Rating: 
Summary: Another winner!
Review: Steve Hamilton writes with great assurance--lean prose with exceptional characterizations and superior plotting. He has yet to disappoint. This time out, the temperamental McKnight winds up in a world of trouble simply by acting as the last-minute sixth player in a poker game at the home of the feisty (think bantam rooster) and eccentric Win Vargas. When a holdup occurs mid-game and Vargas's safe is burgled and some of his treasured artifacts lifted, Vargas comes to the bizarre conclusion that McKnight is the mastermind behind the plot.With the help of his former partner, Leon Prudell (the lovably nerdy straight arrow who has to be one of the most unlikely private investigators ever created) McKnight ultimately unravels the the how of the scheme--but not before his friend/mentor Jackie winds up in the hands of a pair of lethal Canadian brothers. With a climax that is literally cold and wet and stomach-churningly tense, this is a can't-put-down mystery. Then, with what used to be called "a sting in the tail" Hamilton adds a painful little twist at the end that is completely unexpected.
Highly recommended.
Rating: 
Summary: The Lake, it is said...
Review: This is another full-strength North Woods mystery from Edgar Award winning author Steve Hamilton. Sufficient background information is provided that a reader would not necessarily need to start at the beginning, with "A Cold Day in Paradise," - but why miss all the fun and excitement? Alex McKnight, former Detroit cop, and former Major League Baseball player for a day, is back home and on the case in the environs of Paradise, Upper Peninsula, Michigan. Morose over his impending 49th birthday, Alex is persuaded by his friend Jackie to attend a poker game at the home of Winston Vargas, New Rich Guy on the Block. The games are interrupted by robbery and, as they say in the movies, "the chase is on." The chase includes some wild rides on Lake Superior ( o/~ "The Legend lives on, from the Chippewa on down of the Big Lake they call Gitchee Gumee," o/~) Like authors Chuck Logan and Carl Hiaasen, Steve Hamilton weaves a taunt yet witty tale while casting a wary eye on "developers" intent on destroying America's great natural beauty.
Rating:
Summary: robust McKnight mystery
Review: Turning forty-nine this summer in Paradise, Michigan, Alex McKnight spends a lot time reflecting on his life so far but finds it wanting. He turns reclusive until his pal, Glasgow Inn owner Jackie Connery, bullies Alex to join a poker game hosted by wealthy developer Win Vargas. During the game, Win claims that one of the regulars, not playing that night, is having an affair with his wife.
Not long afterward, three hoods break and enter the Vargas home. They make Win go upstairs with one of them while the other two point guns at the heads of the remaining five card players. Instead of robbing Win of his wife's jewels and the men of their wallets, they destroy his marine and Indian artifact collection before leaving. A stunned Win ponders how they knew the location of his secret safe. Unable to say no, Alex heeds the call of the wife of his former private investigative partner Leon Prudell to keep her husband safe while he investigates the robbery for Win.
The latest McKnight mystery is a robust entry because the audience sees another side of the hero, struggling with his age and his lack of success in life. The story line starts off focusing on Alex' internal skirmish, but quickly picks up speed when he gets involved with Win via the card game and through Leon. Alex is at his best and the support cast augments the isolated feeling of going NORTH OF NOWHERE that shows why Steve Hamilton is an award-winning author. Harriet Klausner
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