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Amos Walker #26
The Lioness Is the Hunter
A hot new Amos Walker mystery by a master of the hard-boiled detective novel. "Loren Estleman is my hero."—Harlan Coben, New York Times bestselling author
Detroit entrepreneur Carl Fannon hires Walker to trace Emil Haas, his partner, whose sudden disappearance has jeopardized their firm’s plans to purchase the historic Sentinel Building. Almost immediately, the missing man shows up and asks the detective to meet him in the empty Sentinel to discuss a top-secret concern. Walker complies, only to find not Haas, but Fannon’s suffocated corpse locked in a basement vault.
When Gwendolyn Haas, the partner’s adult daughter, enters the picture, the client number rises to three, including one missing and one murdered. But the worst is yet to come: Emil Haas’s “concern” is that Fannon’s been buying up depressed real estate on behalf of Charlotte Sing, the international fugitive Walker knows only too well as Madam Sing. Madam Sing is believed to have been executed in Asia for capital crimes without number, but instead may be engaged in rebuilding her fortune to relaunch her assault on civilization.
Detroit entrepreneur Carl Fannon hires Walker to trace Emil Haas, his partner, whose sudden disappearance has jeopardized their firm’s plans to purchase the historic Sentinel Building. Almost immediately, the missing man shows up and asks the detective to meet him in the empty Sentinel to discuss a top-secret concern. Walker complies, only to find not Haas, but Fannon’s suffocated corpse locked in a basement vault.
When Gwendolyn Haas, the partner’s adult daughter, enters the picture, the client number rises to three, including one missing and one murdered. But the worst is yet to come: Emil Haas’s “concern” is that Fannon’s been buying up depressed real estate on behalf of Charlotte Sing, the international fugitive Walker knows only too well as Madam Sing. Madam Sing is believed to have been executed in Asia for capital crimes without number, but instead may be engaged in rebuilding her fortune to relaunch her assault on civilization.
240 pages, Hardcover
First published February 28, 2017
About the author
Loren D. Estleman
317 books282 followersLoren D. Estleman is an American writer of detective and Western fiction. He writes with a manual typewriter.
Estleman is most famous for his novels about P.I. Amos Walker. Other series characters include Old West marshal Page Murdock and hitman Peter Macklin. He has also written a series of novels about the history of crime in Detroit (also the setting of his Walker books.) His non-series works include Bloody Season, a fictional recreation of the gunfight at the O.K. Corral, and several novels and stories featuring Sherlock Holmes.
Series:
* Amos Walker Mystery
* Valentino Mystery
* Detroit Crime Mystery
* Peter Macklin Mystery
* Page Murdock Mystery
Estleman is most famous for his novels about P.I. Amos Walker. Other series characters include Old West marshal Page Murdock and hitman Peter Macklin. He has also written a series of novels about the history of crime in Detroit (also the setting of his Walker books.) His non-series works include Bloody Season, a fictional recreation of the gunfight at the O.K. Corral, and several novels and stories featuring Sherlock Holmes.
Series:
* Amos Walker Mystery
* Valentino Mystery
* Detroit Crime Mystery
* Peter Macklin Mystery
* Page Murdock Mystery
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Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews
September 10, 2020
Amos Walker has now been chasing bad guys around Detroit for the better part of forty years. He's feeling his age a bit, but not enough to slow him down in any significant way. He remains a private detective of the Old School, hard boiled, cynical and sarcastic, and he seems to spend about as much time battling with the cops as he does with his adversaries.
After something of a dry spell, business-wise, Walker is hired by a man named Carl Fannon to track down Fannon's partner, Emil Haas. Hass and Fannon are big-time entrepreneurs. They've been buying up a lot of Detroit real estate, and they're about to close a major deal to purchase an historic building known as the Sentinel Building when Hass inexplicably disappears.
Walker no sooner takes the case, however, when Hass walks into the detective's office. He's discovered something fishy about the proposed deal and he isn't sure that his partner, Fannon, is playing straight with him. Hass tells Walker to meet him in the basement of the abandoned Sentinel Building at 9:00 that night so that Hass can outline his concerns.
WTF???
This makes absolutely no sense at all. What makes even less sense is that Walker would agree to do it. Why doesn't Haas just explain his concerns right then and there in Walker's office? The reason, of course, as anyone who's ever read more than three detective novels will realize from the jump, is so that Walker will walk into that basement and discover a body. The body is that of his first client, Fannon, and the main suspect in the killing will be Walker's second client, Haas, who has disappeared again.
A few pages later, Walker will pick up yet a third client in this case, Haas's daughter, who wants Walker to find her father. As ever, things will get increasingly complicated and in the course of things, Walker may or may not run up against an old adversary, but in either case he will be in a boatload of trouble, both officially and physically.
I've been a big fan of this series since the beginning, but I'm sorry to say that this was not a particularly strong entry. There's a lot of atmosphere but not much in the way of plot. It's always fun to watch Amos Walker at work; I only wish that the work in this case had been more interesting.
After something of a dry spell, business-wise, Walker is hired by a man named Carl Fannon to track down Fannon's partner, Emil Haas. Hass and Fannon are big-time entrepreneurs. They've been buying up a lot of Detroit real estate, and they're about to close a major deal to purchase an historic building known as the Sentinel Building when Hass inexplicably disappears.
Walker no sooner takes the case, however, when Hass walks into the detective's office. He's discovered something fishy about the proposed deal and he isn't sure that his partner, Fannon, is playing straight with him. Hass tells Walker to meet him in the basement of the abandoned Sentinel Building at 9:00 that night so that Hass can outline his concerns.
WTF???
This makes absolutely no sense at all. What makes even less sense is that Walker would agree to do it. Why doesn't Haas just explain his concerns right then and there in Walker's office? The reason, of course, as anyone who's ever read more than three detective novels will realize from the jump, is so that Walker will walk into that basement and discover a body. The body is that of his first client, Fannon, and the main suspect in the killing will be Walker's second client, Haas, who has disappeared again.
A few pages later, Walker will pick up yet a third client in this case, Haas's daughter, who wants Walker to find her father. As ever, things will get increasingly complicated and in the course of things, Walker may or may not run up against an old adversary, but in either case he will be in a boatload of trouble, both officially and physically.
I've been a big fan of this series since the beginning, but I'm sorry to say that this was not a particularly strong entry. There's a lot of atmosphere but not much in the way of plot. It's always fun to watch Amos Walker at work; I only wish that the work in this case had been more interesting.
March 13, 2017
Not very interesting. I guess you have to know who Madam Sing is to understand what is going on. I know the author tries to make Walker a noir guy but much of the "noir-ness" feels forced.
January 17, 2018
Don't waste your time.
January 29, 2018
Amos is the detective man, 4.5 stars. As the books age you get even more juicy cultural & historically asides along with the murders, occasional gun waving and ever present sarcastic one-liners. Good stuff.
Not sure how I feel about Madam Sing, Walker's Moriarty, his Zeck, his Fu Manchu; I like lesser stakes cases.
And I forgot to mention the Romanian cleaning woman, who may be the greatest un-named bit character ever to grace a handful of pages in a murder mystery or detective novel, perhaps even any novel short of The Sand Pebbles, Huck Finn or Dracula.
Not sure how I feel about Madam Sing, Walker's Moriarty, his Zeck, his Fu Manchu; I like lesser stakes cases.
And I forgot to mention the Romanian cleaning woman, who may be the greatest un-named bit character ever to grace a handful of pages in a murder mystery or detective novel, perhaps even any novel short of The Sand Pebbles, Huck Finn or Dracula.
May 27, 2017
Since I wasn't familiar with the characters, and at #26, there seemed to be quite a few, I just enjoyed the hard boiled noir dialogue and the Detroit setting. The plot was too convoluted for me.
June 14, 2017
The Lioness is the Hunter
Mysterious Book Report No. 291
by John Dwaine McKenna
The battered city of Detroit, Michigan seems like the perfect setting for a beat-down, cynical and wise-cracking private eye who’d be considered a real loser . . . if he wasn’t so damn good at solving the toughest cases in the face of near-impossible conditions. His name is Amos Walker and he’s as hard-boiled as they come, an anachronism from the golden age of pulp fiction in the ‘30s, ‘40s and ‘50s when the shamus’s were always lonesome, the dames were smokin’ hot, sultry, and often duplicitous. In his latest caper, The Lioness is the Hunter, (Forge/McMillan, $25.99, 246 pages, ISBN 978-0-7653-8845-2) author Loren D. Estleman pits his throwback PI against the most dangerous . . . and duplicitous . . . woman in the world. She’s an arch-criminal and international fugitive named Charlotte Sing, or Madam Sing, as she prefers to be called, a previous combatant and arch-enemy of Walker.
The yarn begins when a Detroit real estate investor named Carl Fannon hires Walker to find his partner, Emil Hass. He’s gone missing just as the pair are about to close on a large, and historic, downtown Detroit skyscraper known as the Sentinel Building. It seems that both partners must be in attendance to effect the closing of the sale. Walker takes the case, but gets his first twist when Haas shows up and makes arrangements to meet the detective at the Sentinel, where the investor will show Walker the reasons for his misgivings about the purchase, and explain his concerns about his partner. The next day, when Walker gets to the empty and decaying building, he finds Carl Fannon . . . dead. And that’s the second twist in what will turn out to be a complex, noirish and fast-moving novel with a barrelful of fiendishly new plot twists still to come. For example . . . Madam Sing was executed by the North Koreans in a previous Amos Walker mystery. So, how can she be in Detroit, confronting Walker again? You’ll just have to read The Lioness is the Hunter for yourself, to find out. With seventy-plus novels to his credit and a boatload of awards, Loren D. Estleman’s an author every crime fiction enthusiast should be familiar with and read. His books are among the best of the genre, and perfect for relaxed vacation reading. Enjoy!
Mysterious Book Report No. 291
by John Dwaine McKenna
The battered city of Detroit, Michigan seems like the perfect setting for a beat-down, cynical and wise-cracking private eye who’d be considered a real loser . . . if he wasn’t so damn good at solving the toughest cases in the face of near-impossible conditions. His name is Amos Walker and he’s as hard-boiled as they come, an anachronism from the golden age of pulp fiction in the ‘30s, ‘40s and ‘50s when the shamus’s were always lonesome, the dames were smokin’ hot, sultry, and often duplicitous. In his latest caper, The Lioness is the Hunter, (Forge/McMillan, $25.99, 246 pages, ISBN 978-0-7653-8845-2) author Loren D. Estleman pits his throwback PI against the most dangerous . . . and duplicitous . . . woman in the world. She’s an arch-criminal and international fugitive named Charlotte Sing, or Madam Sing, as she prefers to be called, a previous combatant and arch-enemy of Walker.
The yarn begins when a Detroit real estate investor named Carl Fannon hires Walker to find his partner, Emil Hass. He’s gone missing just as the pair are about to close on a large, and historic, downtown Detroit skyscraper known as the Sentinel Building. It seems that both partners must be in attendance to effect the closing of the sale. Walker takes the case, but gets his first twist when Haas shows up and makes arrangements to meet the detective at the Sentinel, where the investor will show Walker the reasons for his misgivings about the purchase, and explain his concerns about his partner. The next day, when Walker gets to the empty and decaying building, he finds Carl Fannon . . . dead. And that’s the second twist in what will turn out to be a complex, noirish and fast-moving novel with a barrelful of fiendishly new plot twists still to come. For example . . . Madam Sing was executed by the North Koreans in a previous Amos Walker mystery. So, how can she be in Detroit, confronting Walker again? You’ll just have to read The Lioness is the Hunter for yourself, to find out. With seventy-plus novels to his credit and a boatload of awards, Loren D. Estleman’s an author every crime fiction enthusiast should be familiar with and read. His books are among the best of the genre, and perfect for relaxed vacation reading. Enjoy!
January 18, 2018
When I first started reading this book I thought it was set during the 30's or 40's. The writing reminds me of the old detective books from the 60's. But then they started talking on cell phones and using computers. Really good stand alone book. But this is another series I'm going to have to put on my list of books to read.
April 4, 2019
OMG this was terrible. The author appeared to be trying for a Sam Spade type detective but it just didn't work. I mean let's get real, a private detective in the 21st century who doesn't have a computer because that would be too easy. As soon as I read that I knew this would be a bad piece of schlock so I had to stop reading.
March 22, 2017
Walker is still a pretty entertaining wise guy and his cop and reporter friends are holding up well. But the whole plot with the dead developer, the crooked lawyer and and Charlotte Sing is just not that interesting. The Detroit descriptions are spot on and make the book a better read than it would have been otherwise.
May 13, 2017
I love the descriptions, images, the Amos Walker's "take" on Detroit. If you haven't read previous books in this series, you might find yourself confused.
August 26, 2017
Estleman never disappoints.
December 5, 2017
Enjoyable... Wise cracking private eye novel... liked the rat catcher for the city of Detroit...
June 16, 2021
writer describes air pressure, Detroit realty
August 28, 2022
This Amos Walker entry involves Charlotte Sing, who apparently is Walker's own latter day Dr Fu Manchu.
February 9, 2024
I think I am just not familiar enough with the hard-boiled genre. The story was interesting, but there were way too many references to things, places and phrases I don't know.
December 4, 2024
The cryptic wit starting to feel stale. Still not bad as far as mystery-telling.
March 4, 2017
Thin and a bit past it's sell by date. Estleman is still a reliable genre writer. Style isn't everything. Not that keen on the return of world wide criminal mastermind Mme Sing as the deus ex machina.
July 4, 2019
"As hard-boiled as a 30-second egg." Amos Walker knows his purpose and his limits as well as Loren Estleman knows the character, location, and dark side of crime. Wonderful writing, of course. Maybe too much of the oriental crime boss.
March 27, 2017
Standard Amos Walker stuff from Estleman. I'm tired of Charlotte Sing. End is questionable.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 31, 2017
Loren D. Estleman's sardonic protagonist Amos Walker quips his irreverent way through the morass of Detroit corruption. He is a combination of television's detective Carl Kolchak:Night Stalker (Darren McGavin) and Jim Rockford (James Garner-The Rockford Files) who barely manages to get by while preserving his integrity. He usually solves the conundrum by the skin of his teeth entertaining us with mostly clever repartee.
One of the most under-rated authors working today. He is a top echelon Western writer as well.
One of the most under-rated authors working today. He is a top echelon Western writer as well.
April 7, 2017
Another solid Amos Walker book
April 10, 2017
Any new Amos Walker novel is a treat. It gives me my noir fix without extreme violence or sex. However, this story wasn't one of the better ones. The seeming invincibility of Charlotte Sing is straining logic. As is Walker's resilience. Anyway, Estleman's a master at noir speech which I love even with the subtle sexism. I will continue to eagerly anticipate each installment of this series.
April 16, 2017
Just carping about how I miss Amos Walker when who should appear but old Amos in a new mystery. Loren Estleman doesn't wear the Fedora anymore, now he looks like a fly fishing Idahoan, and Amos kind of feels softer too. The mystery is fun, the timing a little tricky when Walker just happens to find his client dead in an abandoned bank vault. But hey, you want realistic, go someplace else. It's another fun romp with loads of references to Detroit. The solution is pretty weak, not really a solution at all but it's very nice to hear from Amos again although he works better with Alderdyce than this new guy. Whatever, it was fun.
September 28, 2017
The plot is fine, although it seemed to refer to events that may have transpired in earlier books in the Amos Walker series. I enjoyed the descriptions of Detroit in extremis. The thing that got tiresome was the overly snappy and snarky dialogue supplied by Amos Walker, PI. There were several places where I didn't really understand some of the remarks because they were so encumbered with slang and hard-boiled metaphor.
Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews