The Hours of the Virgin
Amos Walker Novel  
By Loren Estleman

   In this thirteenth episode of Estleman’s Amos Walker series, readers are finally given some insight into what happened when Walker’s original partner was murdered while on a stakeout some twenty years earlier.

   The story begins when Walker, suffering from a case of the flu, reluctantly agrees to accompany a museum curator who has agreed to pay the ransom to rescue a fifteenth century illuminated manuscript. The transfer is scheduled to take place in a porn theater on Detroit’s far west side. A beautiful woman momentarily distracts Walker and that’s when the shooting starts. Amos dives for cover and when the smoke clears, he’s alone in the theater. With only an earring dropped by the woman as a clue, he begins his hunt. The investigation leads Walker to the home of the wheelchair bound porn king who owns the theater where all of the action took place. He soon discovers that the woman who distracted him is actually the young wife of the man in the wheelchair. The case takes on special meaning with the appearance of Earl North, the man reputed to have fired the shot that had killed Walker’s partner and mentor so long ago.

   Walker’s mission is a complicated one focusing on today one moment and a night two decades ago the next. He covers all of the bases. Only his firm resolve to seize justice for his fallen friend keeps him going until the very end.

  Like all Estleman novels, the prose is absolutely beautiful, the dialogue sharp and quick, and the plot full of twists and turns. It’s an engaging story that actually features the City of Detroit as a character. Amos Walker is the last of the really hard boiled private eyes. He plays by his own rules and he knows how to work the system. I hope he never goes away.