Lady Yesterday

Hard-bitten private eye Amos Walker (last seen in Sugartown stalks the bleak, wintry streets and the smoke-filled nightclubs of Detroit in his latest, swiftly paced mystery, whose characters include tough, wisecracking women and cheap gangsters. When Walker is hired by a Jamaican ex-prostitute, Iris, to find her father, an obscure jazz musician, he has no trouble picking up the trail of the missing trombone player. What he does not bargain for are some harshly explicit warnings from the drug czar of Detroit, Iris's kidnapping, and the forming of an uneasy alliance between himself and the highest levels of organized crime. Walker pursues his case with dogged intensity, bringing to his investigation total cynicism and a casual disregard for scruples. As usual, Estleman's dark, moody narration and his evocation of the seamy, forlorn ambience of Detroit mark this series with a special stamp. (April 21)