Black and White Ball: An Amos Walker Mystery

Edgar-finalist Estleman’s fast-paced 27th mystery featuring Detroit PI Amos Walker (after 2017’s The Lioness Is the Hunter) finds Walker working for his ex-girlfriend Karen Lennert. Karen wants him to obtain evidence that her husband, Guy, is cheating on her. Walker crosses the border into Canada, where he locates Guy and a woman purporting to be his wife registered at an inn. Upstairs, shots ring out, and Amos rushes to the couple’s room, where Guy lies dead on the floor next to a screaming woman. The killer, professional hit man Peter Macklin, later appears at Walker’s office with a proposition: Walker must protect Macklin’s soon-to-be ex-wife from his psychopathic son or die. En route to the morally satisfying ending, Walker muses wryly on the impact of technology on his profession, such as the loss of the PI’s bread-and-butter work of background checks to anyone with access to Google. Full of vivid characters and snappy dialogue, this entry will delight old fans and garner new ones. Agent: Dominick Abel, Dominick Abel Literary. (Mar.)