The Red Storm

by Grant Bywaters

Winner of the Minotaur Books/PWA Best First Private Eye Novel Competition introducing a black ex-boxer P.I. working in 1930s New Orleans

The Red Storm is the first novel from licensed private investigator-turned-novelist Grant Bywaters, sure to appeal to fans of fellow competition winners Steve Hamilton and Michael Koryta, and lovers of P.I. novels and historical mysteries.

Newly-minted private investigator William Fletcher is having trouble finding clientele. He’s not the only man out of work, but his past as a former heavyweight contender with a few shady connections—not to mention the color of his skin in race-obsessed New Orleans—isn’t helping lure clients to his door. Stuck without any viable alternative, he takes a case from an old criminal acquaintance, Storm. His only client assures him that the job is simple—locate his missing estranged daughter, Zelda, no questions asked.

But when Fletcher starts knocking on doors, he sets off a catastrophic chain of events that turns the city into a bloody battleground between two rival syndicates. Then Storm is murdered and Fletcher finds himself caught between the police and dangerous mobsters. With Zelda’s safety in the balance, the unlikely private detective finds himself saddled with a lot more than he bargained for.

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Historical Fiction, Thriller, Crime

240 pages, Hardcover

First published December 1, 2015

Reviews

[Karl · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book because it won the "PWA Best First Private Eye Novel Competition". If this was the winner I would hate to read any of the runner ups, or on second thought maybe I would want to read the runner ups.

It's not that this is a bad book, it reads fairly well, my problem seems to be that it was advertised as, and what interested me in the book, was its supposed to take place in New Orleans in the 1930's. The author failed to convince me of either of these facts just naming some popular street names does not a city make, even the swamp scenes were not really convincing.

As far as the protagonist being a black man in the 1930's Mr. Bywaters was even unable to convince me of that. Folks just did not talk or think in the terms presented in this novel.

I wanted to like this book more than I ended up liking it. And I never did quite understand why this particular title for the novel, though the cover to the book is quite nice. I give it a solid "C".

Update:

I just went to the site of PWA and found this (The Shamus Award):

2015

BEST HARDCOVER P.I. NOVEL
Hounded by David Rosenfelt

BEST FIRST P.I. NOVEL
Invisible City by Julia Dahl

BEST ORIGINAL PAPERBACK P.I. NOVEL
Moonlight Weeps by Vincent Zandri

BEST P.I. SHORT STORY
"Clear Recent History" by Gon Ben Ari (Tel Aviv Noir)

BEST INDIE P.I. NOVEL
The Shadow Broker by Trace Conger

"THE EYE" LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
Parnell Hall

Update #2

Under "The Winners" of best First Novel::

2010
No award given

2011
No award given

2012
Alaric Hunt
Cuts Through Bone (Minotaur)

2013
No award given

2014
Grant Bywaters
The Red Storm

[Douglas Lord · Rating 5 out of 5]

NY, 1923: Ex-boxer Will Fletcher starts working as muscle for small-time nasty Bill Storm, whose eyes “...burned with a brutal hatred and a primal urge for violence.” Fletcher eventually ditches him in favor of N’awlins where, in 1938, Storm emerges and hires Fletcher, now a PI, to locate his daughter, Zella. This turns up a beautiful, if dull, lounge singer with a “… whiskey-burned voice … at times caustic on the ears.” Mere hours later Storm is shot to death and Zella hires Fletcher for (yes) muscle. Though Zella tries “the art of womanly seduction” on Fletcher, he refuses to get entangled – a good thing, as all hell breaks loose pdq. A mobster wants to settle an old score on Storm by messing with Zella, and soon Fletcher is playing the cops on one side against the mob on, like, three other sides. Debut novelist Bywaters loses no time in creating a slow-moving, agreeable story with a lot of atmosphere sans the dull details. Fletcher, for example, is haunted by his boxing past as he once killed a friend in the ring. There are dames, guys named Rollie, and genuine puzzlers like “balling the jack.” Period dialog is standout, like “You fool, you’ll never get a piece of that kale! They’ll have that place swarming with buttons.” Segregation and racism are constant undercurrents - “[w]e don’t allow your kind in here” is a frequent sentiment – and while our intrepid, insightful detective doesn’t seethe with resentment, readers will. VERDICT: This is damned good – it even won the Minotaur Books/PWA Best First Private Eye Novel Competition, which is more than you did, pal. Historical fiction and hardboiled fans will enjoy this, reminiscent as it is of Walter Mosley’s higher-quality Easy Rawlins mysteries.

Find reviews of books for men at Books for Dudes, Books for Dudes, the online reader's advisory column for men from Library Journal. Copyright Library Journal.

[Deveny · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was like stepping back into time, to an era of mobsters and racial tensions. The characters are colorful, each with their own story. Just when I have the plot figured out, it takes a twist or turn, several times, right to the end. I'm glad I read this book and hope that William Fletcher shows up again!

[Dale Grauman · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was waivering between giving it one star or two, and then I realized that I probably wouldn't have finished it if it were only worth one star.

It's not very compelling, though.

[Roger · Rating 4 out of 5]

William Fletcher is an African American ex-boxer turned PI in sybaritic (and corrupt) New Orleans in 1938. The Red Storm embraces a number of the tropes of the private eye novel and totally owns them while adding "new" wrinkles-Fletcher lives and works under the omnipresent shadow of Jim Crow in the South. This is an action packed and fast moving first novel that I really enjoyed. I think you will enjoy it too.

[Peach · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really more like 2.5 stars. The characters were dry, the setting was non-existent, but the plot kept me reading.

[Kristy · Rating 4 out of 5]

In the debut novel The Red Storm by Grant Bywaters, life isn’t easy for William Fletcher, former-boxer-turned-private-detective living in segregated 1930s New Orleans; not many white people are willing to respect, let alone hire, an African American private eye. When his former employer and mob associate, the violent Bill Storm, reappears in Fletcher’s life with a final request – to locate Storm’s daughter – Fletcher figures things couldn’t get worse.

But then, Storm is found shot in the head, and his killer seems to be gunning for his daughter. She hires Fletcher as protection, setting off a chain reaction of escalating violence between the police and different mob factions. Fletcher has to use all of his boxing experience and investigative instincts to survive the coming storm.

I found the Red Storm to be a treat for any hardboiled detective or historical fiction fan and especially so for fans of boxing as the book is rife with references. I actually read a part of this with my computer open to a boxing database and looked up the names Bywaters references, getting about a 40-45% hit for real people. I also would look up his casual references of New Orleans life, with a greater chance of finding actual events there. I don't know, I found the casual references to past New Orleans life more authentic than if Bywaters had gone into greater detail, because I find that characters who are supposed to live in a place know the references already so why explain further.

Bywaters is frank in his depictions of violence, be it a boxing match or a fight between mobsters, and that can turn off some readers. Also there is a lot of racist comments and attitudes in the book that sometimes comes across as....not over the top but more caricature-ish? But I also was not alive in the 1930s and can't really speak to how African-Americans were treated in the South at that time. Counterpoint to the rampant casual racism and segregation is Fletcher himself, who just keeps going. It's an interesting twist on the theme that a private eye isn't deterred from his investigations.

It’s easy to understand why Bywaters won the Best First Private Eye Novel Competition sponsored by the Private Eye Writers of America (PWA) and Minotaur Books, with his professional experience as a licensed private investigator adding authenticity to Fletcher’s fictional investigations.

[Kate Ayers · Rating 4 out of 5]

This Northwest author brings us a private eye from 1930s New Orleans, ex-heavyweight boxer from New York William Fletcher. He's a black man in a white man's world, and he knows his way around. He's clever, smart and tough, and he works the system to his advantage. It doesn't hurt that he has a friend in the NOPD, Sgt. Brawley. We are introduced to him just as an old acquaintance -- not an old friend -- looks him up and asks him to find his daughter. Well, Fletcher isn't thrilled to see this guy, Storm, because he's been on the run from the law for some time. Any kind of association with him could spell big trouble for Fletcher. But he looks into the case anyway. Of course, it stirs up a pot full of problems and the bullets fly, bodies turn up all over the city. Someone besides the cops don't like Fletcher sticking his nose in this.

Quick read, fresh new voice in Fletcher. Very welcome for this detective novel fan!

[Tony Thompson · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fantastic surprise!
See, I didn't know what to expect with this book. I received it in one of those monthly book subscription boxes. I don't usually read descriptions of stories before reading them (other than quick blurbs or whatever), so all I knew of this book was it was about a private eye. But the cover was interesting and I was in the mood to try something new and different.
I am so freaking glad that I gave this book a try. It's one of those books that when I wasn't reading it I was thinking about it, and wanting to get back to it. Fletcher is a truly great character and this story was intriguing from page one right up to the end. Every character was fleshed out and unique. This book is suspenseful, exciting, thrilling, and fun. I know that seems like a tacky thing to say, but it's true.
And on top of being a great private investigator story, you got the amazing setting. New Orleans in the 30s... with a black lead character. So while Fletcher is trying to get to the bottom of everything, he's also gotta contend with racism and everything else that goes along with being a black man in the 1930s. But also it's not too preachy so even more right-wing minded people could enjoy it.
I am dumbfounded that this book isn't more well known. Grant Bywater should be a name on everybody's lips. I was disappointed to see that this is the only book in his bibliography, but I'll be keeping my ear to the ground waiting for his next book.

[Laura · Rating 1 out of 5]

Meandering noir I tried for the audiobook reader. Bogged down by a plodding mystery, an overabundance of period-accurate slurs, and a former boxer P.I. with a weird habit of estimating the weight and reach of nearly everyone he meets. Didn't finish.

[E.R. Yatscoff · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hard boiled detective with whores, whiskey, tough guys, dirty cops and good ones in old New Orleans. The only issue was all the characters sounded alike. But the story is tough guy vs tough guy. This was a clearance pile book. Read my crime novels!

[Ed · Rating 4 out of 5]

2015 crime fiction standalone by author Grant Bywaters. William Fletcher, a black ex-boxer now private eye, protects the estranged daughter of a murdered white cop-killer, in 1938 New Orleans. Atmospheric and enjoyable.

[Gawain Barker · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solid, atmospheric P.I tale from 1930s New Orleans with a Black protagonist, who is soon up to his neck in more than the usual shit his skin colour normally brings him. Well done, hard-nosed crime, full of biffo and dirty history.

[Taylor R · Rating 5 out of 5]

I couldn’t put this down.

[Tonstant Weader]

The Red Storm is a hard-boiled mystery by first-time novelist Grant Bywaters. It is also the first time I have read a novel featuring an African American private investigator in the segregated south. Most of the action takes place in New Orleans, a city that was a bit looser than most of the South in enforcing Jim Crow, but still a segregated city with a rigid white supremacist politics and culture. This plays a role in limiting our detective, William Fletcher’s actions. For example, he usually avoids taking jobs for white clients where he might be forced to interact in white people and find himself in trouble.

It all began when a former employer and criminal enforcer, Bill Storm, sat down at his table while Fletcher was enjoying coffee and a crossword. It was not old-home week, though. The last time they saw each other, they had a knock-down, drag-out fight after Storm released a kid Storm had kidnapped and planned to kill. Storm escaped capture by the police, though not without killing a couple police officers.

Storm wanted him to find his daughter, a daughter he had not seen since infancy. Fletcher is not willing to work for a felon, after all that would be abetting, but he decides to find the daughter in order to warn her and give her the option of deciding whether to not to meet her criminal father. He finds Zella and she’s a struggling blues singer. While she’s deciding whether or not she wants to me Storm, he is murdered.

Operating the very difficult boundaries between the police and organized crime, Fletcher focuses on keeping her safe. As a hard-boiled detective novel, it rings true. It feels right and that is probably due to Bywaters professional experience as a P.I. The atmosphere of the novel is also rich in detail and feels authentic, the casual racism, the overt racism, the resigned and resentful acceptance of crowded train seats in the back and the careful, strategic methods of approaching white people, sometimes with a friendly white police officer in tow, to avoid trouble, to gain entrance, to avoid losing his license. That all feels real.

Bywaters is less successful writing about the women in the story. They did not feel nearly so authentic or complex as Fletcher, his cop friend Brawley, or the many antagonists along the way. Even Zella, who is mercurial, felt one-dimensional, as though her mercurial temperament were a note in a character description on a note card, and not an outgrowth of who she was.

I enjoyed The Red Storm. It does not quite meet the fair play rules of The Detection Club, though most of the time we learn things as Fletcher does. However, tidying up the story with ploys such as the explanation of several plots at the bedside of a wounded conspirator is not the way mysteries should end. The whole bad guy explaining stuff is supposed to be how the hero gets loose to save the day, not a coda after the day has been saved to wrap up loose ends. Fletcher is supposed to figure it out himself, he needed to find the guy by perhaps checking in with doctors or nurses or veterinarians. Secret diaries, bedside confessions, I think Fletcher deserves better than those ploys because I like Fletcher. I like his honesty, his self-awareness and acceptance, his honesty about his flaws and about his society. I want more stories about him.

http://tonstantweaderreviews.wordpres...

[Hobart · Rating 4 out of 5]

This originally appeared at The Irresponsible Reader.
---
So you've got a barely scraping by, more literate than he appears, PI in the 1930's. He's good with a gun, better with his fists, his mouth gets him into trouble. He has a friend with the police, and many more on the streets (well, at least people who owe him favors and vice versa). It's not NY or LA, but so far, this is pretty straight-forward -- even having his office in New Orleans doesn't make him stand out too much. Doesn't mean it's bad -- just that this is a variation on a theme.

What if I told you that he's black?

Well, now here we have something new. This is a pretty big variation. Thankfully, this isn't just a gimmick, either.

Once an up and coming boxer in NYC, William Fletcher realized that the color of his skin was going to keep him out of Title contention and falls into a life of crime, acting as the muscle for a minor-league gangster, Storm. He's not all that crazy about the life, but he goes along for a while. Storm gets desperate, does some really stupid things and has to get out of town. Sometime in the next decade, Fletcher moves down to New Orleans, gets himself a PI license and sets up shop.

Storm comes to town, looking up his old "friend" and asks him to look for his long-lost daughter, Zelda. Without taking money from a fugitive, or even agreeing to work for him, Fletcher tracks down the girl (now a lounge singer), but will only tell Storm where if she agrees. While she's thinking about it, things get interesting.

People start trying to kill her, for starters, and she hires Fletcher to be a body-guard. While the city begins to erupt in a gang war, somehow Zelda and Fletcher are in the middle of it -- neither understands why, but Fletcher is going to find out.

The characters are so rich, so flawed, so human. Fletcher's having to be creative to get access to people and places while being black in Louisiana in the 30's is compelling to watch. He's a realist about the disadvantages his color imposes on him. He's not happy about them, but he's not off to change hearts and minds, he just deals with the reality he finds himself in. Zelda's deeply flawed, but trying to overcome her flaws (mostly). The criminals are great characters, too -- classic mobsters in the '30's mold.

This is at once a historical mystery and a hard-boiled P.I. novel, a combination I hadn't realized I wanted. But man, I had a blast with this. Along those lines, I there were a couple of vocabulary choices that seemed anachronistic, but they weren't so obnoxious that they took me out of the moment or made me want to go look up to see if they were fitting for the time.

I feel like I should have more to say, but I really don't. At this point, it's just gushing -- Red Storm is taut and well-paced, with a good mystery at the core and a P. I. as knight errant -- protecting the damsel and righting wrongs. Fletcher is the real deal, so is Bywaters. I hope to see a lot more of both of them, soon.

Disclaimer: I was provided a copy of this by the author in exchange for my review, which didn't influence my take. The fact that he seemed willing to banter with me and caught a reference I made in an early email didn't either -- probably.

[John McKenna · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Red Storm
Mysterious Book Report No. 233
by John Dwaine McKenna
Writers, Agents, Book Publishers and Reviewers are always looking for something different, something a bit out of the ordinary; something that grabs their attention on page one and never lets go. In today’s hyper frenetic literary world, where thousands of books are published every day, originality is a hard commodity to find. In the mystery crime fiction genre for example, we now have tough guys and gals in the classic Raymond Chandler mode, but then there’s everything from the sublime to the utterly ridiculous . . . we have ghost detectives, vampire detectives and wheelchair bound detectives as well as fallen angels, residents of Hell, old ladies, talking dogs and cats, teenagers and even arch criminal sleuths, just to name an assorted few. Rest assured, there’s others. So when a debut author comes up with a unique concept and point-of-view . . . it’s exciting news.
The Red Storm, (Minotaur Books, $25.99, 227 pages, ISBN 978-1-250-07307-5) by Grant Bywaters is a breath of fresh air in what’s become a most well-explored category of crime fiction . . . the private eye. The gumshoes name is William Fletcher. He’s a former heavyweight boxer who’s good enough to be champion of the world if only he wasn’t a black man in the early 1920s, a time when organized crime controlled the fight game and rampant racism prevented him from getting a title shot. He quits boxing and works as a money collector until his boss goes to prison and Fletcher moves down to New Orleans, where he reinvents himself as a private investigator. It’s a tough way to make a living for a black man in the south during the depression. Ten years later, in the early 1930s, he’s struggling to find clients and pay the bills when one of his old New York acquaintances named Bill Storm gets in touch. He hires Fletcher to find his estranged daughter Zella, a wannabe torch singer and a white woman. Fletcher’s investigation sets off a gang war for control of New Orleans between local mobsters and the trainload of New York Mafiosi who’ve trailed Storm to the Crescent City.
The Red Storm is a noir gem, full of period sights and sounds, language and everyday life in the heyday of the Jim Crow south. A fun, fast, entertaining read!
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[coty ☆ · Rating 1 out of 5]

A promising premise that ultimately falls flat. There was real potential in a character like Fletcher - but Bywaters, as a white man, just isn't able to convincingly portray a black man in the time period the book was set. There were times when I forgot Fletcher was black until a slur reminded me of that. Coupled with the canned dialogue that reads wholly as fiction and doesn't seem to register as genuine conversation, the two-dimensional characters, and a tired plot that you could see coming from a mile away, The Red Storm is unforgettable only because of how horrible it is. If there's ever a return of Fletcher in the future, one can only hope Grant buffs up his vocabulary, does a triple-check of his punctuation and grammar, and doesn't rely so heavily on "period-appropriate" racism to give his black character depth.

[Tony · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Red Storm introduces New Orleans private investigator William Fletcher to the hardboiled scene in this debut novel by former real life private investigator, Grant Bywaters. Fletcher is a former boxer who plies his trade in the segregated south of the 1930s. Not a particularly difficult job to do unless of course, like Fletcher, you’re black. This complicates things and forces our hero to use a significant amount of finesse to get the job done while not ruffling any feathers. Well, Fletcher manages to do quite a bit of both throughout this novel and I enjoyed every minute of it. A fast moving plot chock full of action with enough breathing room to lay down some back story and period detail without slowing down the narrative. Tight and well-researched, this book is a winner. There’s a lot of series potential here.

Also notable is that The Red Storm was published as the winner of the 2014 First Private Eye Novel contest by the Private Eye Writers of America. The PWA has been around for quite some time and they’ve offered this annual contest since 1986. Missing only a few years, they’ve debuted 23 new voices to the private eye genre and launched some amazing careers (Gar Anthony Haywood, Michael Koryta, Steve Hamilton to name a few) . I recently heard that the PWA is looking for a new publishing arrangement to continue the contest and I hope they are able to do so, because this is a truly unique opportunity for new talent to break out in what has become a changing publishing landscape in recent years.

[John Meier · Rating 5 out of 5]

I listened to the audible version of "The Red Storm" which is read by Mr. Kevin Kenerly. Mr. Kenerly does an excellent job presenting this story to his listeners. This was my first book read by Mr. Kenerly but it won't be my last. If this book is turned into a series, which I hope it is, I would like to see Mr. Kenerly read them into the audible version.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I found the use of time period specific slang and terminology to be very interesting. I love it when a book expands my vocabulary and I'm not embarrassed to admit I spent a little time with google hunting down the meaning of some of the slang phrases Mr. Bywaters used in his book. I also enjoyed the unexpected plot twists that popped up in the story. I would highly recommend this book to my friends and hope the author Grant Bywaters brings back William Fletcher for more P.I. adventures.

[Elisabeth · Rating 1 out of 5]

First edition contains a number of typos and poor stylistic choices that a good editor should have nixed. The main character explains the previous scene to the reader excessively. There are TWO dying speeches from villains, one a very unconvincing "we are not so different, you and I." A hard-boiled novel that borrows the worst tropes of the genre and falls flat because of it.

[Judy Egger · Rating 5 out of 5]

The author's writing is so descriptive and graphic and the story moved along making an easy and interesting read. The story takes place in New Orleans so I was easily visualizing this distinct city that I had briefly visited many years ago.

[Erica Wright · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Red Storm is classic noir with a unique angle—a former boxing champ turned PI. Equal parts grim and lively, this novel explores racial tensions in 1938 New Orleans.

Postcard review: http://ow.ly/RU12303rfla

[Robin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not bad.

A good story, not a bad mystery, and the characters are fun. A little bit of work needed on the dialogue, which will hopefully improve with later books.

[Daniel Marcotte · Rating 1 out of 5]

Fast easy reading, but not very well the P.I. type...some of the writing seemed disconnected from the story.

[Jennifer Daniel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Just meh. It was a little much on the gangster street talk. It was like watching an old Sam Spade movie. I mean, did people really talk like that?

[Sharlene · Rating 5 out of 5]

Easy read. I enjoyed the time period portrayed and the history of the era. It was realistic and humorous at the same time. I would recommend it to anyone who likes mysteries.

[Wyckliffe Howland · Rating 4 out of 5]

First book by GB - nice period/noir writing. Black PI in New Orleans in the 30s. Cool cars, hats, dames, music. Highly recommend - cant wait for the next one!

[Nate Deprey · Rating 3 out of 5]

It can't be easy to write a noir novel this devoid of cliche. That said it still feels a bit passionless.

[Chuck]

Didn't work.