killer and the victims.

With the search for the real Chrissie, the fake Chrissie, The Carver and a love story, there is truly something for every type of crime fiction fans in this novel.

The story is lengthy like a thriller but also features bits of police procedural and a touch of hardboiled. It was definitely exciting enough to keep me wanting more. Just when I started thinking I had all the answers, Lutz changed the questions. In the end, I was kind of dumbfounded. It pretty much all made sense in some way but I wasn't satisfied. Lutz is a great author but I am very picky when it comes to endings. I did not really get a true picture of exactly what type of guy Frank Quinn was either. He seemed to be a very minor character in a story based around a case led by him and his team.

C+

PAINTED LADIES by Robert B. Parker

"You're looking to even it up," Healy said.
"Something like that," I said.
"I know," Healy said.
"I know you do," I said.

The world of crime fiction was saddened by the loss of author Robert B. Parker in January but thankfully, his work lives on.

In this 39th Spenser novel, an art guru named Ashton Prince hires the Boston private eye for protection after a rare painting (Lady with a Finch) is stolen from a local museum. 

Prince, a professor, is chosen to be the middle man between the museum and the thieves. He wants Spenser around in case things go wrong. Unfortunately for Prince, things go horribly wrong. While Spenser sits in a car, the transaction goes down, and Prince is blown to pieces on his way back to said car.

Spenser is hard-nosed and can't let it go because he failed his deceased employer (and, a mystery is a mystery). He meets the strange, poet wife of Prince and discovers that the deceased was quite a womanizer. A student named Missy who has an insurance agent mother named Winifred, who is presiding over the art case. After a couple attempts on his own life, Spenser (with help from police friends) discovers that the painting mystery traces back World War II. 

It seems that the painting belonged to a Jewish family, most of whom were murdered in the Holocaust. A young boy survived and ended up selling the painting. A foundation bearing his name seems to be involved and Spenser intends to find out how. More deaths and drama follow until everything is revealed.

The action and actual plot seemed to be a small part of this story. If the annoying banter between Spenser and his girlfriend Susan were removed and the lengthy amounts of sarcasm by the detective were taken out, the book would have been about 15 pages long. It is tough to make text involving art exciting, so kudos to Parker for trying. But I can't say that he completely succeeded.

It looks like one more Spenser novel was completed before Parker's death, so here's hoping it is a little more fun to read and doesn't leave me with more questions than answers at the end.

C+

Publisher: Putnam Adult
Release Date: October 5, 2010

THE THIRD RAIL by Michael Harvey

"Robles didn't know exactly what he was searching for: a face, a gesture, a moment, something that would tell him who lived and who died."

Violence is abundant in this third Michael Harvey novel featuring private investigator Michael Kelly. Unlike the first two, The Chicago Way (2007) and The Fifth Floor (2008), Harvey features third person voice to go along with the gritty narrative from Kelly. 

The action begins immediately when a woman is shot and killed in one of the Chicago train stations for no apparent reason. We quickly discover that the shooter (Robles) has no conscience, is not acting alone and is setting up Mr. Kelly. 

Within the first few pages, Kelly finds himself staring death in the face from a masked man who he feels is not the same shooter who took down the lady at the train station. Kelly hooks up with his detective friend, Rodriguez, from the Chicago PD and both use one another throughout the story. Before they can get a lead as to who the shooter was, the deaths continue. A long distance shot killing a passenger actually on the train.

The local mayor, who is probably a more entertaining character than Kelly himself, and FBI get involved and disagree with Kelly over the original shooter having an accomplice. This same argument goes on throughout the book. But the readers are aware that Robles has an accomplice named Nelson and it doesn't take long to realize who is in control.

More bloodshed continues when Robles decides to start sniping cars from a bridge and when one turns out to be the current girlfriend of Kelly, he starts playing dirty. Seeking help from his tech guru friend, Hubert, the mystery becomes even more complicated when the nucleus of the whole deal stems from a 1980 train wreck in which Kelly was actually involved.

No one is safe and like in the previous two novels, no one can be trusted. Kelly is a one man army but he can't be everywhere at once. When one mystery is solved, another is still out there. One death leads to another and it's a domino effect of emotion and bodies.

A bit complicated in places but wraps up pretty nicely in the end. Harvey stepped up the bloodshed this time around without making it too gory. He also has given Kelly somewhat of a badder attitude, in my opinion. I'm forever grateful to Harvey for "bringing me back" to the world of crime fiction after a few years off. I picked up The Chicago Way a few years back and was so inspired, it led to the original version of Eastern Standard Crime and now this new version.

B+

Publisher: Knopf
Release Date: April 20, 2010

THE SHADOWS and YOUR PARTICIPATION?

Anyone who knows me or was around for the original version of ESC is aware of my fascination with awards and such so it is no surprise that I have something planned for this site.

THE SHADOWS will be awarded on a yearly basis. Year One encompasses private eye novels with North American release dates from April 1, 2010-April 30, 2011 and will be awarded in May 2011.

Novels reviewed here and which meet the criteria listed to the left are the only ones up for consideration. (I intend to review all private eye crime fiction novels that meet said criteria)

I'm working on putting together a panel of voters for these awards so if you are interested, just drop me a line.

Planned awards are as follows:

• BEST NOVEL
• BEST PRIVATE EYE
• BEST MALE CHARACTER (NOT A P.I.)
• BEST FEMALE CHARACTER (NOT A P.I.)
• BEST SUPPORTING CHARACTER
• BEST COVER (U.S.)