North of Nowhere
An Alex McKnight Mystery
By Steve Hamilton
St Martin's Minataur - May 2002
ISBN: 0312268971 - Hardcover
Mystery / Private Sleuth

Reviewed by: Barbara Buhrer, MyShelf.Com
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Alex McKnight is observing his 49th birthday, pondering on his failures as a ball player, a cop, a husband, a private detective.

The Scottish proprietor of the Glasgow Inn where Alex used to spend much of his time, Jackie, is worried that Alex is becoming reclusive, and persuades him to fill in as a sixth in a weekly poker game at the home of rich contractor, Win Vargas.

In the midst of the game, three masked men invade the house and force Vargas to open his supposedly hidden safe. In addition to taking his money they wreck Vargas' collection of artifacts.

Alex's ex-partner, Leon Prudell, still a private investigator, has been tailing Vargas' wife, and shows Alex the video he made when he inadvertently viewed the robbery and followed the burglars. The two set out to find the truth and encounter violence and betrayal.

The plot is well-constructed; fast-paced and believable. The repartee among Alex, Jackie and Leon is very funny. The characterizations are true to life with excellent rapport among the friends.