Brief Mention: Loren D. Estleman Stories, in DESPERATE DETROIT (Mysteries)

Flint, Kalamazoo, Detroit ... those Michigan cities keep coming up in the news. To get a slant on the dark syndicate past of Mo-Town itself, there's nothing as enjoyable as a hard-boiled mystery from Loren D. Estleman.

Just in time for the distracted season of spring, when it's a challenge to find time to read a dozen pages at a sitting, Tyrus Books is bringing out (on April 1) DESPERATE DETROIT (subtitle: And Stories of Other Dire Places), a collection of Estleman's widely varied tales. From his earliest pulp-style fiction, to sneakily nasty "PI" adventures, this is a wicked and urbane collection. My advance copy doesn't have the original pub dates and venues for the stories, which I would have enjoyed; but Estleman's personal comments introducing the pieces give a good feel for his own sense of his past and his writerly pleasures. Good twists, classic noir, and a must for any collection of either this author or the pulps and their descendants.