Smoke on the Water

by Loren D. Estleman

From the master of the hard-boiled detective novel and recipient of the Private Eye Writers of America Lifetime Achievement Award comes Loren D. Estleman's next enthralling Amos Walker mystery, Smoke on the Water.

As the smoke from Canadian wildfires chokes Detroit, PI Amos Walker is tasked with investigating a fatal hit-and-run. The victim is Spencer Bennett, a junior law associate with the Waterford Group, and he supposedly had a file of confidential documents on him when he died. But those documents have now gone missing, and the firm is dead set on Walker finding them. As Walker digs deeper into the events leading to Bennett's death, all signs are pointing towards the crash being anything but accidental.

Summer in Detroit was hot enough before the smoke descended, but as the temperature rises and more bodies crop up in connection to the missing file, Walker will have to track down those documents -- and unearth why they were worth killing over -- before it's too late.

At the Publisher's request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Genres: Mystery

222 pages, Kindle Edition

Published February 11, 2025

About the author

Loren 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

Reviews

[Donna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Detroit private investigator Amos Walker is a hard boiled detective. I liked his wise cracks. I liked the setting with the wildfires from Canada causing Detroit to be engulfed in smoke.

This is my first time reading a book by this author which is amazing for a reader like me and he has written about 35 books in this one series alone. I found the plot ok but not stimulating.

[Elaine Nickolan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was my first Amos Walker, P.I. book. It was along the lines of an old Sam Spade type read. Smart aleck, wise cracking banter and a good who-done-it case.
Amos is hired by a law firm to track down a missing file. Once on the case, the body count begins to rise.
An excellent story and quick read. The author keeps the story going at a good pace and the reader is drawn in. This is definitely an author I would look to again in the future.

[Anna Quilter · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

- "which homicide?
"a local citizen named Spencer Bennett. You've got him in cold storage downtown waiting for his ticket out. Somebody ran him over last week and didn't stop, thought he was a squirrel:"

Detroit Private Investigator Amos Walker outlines the start of the case in his 30th plus book.

His language is sarcasm...black humor throughout and although I can't blame him after so many books .it does become grating.

it's an interesting case with a reveal I didn't see coming..even better!

[SuperWendy · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read Estleman for the atmosphere and his pitch-perfect depiction of Detroit, and for that this one doesn't disappoint. Amos Walker as a character is a little frozen in time (the first book was published in 1980 - even if you factor in Amos on the young side back then, you're looking at a character in his early 70s at this point who should probably be dead given the number of concussions he's suffered over 30+ books...), but he's funny, rumbled and charming in that crime noir sort of way and damn if he doesn't amuse me. This go around Amos is hired by a law firm to retrieve a wayward file that is of such intense interest that dead bodies keep turning up. These are crime novels more so than actual mysteries and the story here gets a bit convoluted at times, but I had fun reading it and it delivered the jolt of Detroit nostalgia was looking for.

[Anthony · Rating 4 out of 5]

The hard drinking, hard-boiled, and sardonic PI Amos Walker returns and takes on a case in search of missing confidential files from The Waterford Group. The junior law associate doing the hiring isn't providing information to help locate the files, so it's up to Walker to tread through the pile of dead bodies to hunt the files down and return them.

[Joe Santoro · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an impluse grab at the library... I've read a couple other books by the author (I liked his western one alot) and thought I'd give this a shot.

It suffers from the a common problem in trying to write a noir-ish detective novel in the modern era. The references are fit for an eariler time. He references wrestling in Cobo Hall and Jack Dempsey... there is even an ex-wrestler in the story, yet if this was REALLY 2025 then both Amos and that wrestler would need to be 100 years old to remember that stuff. (To be fair, I think Amos is intended to be 55-60).

While he has a cell phone and computers are mentioned, the main plot device is a PAPER file (as if there were no computers) and there are newspapers everywhere. Take out the COVID mention and this could be set in 1985 (the cars mentioned were more appropriate too). All that is not a huge deal, but it throws one out of the story, and frankly it just wasn't good enough to be thrown out and stick around.

The twist of the plot was both not a surprise, but also kinda dumb, and in the end things didn't even tie up nicely as they usually do in a novel. I guess that's realism? Perhaps the earlier books in the series would be better.

[Henry McLaughlin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Smoke on the Water
By Loren D. Estleman

Loren D. Estleman is a somewhat familiar name to me. I’ve read a few of his Westerns and I’ve now discovered he is a prolific and award-winning author of detective novels. He has me hooked.

I enjoyed how he’s brought the detective noir stories of the thirties, forties, and fifties to the twenty-first century throughout his Amos Walker Mystery series. His dialogue is sharp, tense, snarky, and humorous. I’m reminded of the authors I read years ago in this genre—Hammet, Chandler, McDonald and others. Writers whose stories seemed miles away from authors like Christie and Sayer, who I also enjoy..

At the same time he tells a fast-paced story of an important yet mysterious disappearing file, and murder by hit and run, among other means. The murders add up as he nears the solution. The tension builds which each new killing and each new discovery. And I was able to follow each scene switch, rabbit trail, and red herring he brilliantly weaves into the plot.

I give this novel a 5-star rating and highly recommend it.
Submitted by Henry McLaughlin

[Tbfrank · Rating 5 out of 5]

Maybe not a perfect noir novel but pretty darn close, especially for the 32nd entry in a series.

Discounting the obvious age of Amos Walker, the mystery of the missing documents, who stole the SUV, and who killed three men - and nearly our hero - moves swiftly with colorful language and biting discriptions that include up-to-date events in the city of Detroit, the state of Michigan, the US, and the world (Covid, supply chain economics, and Canadian wildfires, et. al.).

Stylistically, Estleman comes across as a modern Ross MacDonald.

[Diane Saul · Rating 3 out of 5]

PI Amos Walker is hired to investigate a hit and run and discover where the important legal documents the victim had in his possession. The further he gets into the investigation the more bodies turn up. Someone wants the documents and will stop at nothing. The book had action suspense and a mystery. I didn’t find it as engaging as some of the books I have read by this author, which is why I give it 3*. Thank you to net galley for an advanced readers copy.

[Jack P Lifton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pure delight

OK, I'm a native Detroiter, and like every other white guy my age, 84, I live in the suburbs now, but Estleman brings the old Detroit back to me as no one else could. I know the streets and the buildings he describes as if I were just there yesterday. Even if you're from some non descript place other than Detroit you will enjoy Amos Walker's adventures as much as I always do.

[Veronica · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is my first time reading an Estleman novel. Can't believe there are 32 books in this series.
I sort of liked and sort of didn't like this book. The characters are all quite well developed and the plot kept me interested. But it's the reparte between Walker and the people he meets. You really have to pay attention to what is said as the dialogue gets complicated at this time. But this certainly makes you think about what is being said.

[Charles · Rating 3 out of 5]

Solid entry in the Amos Walker series. I was torn between giving it 3 or 4 stars. There is a side plot in this one involving John Alderdyce that doesnt really connect to the main story. I am not sure what the author was thinking in throwing that in. Aside from that, it's your typical Walker story, with all the hard boiled character you either love if you love hard boiled mysteries or you dont care for, in which case this is probably not a book for you.

[Blair Stackhouse · Rating 2 out of 5]

I know this is part of a series, but my judgement is about the story/characters. The twist ending seemed to come out of nowhere (with like one hint they explain later). I was also very uncomfortable with the fact that the author chose to have multiple characters be homophobic when talking about two murder victims.

[Ginger · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quoting " a little too hard boiled detective for my taste" I will add that I appreciated the plot and learned a bit too. However, some of the more crude language seemed to push it. Great for the humor, especially the impact of the loss of cursive writing.

[Lky · Rating 3 out of 5]

He's a good writer, but sometimes his syntax confuses me. The ending was boring. Would have appreciated more conversations with the bad guys after they were caught. Are they contrite? Do they blame each other? Did they really believe in their cause? How did it all start.

[Kent Larsson · Rating 5 out of 5]

another great read

If you read one, you want to read them all. Amos is getting old and banged up, but can still do the job.

[David C Ward · Rating 4 out of 5]

The last of the hard boiled PIs. A legal file goes missing and murders happen. A nice twist at the end. As always, crooks should take the obvious way out and not escalate to killing people.

[Kimiko · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the first book I ever read in the Amos Walker series. Great story!

A little bit too "hard boiled detective" for my taste as I had a hard time understanding him sometimes.

[Jan Mosby · Rating 5 out of 5]

Like fine "hard boiled " wine

[Andy Tuite · Rating 3 out of 5]

Solid mystery with a few twists. Last chapter unnecessary

[Lulu · Rating 5 out of 5]

Down & dirty…Detroit all the way…gotta love this grit.

[mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

So I read the hardback not sure why it doesn't show up. Excellent story

[Ann Sincox · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love me some Amos Walker!

[Xena! · Rating 2 out of 5]

A short mystery that was OK. It is peppered with sharp rapid-fire detective or cop talk, which I found only distracting. I won't be reading more of them.

[Sara Goldenberg · Rating 1 out of 5]

It's well-written, I just wasn't terribly interested in the story.