The rawness of Michigan's Upper Peninsula serves as a perfect backdrop for Hamilton's hard-boiled, flannel-shirt series starring ex-Detroit cop Alex McKnight, who is now the owner of a cabin resort and a reluctant sleuth. McKnight narrates his cases, giving readers both an immediate feel for the action and a voice that exudes intelligence and battle-weariness. This time an old, old battle, in the person of Alex's former, detested boss, Police Chief Roy Maven, walks into Alex's favored bar on a cold-beyond-cold winter night.The son of Maven's longtime friend has been found hanged from a tree overlooking Misery Bay on Lake Superior. Maven drags Alex into asking around to satisfy the grieving father's yearning for some sort of certainty. The trail begins with only three contacts but quickly expands when more deaths are discovered. Hamilton's latest is an extremely well crafted puzzle, a chilling suspense story, and a compelling examination of evil.--Fletcher, Conni. Copyright 2010 Booklist

After six years of hiatus, Hamilton returns ex-cop Alex McKnight to Michigan's Upper Peninsula, land that he loves, and sets him against a psychopathic killer who thinks he's Alfred Hitchcock.With the freezing wind blowing off Lake Superiornever mind that it's officially springMichigan's UP might not be the first place most would think of as paradise. Unless, like Alex McKnight, you actually live in Paradise, a small, frost-bitten town abutting the Canadian border, and would never willingly live anywhere else.So there's Alex, unfazed by a typically bitter UP night, enjoying a functioning fireplace, his signature Molson ale and similar life-affirming comforts when the door to the Glasgow Inn opens to a man with whom he shares a mutual hatred. Well, perhaps a shade less than that. "Just call it a persistent lack of liking each other," explains Roy Maven to Jackie Connery, owner of the Glasgow. All Alex's previous encounters with hard-eyed, congenitally irascible Maven, chief of police in nearby Sault Ste. Marie, have been unpleasant to say the least, yet here he is asking for a favor, and a strange one at that.A friend has suffered a terrible loss. His college student son has inexplicably taken his own life, and the grieving father is desperate for answers. Will Alex forget past grudges, dust off his infrequently used but still valid P.I. license, visit Michigan Tech and ask the kids some pertinent questions? Of course he willAlex McKnighterrant is programmed for that sort of thing. Predictably, the suicide turns out to be a murder, while the killer involved turns out to be a bizarre kind of filmmaker in whose eerie epic Alex comes within an eyelash of playing a death scene.Too soft in the middle to be among the best in this estimable series; still, Hamilton (The Lock Artist, 2010, etc.) has a great time with the love-hate relationship between two alpha males.]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

In Hamilton's latest thriller in the popular Alex McKnight series, when a young man apparently commits suicide in Misery Bay, police chief Roy Maven convinces McKnight to set aside their differences to investigate. Maven hopes the private eye will convince the dead man's bereaved father that foul play wasn't involved. But when a second murder is committed (this time in the chief's home), McKnight and Maven are forced to work together to stay alive. Dan John Miller provides winning narration in this audio edition. His rendition of McKnight is properly thoughtful, annoyed, sarcastic, and understanding. Miller's version of Maven is gruff, loud, and heavily accented, while the rest of the cast-from the Irish owner of McKnight's favorite tavern to the creepy, demented killer-is provided with equally appropriate voices. Fans of the series will definitely be entertained. A Minotaur hardcover. (June) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

There are not many places as remote or as unique as Michigan's Upper Peninsula, and few authors capture it better than Hamilton (whose stand-alone The Lock Artist won this year's Edgar Award for Best Novel). It has been six years since his last Alex McKnight novel (A Stolen Season), and eager fans won't be disappointed. McKnight, a former Detroit cop who retreated to the tiny town of Paradise after being shot and severely wounded by a psychopath who killed his partner, is now approached for assistance by Roy Maven, the police chief of Sault Ste. Marie. Maven's old friend, U.S. Marshal Razniewski, has been shattered by the death of his only son, who hung himself from a tree out at Misery Bay. The marshal won't rest until the reasons for his suicide are uncovered, and Alex reluctantly agrees to investigate. When Razniewski is murdered, McKnight finds an unlikely partner in Chief Maven. Verdict A tightly woven plot and a sense of urgency create a suspenseful mystery that keeps the reader fully engaged from start to finish. A perfect fit for regional mystery fans and those who like their mysteries fast-paced and gritty. Strongly recommended. [See Prepub Alert, 1/21/11; library marketing.]-Amy Nolan, St. Joseph P.L., MI (c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.