Out of Season

Albert Samson #6

by Michael Z. Lewin

Private detective Albert Samson seeks the truth behind a fifty-year-old murder and becomes involved with a woman no one has seen in decades and a long-retired detective who may know more than he seems to

Genres: Mystery

256 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1984

About the author

Michael Zinn Lewin is an American writer of mystery fiction perhaps best known for his series about Albert Samson, a distinctly low-keyed, non-hardboiled private detective who plies his trade in Indianapolis, Indiana. Lewin himself grew up in Indianapolis, but after graduating from Harvard and living for a few years in New York City, has lived in England for the last 40 years. Much of his fiction continues to be set in Indianapolis, including a secondary series about Leroy Powder, a policeman who frequently appears in the Samson novels, generally in a semi-confrontational manner.

Another series, however, is set in Bath, England, where Lewin now lives. This features the Lunghis who run their detective agency as a family business. So far there are three novels and nine short stories about them.

Lewin has also written a number of stand-alone novels. Some have been set in Indianapolis and others elsewhere. His latest novel, Confessions of a Discontented Deity, is even set partly in Heaven. A satire, it breaks from Lewin's history of genre fiction.

Lewin is the son of Leonard C. Lewin, author of the 1967 bestselling satire The Report from Iron Mountain: On the Possibility and Desirability of Peace.

Reviews

[Ted Hinkle · Rating 3 out of 5]

Albert Sampson, private detective, weaves his way through two murders and missing persons to find the true identity of a suspect no one has seen in decades. The Indianapolis based mystery travels up and down Meridian Street but identifies fewer, local, 1950s landmarks than I expected. Michael Lewin didn't exactly have me on the edge of my seat with this one, but kept me turning pages. I'm in for another Hoosier based Lewin mystery in the future. 3.5 stars

[Sallie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book has been on my mysteries/paperback pile of TBR books for so long, I don't even remember where or when I got it. Maybe my sister sent it to me back in the 90s sometime. OK so far, although not a series I've ever read before, but I like it so far.

Ok, this book kept my interest until the very end, and I did NOT forsee that ending. Not a cozy mystery, but it is also not a violent gumshoe kind of mystery. No Sam Spade getting beaten up is our Albert Samson, P.I. I think I'll be looking for more by this author although this was from the early 80s, so I don't know if any are still out there.

[Marian Allen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the English version of Lewin's OUT OF SEASON. Or the other way around. I've read both versions, so I forget. My mother and I LOVE Michael Z. Lewin's mysteries! The plots are sometimes too intricate for our poor brains to follow, especially if I'm reading aloud to her and we're interrupted for a few days, but they're never predictable. Lewin's characters are intriguing, even if they only touch tangentially on the action, and his dialog is the kind of oddball talk that real people perpetrate.

I highly recommend anything Lewin writes.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was the third Albert Samson I read in an eight-day period. As always, very satisfing character with lots of witty writing and good plot -- this one about Samson being hired by a rich banker to find out why his wife's birth certificate is phony. More whiffs of Lew Archer.

[Alecia · Rating 3 out of 5]

I bought this book while in France in an English book store. I've never heard of this author, but it was quite a nicely written mystery. If I ever see any more books by Lewin, I'd give them a try.