"Eight Mile and Dequindre", by Loren Estleman

From: Amos Walker: The Complete Story Collection, Tyrus Books, 2010.

Private eye Amos Walker drove out to a little diner on Dequindre where it me Eight Mile Road just to be stood up by a prospective client. He was still there, nursing his coffee and thinking about a career change, when a young guy who looked a bit like Howdy Doody came in, beaming and flashing a picture of the girl he's there to meet.

Walker was just leaving when the two thugs barged in and shot Howdy Doody dead.

So naturally he's obliged to stick around a while longer, until the homicide detectives are all done with him. Much later he's finally crawling into his Chevy for the drive home when something catches his eye - a woman, naturally. The woman from the dead man's picture.

The set-up has obvious similarities to Raymond Chandler's "Red Wind", and it's the first time I noticed a well-known author giving a hat tip to his influences. The rest of the story plays out in the traditional way - nice guy mixed up with the wrong crowd wants out - and is pretty typical of early Walker.

NBS Special Report: 2008 Shamus Nominees for Best Short Story

As announced by the Private Eye Writers of America:

"Kill the Cat" by Loren D. Estleman, Detroit Noir (Akashic), featuring Amos Walker.

"Trust Me" by Loren D. Estleman, Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine, June 2007, featuring Amos Walker.

"Open Mike" by James Nolan, New Orleans Noir (Akashic), featuring Vincent Panarello.

“Hungry Enough" by Cornelia Read, A Hell of a Woman (Busted Flush Press), featuring Philip.

"Room for Improvement" by Marilyn Todd, Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, Dec. 2007, featuring Lois Hepburn.

"Needle" by Loren D. Estleman

From: Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine, October 2007.

For Estleman's 55th birthday, a review of his latest Amos Walker story. Walker's septuagenarian neighbor Doto, a Polish Holocaust survivor with whom Walker has only shared the occasional courtesy, stops by for coffee, invites Walker back to his house, and shows him a dead body.

It's clear that Doto fired his shotgun at the man, but he claims not to remember doing it, only recognizing the man as an intruder, noticing a Swastika tattoo on his cheek.

Walker calls the police, and Doto's story seems to hold up. At trial, Walker testifies to what he witnessed, and the jury determines Doto was within his rights to defend himself in his own home.

Once again sharing coffee, however, Walker discovers something about Doto's past that turns the story nicely on its head.

"Dogs" by Loren D. Estleman

From: Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine, May 1987

Also available in the iBooks reprint of Lady Yesterday, 2002

P.I. Amos Walker travels from Detroit to Iroquois Heights, hired by a blind woman to find her seeing-eye dog. Walker checks with the local newspaper office and is directed to the police reporter, Ed Stillwell, who gives him a lead on illegal dogfights.

The lead proves promising, but Stillwell tries to call Walker off. The next morning Walker hears Stillwell is in the hospital in critical condition. He suspects someone with the local police caught on to his conversation with Stillwell and may be behind the dogfights.

A former newsman, Estleman's prose is pared down and full of forward momentum. Couple this with Amos Walker's low tech lifestyle and it's easy to forget what year it is.

Estleman delivers what matters most in any period, a good story.