The Blue Flame

Derek Strange & Terry Quinn #6

by George P. Pelecanos

From George Pelecanos, bestselling author and Emmy-nominated writer for HBO’s The Wire and Treme: private investigator Derek Strange returns, in a riveting drama about revenge, greed, and redemption

He was curious. It was the cop in him. That flame was still alive.

The neon “Strange Investigations” sign may be flickering in disrepair outside his office, but private investigator Derek Strange is still accepting new cases. When a flashy drug lawyer hires him to prove an alibi for an accused murderer, Strange can’t help getting drawn into the darkness. In his hunt for answers, he stands his ground against some of Washington, D.C.’s most dangerous criminals, and a police department that doesn’t entirely welcome his interference. As the violence escalates and claims another victim, the raised stakes force Strange to question his own moves. Are his instincts still intact?

The Blue Flame is signature Pelecanos: tough, smart, rich with details of a time and place—and at its core, exposing the good and bad that exist side by side in so-called heroes and villains alike.

Genres: Mystery, Crime, Fiction, Thriller, Mystery Thriller, Adult Fiction

256 pages, Hardcover

First published August 4, 2026

About the author

George Pelecanos was born in Washington, D.C., in 1957. He worked as a line cook, dishwasher, bartender, and woman's shoe salesman before publishing his first novel in 1992.

Pelecanos is the author of eighteen novels set in and around Washington, D.C.: A Firing Offense, Nick's Trip, Shoedog, Down by the River Where the Dead Men Go, The Big Blowdown, King Suckerman, The Sweet Forever, Shame the Devil, Right as Rain, Hell to Pay, Soul Circus, Hard Revolution, Drama City, The Night Gardener, The Turnaround, The Way Home, The Cut, and What It Was. He has been the recipient of the Raymond Chandler award in Italy, the Falcon award in Japan, and the Grand Prix du Roman Noir in France. Hell to Pay and Soul Circus were awarded the 2003 and 2004 Los Angeles Times Book Prizes. His short fiction has appeared in Esquire, Playboy, and the collections Unusual Suspects, Best American Mystery Stories of 1997, Measures of Poison, Best American Mystery Stories of 2002, Men from Boys, and Murder at the Foul Line. He served as editor on the collections D.C. Noir and D.C. Noir 2: The Classics, as well as The Best Mystery Stories of 2008. He is an award-winning essayist who has written for The New York Times, The Washington Post, GQ, Sight and Sound, Uncut, Mojo, and numerous other publications. Esquire called him "the poet laureate of the D.C. crime world." In Entertainment Weekly, Stephen King wrote that Pelecanos is "perhaps the greatest living American crime writer." Pelecanos would like to note that Mr. King used the qualifier "perhaps."

Pelecanos served as producer on the feature films Caught (Robert M. Young, 1996), Whatever, (Susan Skoog, 1998) and BlackMale (George and Mike Baluzy, 1999), and was the U.S. distributor of John Woo's cult classic, The Killer and Richard Bugajski's Interrogation. Most recently, he was a producer, writer, and story editor for the acclaimed HBO dramatic series, The Wire, winner of the Peabody Award and the AFI Award. He was nominated for an Emmy for his writing on that show. He was a writer and co-producer on the World War II miniseries The Pacific, and is currently at work as an executive producer and writer on David Simon's HBO dramatic series Treme, shot in New Orleans.

Pelecanos lives with his family in Silver Spring, Maryland.

Reviews

[Michael Burke]

The City's People

George Pelecanos provides a masterful display of atmospheric crime fiction with "The Blue Flame," a deeply captivating return to his long-running private eye series. With a background that includes writing for HBO’s “The Wire” and “Treme,” Pelecanos brings a cinematic sensibility to the page.

A compelling sense of place is a hallmark of the crime genre, allowing readers to become entirely absorbed in the characters' world. My favorite writers excel at this: Elmore Leonard brought Detroit and Miami to life, Michael Connelly impeccably traverses Los Angeles, James Lee Burke captures the essence of Louisiana, and Tony Hillerman evokes the vastness of Navajo Country. In this tradition, Pelecanos delivers a vivid, striking portrait of Washington, D.C., where the city functions as a living, breathing entity that drives the rhythm of the narrative.

The novel picks up with Derek Strange, a retired police officer now in his seventies, who still runs his practice out of an office marked by a decaying, blinking neon sign. For Strange, this sign serves a crucial purpose: allowing the neighborhood's youth "to see a Black man turning the key of his front door in his own shop every day." That symbolic anchor is tested when a flamboyant narcotics lawyer retains him to probe a homicide, pulling him into a convoluted plot that tests his instincts against the city's shifting moral landscape.

Beyond the atmosphere, what stands out is the character execution. Pelecanos crafts dialogue that is sharp and authentic, reminiscent of Elmore Leonard. Throughout the investigation, there is a palpable sense of compassion; despite the grim nature of the crime, the story is rooted in the deep, complicated bonds between childhood friends and the weight of loyalty. It is a smart, steady, and deeply human mystery that underscores the enduring value of integrity.

For fans of character-driven noir who value atmosphere and authentic human connection over high-octane spectacle, "The Blue Flame" is an essential read.

Thank you to Grand Central Publishing and NetGalley for providing an advance reader copy in exchange for an honest review. #TheBlueFlame #NetGalley

[Dave]

After a fourteen-year hiatus, Pelacanos returns in “The Blue Flame” to his Strange and Quinn series with Quinn long absent and Strange having a sort-of-new partner Grace, who plays an entirely minor and supporting role. Derek Strange is a private eye who plies his trade in the mean streets of D.C. where he grew up. Strange is nostalgic for fast muscle cars and hot music and wants to do the right thing even though official law enforcement wants him to stay on the sidelines and play by the rules.

Lately business is slow and he accepts a case from a too-dapper defense attorney Lake who Strange really has a dislike for. The case involves a walk up shooting and Lake;s client is the key suspect both because the victim owed him money and because the murder weapon was found at one of his stash houses. No one is willing to entertain any other theory. Strange works the case, but is warned by a witness’ father to stay the hell away from her.

The bulk of the novel though is about a separate interwoven case and Strange is not invited to be part of the case though he eventually plays a role in solving it.

Pelecanos offers a well-written, compelling read that is if anything understated until it reaches its explosive ending.

[Ryan Davison]

As Blue Flame flickers to life, Antone Anthony, a mid-level marijuana dealer, has been accused of murdering Nigel Walker, a childhood friend. Antone’s ironclad alibi places him safely away from where the crime was committed, but a police raid on his home turned up the gun used in the killing. Antone claims innocence, swearing he’s never even fired a gun and had no reason to extinguish Nigel’s light. A flashy lawyer representing Antone brings in our protagonist, private investigator Derek Strange and he’s tasked to dig through background which might help Antone beat the murder wrap. Strange makes little progress where he intended to investigate but discovers secrets of other characters.

When section two begins, three weeks have passed and we are dropped into a bubbling police procedural. This section is more interestingly constructed as we learn a woman’s body has been discovered decomposing in a freezer. The police guess she’s been there for a couple weeks and she may be connected to Antone’s upcoming murder case. The story picks up pace, but still moves in a straight line.

The Blue Flame is never bad but is often average, and in such a crowded genre a book must come loaded with unexpected twists and flourishes to stand out. For the most part the prose is pedestrian, the plotting simple and linear, and character's arcs flat. This author is famous for writing scripts, and the novel often feels overdecorated with descriptions of environment. We will get an entire page of the specific sports memorabilia covering an office wall, and it does nothing to advance the story. Street slang is sometimes used when telling the story, outside of actual dialogue and something about that feels out of place.

The finale competently mixes the violent with sentimental. Again, the book is fine, and perhaps longtime fans of the series who know a ton of backstory about Derek Strange will get more out the experience. As a standalone, it is nothing exceptional.

Thanks to NetGalley and Cardinal for a review copy.

[Jason Allison]

GP’s best novel in years. BLUE FLAME is classic Pelecanos, only with an older man’s knowledge of time passing. His DC is changing, and men like Derek Strange are doing what they can to keep up. This is quiet and deliberate and so self-assured. This isn’t just a great crime novel, it’s a brilliant portrait of an American city and those living in it.

[Ross Cumming]

I’m a huge fan of George Pelecanos but was caught completely by surprise, as I had no idea he had a new novel out until I saw someone had added it to their TBR list on my Goodreads timeline. Not only is it a new novel but it’s a Derek Strange thriller too !
Strange is now getting on in years but is still working however times are tough and against his better judgement he accepts a case from the lawyer Billy Lake, who specialises in defending drug dealers. Lake’s client is Antone Anthony who is locked up for distribution of marijuana, for which he has no defence but he has also been accused of the murder of one of his friends which he strongly denies and for which he has an alibi. Strange is engaged to interview the witnesses and to establish the legitimacy of Anthony’s alibi but events take a turn when another murder occurs which involves one of the witnesses.
This is a great little book in which the events are related from two different perspectives. We follow Strange’s investigation but we also follow the case from the perspective of the investigating Police Detectives. The characterisation is great and the dialogue is sharp and concise and as usual Pelecanos has included lots of snippets of sports trivia and there are also some great musical references. It may not be Pelecanos best but when I read a new novel by one of my favourite authors I can slip straight into their world and become totally engrossed, despite it being worlds away from my own reality, which I suppose is why we read.

[Ben A]

It’s been a long time since we’ve seen him but from the opening page to the last, aging PI Derek Strange walks into the story and it feels like no time has passed as we’re thrown back into the gritty streets of Pelecanos’s Washington DC where things are never as simple as black and white. It’s been a while since we had a new novel and that I ravenously devoured it in two days is a testament to the depth of his storytelling and I hope to see more because he is easily the greatest living crime writer we have.

Special Thanks to Grand Central Publishing and Netgalley for the digital ARC. This was given to me for an honest review.

[Paul]

3.75*

[Larry Bassett]

This is a short, but extremely captivating novel by an author, who is quite familiar to me from my past experience with his multiple novels. I am going to use some additional words from Claude AI, which include some information about why Mr. Pelicanos has been absent from the novel world for a while. The amazing thing is that I am listening to this novel in the same month in which it was published August 2026. The fact that I accidentally came back to this author just in time to find his most recent novel is the best coincidence in my life in quite a while.

Here's what I found on **The Blue Flame** (2026) — it's Pelecanos's first new crime novel since 2018, so your instinct about the gap was right.

## Summary

The novel brings back **Derek Strange**, the Black private investigator from Pelecanos's earlier Strange/Quinn series (*Right as Rain*, *Hell to Pay*, *Soul Circus*, etc.), now catching up with him roughly 50 years after he first launched his career in the 1970s. Strange is in his 70s, still running Strange Investigations out of an office with a dilapidated neon sign he can't afford to fix — but won't take down, because he wants neighborhood kids to see a Black man showing up to his own business every day. A flashy drug lawyer hires him to prove an alibi for an accused murderer, and Strange gets pulled into the case's darker corners. Publisher's copy frames it as a story of revenge, greed, and redemption.

## Review

Critics are largely enthusiastic. Crime Fiction Lover called reading it like slipping into a comfortable pair of shoes — easy, familiar, and sure to take you places. The Poisoned Pen described how the neon sign has become a talisman for Derek over the decades, and noted his devotion to justice hasn't faded even 50 years on. Oline Cogdill's rave review in the Sun Sentinel said the novel evolves into a study of friendship, conspiracy, and community within a tightly wound plot, and that it "burns bright"; the same roundup called it gritty, dark, and violent, with realistic depictions of Black communities in DC and authentic dialogue that make it an outstanding read.

## The gap — what Pelecanos was doing

You're right that it's been a while — eight years since his last novel. In the interim:

- **TV work dominated.** He's continued as a major force in prestige television — he was a writer and producer on HBO's The Wire, The Pacific, Treme, The Deuce, and We Own This City, plus the film D.C. Noir.
- **A novella collection in 2024.** During the 2023 Writers Guild strike, when Hollywood work stopped, Pelecanos had time to revisit a story he'd set aside and wrote more — the result was a collection called "Owning Up," made up of four novellas, with one story, "The Amusement Machine," inspired by his experience teaching incarcerated people in DC.
- **Prison literacy work.** Multiple reviewers note he's spent time volunteering with prison literacy programs, which also fed directly into 2018's *The Man Who Came Uptown*.

So *The Blue Flame* isn't really a comeback after silence — more a return to novels after nearly a decade heavily focused on screen work, with the Owning Up novellas as a bridge in between.

[Judy]

“ He was curious. It was the cop in him. That flame was still alive”
“ Once you wear the uniform, the blue flame never goes out”.

After 14 years, George Pelecanos brings back PI and former cop, Derek Strange in clean, concise storytelling. Strange is older, wiser, and still deeply rooted in the inner-city neighborhoods of D.C.

With a fading neon sign outside his bare-bones office, Strange takes on a case from a sleazy lawyer—and the dominoes start to fall from there.

[Trent Reinsmith]

It’s been eight years since George Pelecanos published a novel, and 14 years since private investigator Derek Strange was the main character in his work. Pelecanos, who has published a collection of novellas (Owning Up) and a standalone novella (Buster: A Dog) since his novel The Man Who Came Uptown (2018), is back with The Blue Flame.

Pelecanos, in addition to his 23 novels and story collections, was a writer and producer on The Wire, The Pacific, Treme, The Deuce, and We Own This City.

Strange is the protagonist of past Pelecanos novels, Right as Rain, Hell to Pay, Soul Circus, Hard Revolution, and What It Was. Strange’s old partner, Terry Quinn, is no longer in the picture, and the aging investigator’s place of business has seen better days, something we are told in the opening paragraph:

The sign outside Derek Strange’s place of business, on 9th and Upshur NW, was constructed in neon tubing and read, “Strange Investigations.” A lump-sum payday on one of his first cases, back in the 1970s, had financed it. When Strange designed it, he had asked for a magnifying glass arranged over the words, enlarging a couple of its letters. Portions of the neon had long ago gone dark, first in one letter, then another, and the sign remained in disrepair.

Into that office, which Strange has had for over 50 years, local defense attorney Billy Lake peacocks to ask Strange to look into a client’s case. Antone Anthony, like many of Lake’s clients, is involved in the drug trade, but it’s not just drugs Anthony is locked up for. Yes, Anthony has marijuana distribution charges he’ll cop to, but he also has a murder charge for the death of his childhood friend, Nigel Walker. That’s the charge Lake wants to fight. Unfortunately for Anthony, the gun allegedly used in the crime was found in his home during a drug raid. Once that gun is found, the police are satisfied that Anthony is the killer and stop their investigation. Lake doesn’t think it’s that simple, and it doesn’t take long for Strange to agree.

Lake overestimates his client’s loyalty to him, while underestimating Strange’s tenacity, calling him “one of those back-in-the-day motherfuckers,” and adding, “He’ll put his time in and cash my checks, but for our purposes, he’ll do just enough.”

Three weeks after Lake pays Strange for his work, which does not go above and beyond as the lawyer suspected, a body turns up in a freezer in a fenced-in lot that is essentially a junkyard. It’s Cynthia Barnes, a childhood friend of Anthony’s and Walker’s. Barnes, who drove Walker to his car where he was murdered, told police there was a beef over money between Anthony and Walker. She later told Strange she found it hard to believe Anthony was the shooter. From there, Strange, against the advice of the police and the expectations of Lake, begins his investigations into the murders of Walker and Barnes. These investigations ultimately prove successful, but not without repercussions.

The Blue Flame has all the hallmarks of Pelecanos’s past work — comfort with the neighborhoods and people of Washington, DC; a love for music (soul, R&B, and Dischord/Dischord-adjacent); sports, cars, and movies. But those are not the reasons one picks up Pelecanos; no, they do that for his characters, dialogue, details, and themes.

Like many of his past novels, The Blue Flame touches on family (both through birth and choice), loss, race, class, crime and punishment, morality, loyalty, love and longing, and maybe, if you squint, a bit of redemption.

While Pelecanos is often associated with the hardboiled/noir genre, he’s never really fit into that category cleanly. He doesn’t write pulp; he elevates the genre with his prose and his ability to capture emotion. This isn’t all tough-guy posturing and unrealistic dialogue. Yes, there is grittiness and toughness, but it’s usually that of the hard-scrabble, just looking to get by in the day-to-day world sort. In other words, it’s identifiable to many who read writers like Pelecanos without coming across as exaggerated.

Some might bemoan the fact that Pelecanos doesn’t attempt to be tricky with his writing. This is a crime novel, but not exactly a mystery. Pelecanos doesn’t try to hide where the story is headed in The Blue Flame, but when scenes are resolved, the punch is still there, thanks to his ability to tell a story. A lesser writer might resort to twists, turns, and misdirection. Pelecanos doesn’t need those tricks. He’s just that good.

For those unfamiliar with Pelecanos outside of his work on The Wire, he was the writer of what IMDB has ranked as the best episode of that show, Season 3’s penultimate episode, “Middle Ground.” He was also tapped, thanks to his excellent storytelling, to write the penultimate episodes of Seasons 1, 2, 4, and 5 of that show.

Pelecanos fits nicely alongside modern writers like Richard Price, Dennis Lehane, and Michael Connelly.

Pelecanos has been out of the mix for too long. It’s nice to have him and Derek Strange back.

[Get Your Tinsel in a Tangle]

I have never read a Derek Strange book before this one, which means I showed up fourteen years late to a series revival and immediately started acting like I belonged there. Somehow The Blue Flame let me get away with that.

Derek Strange is a former cop turned private investigator whose office sign is literally falling apart, his business is slow, and his response to being handed a relatively straightforward murder case is basically, "What if I made this everyone else's problem?" Which, for the record, is exactly the kind of detective behavior I want. If a PI isn't irritating at least three different people before lunch, what are we even doing?

The case starts when a defense attorney, and this man has the energy of someone who owns several shiny suits and at least one bad decision, hires Derek to help clear his client in a murder investigation. Antone Anthony is accused of killing his childhood friend Nigel Walker. The gun points one direction, the evidence points another, and Derek immediately starts poking around where he has not been invited. A professional. A menace. A king.

What I loved about this book is that it feels less like watching Sherlock Holmes solve a puzzle and more like watching your smartest uncle quietly sit in a corner noticing things while everyone else talks themselves into nonsense. Derek isn't flashy. He doesn't have a tortured genius routine. He just keeps asking questions long after other people have decided they're done listening.

And the deeper he digs, the sadder everything gets. Not melodramatic sad. Human sad. The kind where you start realizing that half the people involved genuinely care about each other and are still somehow making everything worse. The friendships between these characters feel lived in. The history matters. Everybody is carrying grief, loyalty, resentment, old mistakes, and bad judgment in different combinations, which is honestly how most disasters get started.

Also, George Pelecanos writes Washington, D.C. like he has personally walked every street, met every neighbor, and spent twenty years collecting stories at a corner bar. There are books where a city feels like a backdrop, and then there are books where the city feels like it might interrupt your conversation. D.C. is absolutely the latter here. Between the music, the cars, the neighborhoods, and Derek's constant old-school energy, the whole thing has this lived-in texture I really loved.

The funniest thing about Derek is that everyone keeps treating him like he should maybe slow down a little, and Derek's response is essentially to investigate harder. There is something incredibly endearing about a man whose greatest hobby appears to be refusing to let things go. He's not trying to save the world. He just can't stand leaving a question unanswered, which unfortunately keeps leading him directly toward people with guns.

Now, this isn't a thriller that's doing backflips for your attention. If you're looking for fifteen twists per chapter and a secret evil twin hiding in a basement somewhere, this is not that book. It's steadier than that. More confident. The mystery unfolds piece by piece until suddenly you're looking at the whole picture and realizing how much damage people can do while convincing themselves they're acting out of love.

By the end I was completely sold on Derek Strange, despite having skipped every previous stop on this train. Four stars. I'd happily follow this stubborn man into another investigation, mostly because he has the exact energy of someone who should absolutely be relaxing and instead keeps choosing stress as a recreational activity.

Whodunity Award: For Most Aggressively Retired Man to Ever Hear "Stay Out of It" and Immediately Do the Exact Opposite

And thank you to Grand Central Publishing and NetGalley for the ARC. Nothing says a good week quite like being handed a murder, several questionable alibis, and a detective whose primary investigative technique is apparently "keep asking until everyone gets tired and tells me the truth."

[Ray Palen]

There is simply no writer alive who captures the gritty language of the street in quite the same way as George Pelecanos. He is a poet of the inner city, and his characters and settings possess their own unique voices that never fail to ring true.

THE BLUE FLAME is his latest and includes one of his finest recurring characters, Private Investigator Derek Strange whose busted neon sign proclaiming “Strange Investigations” hangs above his office in Washington D.C. as he awaits his next new case. A shady defense attorney named Billy Lake is the next person to offer Strange work, and he is at least open to hearing what he has to say. Lake is defending a young man named Antwone Anthony who is behind bars awaiting a murder trial where he was accused of killing a friend of his. Antwone may have been a known drug dealer, weed primarily, but he has always pled his innocence, and Lake needs Strange to find out whatever he can to assist in his defense case.

Strange rents out space in his offices to a woman named Grace Lopez, who also pitches in and helps him out with rather unique or difficult cases. The young man who was killed was named Nigel Walker, and a handful of other friends and colleagues in their circle are on Strange’s hit list to meet with --- Ricardo Lennox, Kenneth Norton and Cynthia Barnes, specifically. Antwone tells his attorney Lake that Cynthia will be very important in his defense case and Strange is pressed to make that happen.

Our hero P.I. does such a great job, in fact, that he immediately gets on the radar of the local P.D. who were proud to have built the case against Antwone, and they are not happy. Since Strange was himself briefly a cop, he understands the game and builds his own case that is slowly developing into an ironclad one for Antwone’s release. That case suffers a major blow when the principle witness for the defense, Cynthia Barnes, turns up dead --- her naked and beaten body found inside a freezer outside a tenement complex. Barnes’ father happened to be ex-PD, as well, and eventually it will be his involvement in Strange’s case that becomes the turning point in more ways than one.

Antwone gets his chance to meet directly with Strange, rather than going through the untrustworthy Billy Lake, and it makes an impression on Strange. His case really gets under the skin of the local P.D. and they have several meetings with Strange, some of which appear to be attempts to scare him off, but one of the leads working the case believes in him and ends up giving him enough leeway to do what he can to prove Antwone innocent while also nabbing the brutal murder of Cynthia Barnes.

It will be the investigation into Cynthia’s murder that will become the most eye-opening with drugs, prostitution and inferences towards human trafficking of young women at the center of it. In most novels, ultimately someone like Derek Strange would triumph. However, in a George Pelcanos tale which pulls absolutely no punches and strives for authenticity, it remains unsure right up to the very end how things will work out.

THE BLUE FLAME is a great read, and the title is a reference to the fire that still exists inside anyone who has ever been a cop. This is a slick novel that treats the subject matter which is more than enough edginess and makes the grit leap off the page. Derek Strange is such a great character and Pelecanos has worked him into his literary universe that has featured dozens of characters with incredible street cred that breathe the fumes of the street, all set to an amazing record catalogue of musical references that every Pelecanos fan has come to love.

Reviewed by Ray Palen for Book Reporter

[Bookreporter.com Mystery & Thriller]

There is simply no writer alive who captures the gritty language of the street in quite the same way as George Pelecanos. He is a poet of the inner city, and his characters and settings possess their own unique voices that never fail to ring true.

THE BLUE FLAME is Pelecanos’ latest and includes one of his finest recurring characters, private investigator and ex-cop Derek Strange, whose busted neon sign “Strange Investigations” hangs above his office in Washington, D.C. A shady defense attorney is the next person to offer work to Strange, who at least is open to hearing what he has to say.

Billy Lake is defending a young man named Antone Anthony, who is behind bars awaiting a murder trial after being accused of killing his friend, Nigel Walker. Antone may have been a known drug dealer (primarily of weed), but he has always maintained his innocence. Lake needs Strange to find out whatever he can to assist in his defense.

Our hero PI builds his own case that is slowly developing into an ironclad one for Antone’s release. But it suffers a major blow when the principal witness for the defense, Cynthia Barnes, turns up dead --- her naked and beaten body found inside a freezer outside a tenement complex. Her father is a former police officer, and eventually it will be his involvement in the case that becomes the turning point in more ways than one.

Antone gets his chance to meet with Strange directly rather than going through the untrustworthy Lake, and he makes an impression on him. Strange's involvement really gets under the skin of the police department, and they have several meetings with him, some of which appear to be attempts to scare him off. But one of the leads working the case believes in him and ends up giving him enough leeway to do what he can to prove Antone’s innocence while also nabbing Cynthia’s killer.

It will be the investigation into Cynthia’s murder that will become the most eye-opening, with drugs, prostitution and inferences to human trafficking of young women at the center of it. In most novels, ultimately someone like Strange would triumph. However, in a George Pelecanos tale, which pulls absolutely no punches and strives for authenticity, it remains unsure right up to the very end how everything will work out.

THE BLUE FLAME is an outstanding read, and the title is a reference to the fire that still exists inside anyone who has ever been a cop. This slick novel treats its subject matter with more than enough edginess, and the grit leaps off the page.

Derek Strange is such a great character, and Pelecanos seamlessly has worked him into his literary universe, which has featured dozens of characters who breathe the fumes of the street. It is all set to an amazing catalog of musical references that every Pelecanos fan has come to love.

Reviewed by Ray Palen

[Barbara]

Thank you NetGalley and Grand Central Publishing for an advanced e-copy of THE BLUE FLAME by George Pelacanos. Expected publication is August 4, 2926.

I have not read anything by this author and was excited that I was approved for an advanced copy. Pelecanos was a writer for the series THE WIRE, THE PACIIC, TREME, THE DEUCE, and WE OWN THIS CITY. This impressive resume garnered my attention.

Derek Strange is an aging private investigator, proud to be a Black owner of “Strange Investigations” since the 1970’a, showing the Washington DC community that a black man can own his own business complete with his name in neon lights, even with some of the lights off and signs of aging. It is his goal to keep those lights on, communicating that people of color can be successful, serving as a role model.

What I liked: lots of pop references to: local sports celebrities; references to music: soul, R&B; neighborhoods; old movies; and cars. His writing is such that it’s easy to envision the scenes which often take place in the seedy side of DC. His screen writing talent shines in the characters banter and dialogue. The pacing is on point, and the plot keeps the audience attention alive. Pelecanos shows his skill in understanding of legal procedures and the police, making the story feels authentic and real.

In THE BLUE FLAME, Strange is hired by a defense attorney known for being flashy and not always ethical, getting guilty people acquitted. Strange is hired to get a man cleared of a homicide charge, which Strange believes he’s being framed for. The local law enforcement begs to differ, and Strange has an uneasy relationship with them. Reasons, first the defendant is a punk, second, they do NOT like the defense attorney. Adding to the intrigue of the story, Strange has a assistant/partner/colleague/ employee, Grace Lopez. Their relationship and banter provide levity to a gritty tale. Pelecanos shows his skill in understanding of legal procedures and the police.

I plan to read more of Pelecanos’ work. I recommend this for those fans of. Michael Connelly and Dennis Lehane.

[Craig Pittman]

A solid PI novel by a master of the form, but nothing too flashy from George Pelecanos.

Derek Strange, the Black private eye who starred in five prior Pelecanos novels along with his partner Terry Quinn, is now an old man. He's been widowed and Quinn is long-gone (he offers a partnership to a younger investigator but she turns him down).

But he still goes to his DC office every day and turns on the sign that says STRANGE INVESTIGATIONS -- even though a few of the letters don't light up anymore.

He's hired by a sleazy lawyer to help a drug dealer who's been accused of a murder he swears he didn't commit. Strange, still a capable investigator despite his age, manages to put the dealer in the clear and nail the real killer. Then that leads him to the murder of a witness in the case, and with help from the Hispanic woman who now occupies space in his office while working her own cases, he tracks down the killers of that one too.

Pelecanos became well known writing for "The Wire," so perhaps it's not a surprise that, in this PI novel, he breaks away from the private eye to spend several chapters laying out what the cops are doing and what leads they're following. Most of them are competent and well-meaning, with only one trying hard to bring down the heat on the wrong guy. I think that's Pelecanos' point here -- the cops may be Strange's rivals but they're not exactly his adversaries.

As often happens with a Pelecanos novel, the climax involves a bloody firefight that leaves several people dead. This one is more realistic than cinematic, grounded in grief than in a need for vengeance. It's haunting.

By the end, Strange has wrapped up both cases and meanwhile rekindled a relationship with an old flame from before he was married. He also has another dog now, too! The ending is satisfying without being all that dramatic. I think that's why I'm giving it four stars instead of five. Because Pelecanos hasn't written about Strange in years, I was expecting something spectacular and disappointed that it worked out pretty easily. This book is satisfying but it's not going to be listed among his greatest works.

[Jesse]

Library book.

A new Pelecanos novel is an event, and it's interesting nad useful after all this time away to gain a renewed sense of what he does as a writer. I'd have to say that this feels somewhat haunted, let's say, by a sense of time's having passed, for the characters and the writer, with the meta-question of why anyone bothers doing this pretty much openly posed. The time away clarifies my sense that Pelecanos is very much a genre writer, but one whose fundamental motivations seem moral and social: he doesn't waste time on having people drop wisecracks, but he loves hearing how people talk, indexing how DC has changed through his characters' music and clothing tastes (there's less food here than usual), and the storyline concerns how the ravages of time tear us apart, young and old. There's something almost mournful here, a sense that solving the murders around which the novel revolves will do nothing to repair the ruptures they left in the world.

Is this a compelling mystery novel, given those genre requirements? Sort of. He evokes a more solid, hopeful past that many of the characters share with his usual density (youth football and DC-appropriate shoes and where people went to high school and the sense of Black DC as a small town where a lot of people have at least a passing acquaintance with each other's lives), but the bad guys in the second part of the story feel cursorily sketched and imagined--pretty much just a paragraph about them and the manosphere, though we know so little about them that this doesn't resonate much.

Still, the titular phrase, which captures Derek Strange's Marlowian sense of obligation, resonates as the author's own meditation on why he keeps doing what he does. That social sense of crime as part of the city fabric, and the moral duty to tell it, as he would say, got me through. I wasn't thrilled, exactly, but I was compelled by how strong, deep and wide his connection is to this place and these people, how spirited and sincere his interest in their lives and cares truly feels.

[J Kromrie]

Thanks to Grand Central Publishing and Netgalley for this eARC.

Derek Strange (a black ex cop turned private eye) returns, in book 6 of this compelling series...

George Pelecanos’s The Blue Flame is a sharp, (wholly enjoyable) grounded crime novel that leans less on spectacle and more on the quiet weight of consequences. At its center is a private investigator who feels convincingly worn—not in a dramatic, self-pitying way, but in the subtle, accumulated sense of someone who has seen too many bad endings and keeps going.

Pelecanos excels at controlling the tone. The story moves at a steady, deliberate pace, allowing tension to build naturally rather than forcing it through constant twists. The Washington, D.C. setting isn’t just background noise; it breathes through the book, shaping the characters and their choices in ways that feel authentic rather than ornamental.

The moral landscape here is particularly compelling. There are no clean lines between right and wrong, only decisions made under pressure, often with incomplete information. Pelecanos resists the urge to simplify his characters, giving even minor figures a sense of history and motivation that lingers beyond their page time.

If there’s any drawback, it’s that readers expecting a fast, high-adrenaline thriller might find the novel a bit restrained; however in that restraint therein lies this novel's strength—it trusts the reader to sit with discomfort, ambiguity, and the slow unraveling of truth.

The Blue Flame is a thoughtful, character-driven crime story that prioritizes realism and emotional depth over flash. It’s the kind of book that stays with you not because of a shocking twist, but because of how honestly it portrays the cost of living in a world where justice is rarely simple.

This was the first book I have read by
George Pelecanos, it won't be my last as I return to read the early Derek Strange offerings...

[Larry H]

George Pelecanos is one of my favorite crime writers of all time. He’s definitely an author that should be so much more of a household name because his books are really excellent. I was so excited that he had a new book come out and that it featured a familiar character, PI Derek Strange.

“Everything that used to be complicated and laborious was easy now. But an investigator still needed to know how to talk to people and do the job.”

Derek Strange is still working as a private investigator, still operating out of his office in Washington, DC. And he’s still as dogged as ever when trying to figure out a case. When he’s approached by a drug lawyer, asking him to help clear his client of a murder charge, Derek is ready to search for answers.

What Derek discovers is a series of crimes affecting young men who grew up together, playing football in high school. But now one is dead, one is accused of his murder, and the younger sister of another is the link between the two. He figures out what happened and tells the police, although he keeps some of the details to himself.

Shortly thereafter, another murder occurs, and Derek feels a responsibility to clear it up. Of course, the police have warned him about interfering, and he finds himself treading in some dangerous neighborhoods, but it’s all in a day’s work.

I love the amazing details Pelecanos brings to his books, both in setting and habits of his characters. This is a crime novel but it’s also about greed, family, protecting your own, and second chances. I hope we’ll see Derek back again—I’ve missed him!

See all of my reviews at itseithersadnessoreuphoria.blogspot.com.

Follow me on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/getbookedwithlarry/.

[Pranav Bhatnagar]

One Murder, One Old-School Detective, and I Couldn't Put It Down....

The Blue Flame gave me exactly the kind of detective story I have been missing lately. Derek Strange is not some young investigator trying to prove himself. He has been doing this work for more than fifty years, his business is struggling, his neon sign is falling apart, and he carries a whole lifetime of memories with him. Somehow, that made me want to spend even more time with him. There is something very satisfying about watching Strange sit with people, listen carefully and notice the little things they think nobody else will notice. The case involving Antone Anthony pulled me in because there are too many pieces that don't quite fit, and Strange knows better than to accept the easiest answer. I also enjoyed Grace and Simba because they give Strange's world some warmth. Simba in particular made me smile, especially because you can see how much the dog means to a man who has spent so much of his life around people.

What really surprised me was how much this book is about life outside the investigation. Strange remembers old friends, old love, his neighborhood, music, movies, sports and the Washington he has watched change over decades. Those details never felt like filler to me. They made him feel like someone who has actually lived a life before we met him. I found myself enjoying the conversations just as much as the mystery because every person Strange meets seems to carry another little piece of the story. There is a calm confidence in the writing that I really appreciated. The book doesn't need to shout to hold my attention. It simply lets Strange do his job, and I was happy to follow him wherever the case took him. If you enjoy crime fiction with a strong sense of place and a detective who feels like a real human being, this is a book I would happily put into someone's hands.

[Jeff]

The old saying is you learn something new every day. Well, after finishing “The Blue Flame” by George Pelecanos, I decided to look up to see if this is going to be the start of a new series. The character is so well written that I was hoping that we would continue adventures with him. Looked it up to see no mention of future novels starring Derek Strange. However, I found out he was ALREADY part of a series previously and there just hasn’t been any novels for nearly 15 years. Well, there ya go.

This is with a different publisher. So, this may be a reboot of the series. Some of the interactions seemed as if a lot of people were not familiar with him. So who knows. No matter what the situation is, I am hoping this isn’t our last time hearing from Derek Strange.

This reminded me of some of the great characters from the past. In particular, I was reminded of some of Lawrence Block’s writings. And that is high praise. May I interrupt to say if you have not read some of Lawrence Block’s series writings, what have you been doing with your life.

Now, considering “The Blue Flame”, the novel is a procedural P.I. novel. One of those where you just shake the tree to find out what clues fall down and move from there. Strange doesn’t mind shaking some trees. Or breaking some rules either. He also doesn’t mind annoying the police. What he does mind is injustice and once he is on the case, he is going to do what it takes to make sure justice is done.

I absolutely loved this novel and do look forward to this character moving forward in the future. And while I wait to see if that happens, I look forward to looking back to the past to catch up on past adventures.

I received this ARC from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an unbiased review.

[Heather]

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

💜 Thank you to NetGalley and Grand Central Publishing for the ebook in exchange for my honest review.

📖 Derek Strange is still taking cases, even though his office and maybe parts of his life have seen better days. When he is hired to help prove an alibi for a man accused of murder, the case pulls him into something much darker involving dangerous people, police tension, and choices that become harder to walk away from.

💭 Derek is honestly a guy after my own heart because he cannot let anything go. Once something gets under his skin, he keeps digging even when he probably knows it would be easier and safer to stop. I really connected with that part of him because his curiosity and instincts keep pushing him forward, but they also make him question whether he is still seeing things clearly.

There was a point in this book where everything suddenly started connecting, and I had one of those wait one minute moments. I love when a mystery does that without making the reveal feel completely random. The story had a gritty feel, the characters felt complicated, and nobody was simply good or bad. Everyone had something going on beneath the surface, which made the case feel even more layered.

The ending absolutely blew my mind. It made me look back at earlier parts of the story differently, and I love when a book can pull that off. This was a smart, steady crime mystery with tension, emotion, and enough twists to keep me invested. Even though this is part of a series, I was still able to follow the story and enjoy Derek as a character.

✨ I would recommend this to readers who enjoy private investigator stories, gritty crime fiction, complicated characters, and mysteries where everything slowly comes together in a way you do not see coming.

[Michael Godwin]

The Blue Flame is a sharp, atmospheric crime novel that brings private investigator Derek Strange back into a world where violence, greed, corruption, and personal responsibility collide. When Strange is hired by a prominent drug lawyer to investigate an alibi for a murder suspect, what initially looks like a straightforward assignment quickly draws him deeper into dangerous territory.

The Washington, D.C. setting gives the investigation a strong sense of place, while Strange himself provides the story's emotional center. He is experienced enough to understand the risks but still driven by the instincts that made him a cop, even as the escalating violence forces him to question whether those instincts are still serving him. His encounters with criminals and an uneasy police department add tension without losing sight of the character beneath the investigation.

Readers who enjoy hard-edged crime fiction, private-investigator mysteries, literary thrillers, and richly atmospheric stories should find plenty to appreciate here. Pelecanos brings together a compelling mystery with an exploration of morality, redemption, and the complicated line between heroes and villains. The Blue Flame feels particularly effective because its suspense is grounded in character, place, and the difficult choices people make when the stakes become personal.

[Jalin]

The Blue Flame was the first book I have read by George Pelecanos. I was intrigued by the cases Derek Strange found himself investigating as a PI and the inclusion of police procedure. I was able to foresee certain aspects of the murder mysteries and their investigations but overall I enjoyed following along the cases with Strange, as the violence surrounding these cases escalated. There were some typos and the formatting made it a little harder to distinct the changing of settings with different characters. There was a lot of mention of specific streets/neighborhoods that one would assume to be of some importance, or provided additional context to the plot but oftentimes served as filler content. Sometimes the slang was a bit out of place. The character descriptors used in one instance was slightly inappropriate, as the author is a white man writing from the perspective of mainly black and non-white characters. This was a decent read but it would probably be more appreciated by a reader that has followed along with other books in the Derek Strange series.

Thank you to NetGalley and Grand Central Publishing for this complimentary ARC in exchange for my honest review. The Blue Flame is expected to be published on August 4th, 2026.

[Russ]

George Pelecanos is one of my favorite authors, and I was very much pleased to hear The Blue Flame was being released.

I enjoyed settling in with a familiar author and character. The familiar cadence of Mr. Peledanos work appeals to me, from the sparse prose, character, sense of current & past, a relatively unfamiliar setting for me (Washington DC) and cast of characters.

The Blue Flame reads a bit like "Pelecanos Light", a Coors Light when I was reaching for a IPA. Almost like a novella more than a full fledged book. In general that's fine, I'm a big fan of the short story form, including the Martini Shot, and Noir /other series Mr. Pelecanos has contributed to and edited.

My primary reason for 4 instead of 5 stars is an over reliance on cultural references (music, sports), which is a very appealing element to the author's work, but when held in check (sometimes less is more). Or expanded into other cultural references from the past, such as political. Bottom line, the elements of how DC and the books characters have changed is attractive, how it's conveyed perhaps could be more creative or broad (imo).

Mr. Pelecanos work is a must read for me, and I'll look forward to future output, with his style I'd welcome a grittier, original work.

[Bob]

Thanks to Grand Central Publishing and Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review.

George Pelecanos gets back to basics with his latest release The Blue Flame. Pelecanos brings back Private Investigator, Derek Strange, in a case that starts out as an assignment to help a defense attorney's prove his client's innocence and ultimately ends up in a double murder. Pelecanos' style here is reminiscent of the old skool detective fiction writers with his crisp writing and a clear sense of atmosphere. Strange is compassionate, direct, and sharp with his investigation skills, but his also complicated with his own personal regrets and willingness to bend the rules to solve his case. There's also the plusses of subtle humor and pop culture references that are a nice relief from the story's darker moments. I enjoy today's detective fiction, but I've had a craving for the gritty and tougher PIs that I've cut my teeth on in the past. The Blue Flame not only satisfied my craving, but gave me a chance to welcome back Pelecanos back to the detective fiction genre.

[Deb]

If you like crime fiction, there are few who do it as well as George Pelecanos. The Blue Flame is no exception. Tightly plotted and well-paced, it reads like an actual series of happenings that take place in the neighborhoods of Washington, D.C. Derek Strange is a private investigator who was once a member of the Washington Police Department. He is hired by a relatively unsavory attorney to substantiate the alibi of a client being held on a murder charge. That murder has tentacles and Strange winds up being totally absorbed. Strange is a product of the area he serves. His “assistant”, Grace Lopez, and his extensive contacts are put to use in working the case.

It is clear that Mr. Pelecanos has a real understanding of police and legal procedures, adding to the authenticity of the story. “Once you wear the uniform, the blue flame never goes out.” A big thanks to NetGalley for the advance review copy.

[Brendan Daly]

I'm a huge George Pelecanos fan, and this one hits the right notes. As usual, his vivid descriptions of gritty D.C. (far from what tourists see) are my favorite part. The compelling details are in the music, the cars, the neighborhoods. Longtime Pelecanos protagonist, private investigator Derek Strange, is back after a 14-year hiatus. Strange's old-school energy gives the book its lived-in texture.

The pace is slower here, but still plenty violent. Strange, older now, gets pulled back into D.C.'s darker corners when a flashy defense attorney named Billy Lake hires him to confirm a murder suspect's alibi.

My one complaint: the ending. Without spoiling it, Strange tells a victim's father way more than he should, then acts blindsided by what happens next. It just doesn't track with how sharp and experienced he's supposed to be. Still, a solid read — especially if you know and love D.C.

[Carolyn]

I received an advance copy of this book. Thank you

This is the first book I've read by the author, George P Pelecanos, and I will certainly look for others. Although this book is part of a series, it reads well as a standalone, and as others have said, the previous books from this series were written a long time ago.

Derek Strange is an independent investigator, and a fixture in his community. As an ex-cop, he still has the drive and curiosity to unravel things, but now does it on his own terms. That said, work has been a bit sparse lately, so when a sleazy lawyer comes to his office seeking assistance in clearing his client, Strange takes the job.

As he starts his investigation, seemingly unconnected things begin to merge, and Strange begins to pull at all the threads.

This is a great read, fast paced with lots of action.

[Sue - Recos and Reads]

Many thanks to Grand Central Publishing for giving me the opportunity to read this newly released novel.

When I began reading this book, there was something wonderfully nostalgic about this detective. Derek Strange felt like a throwback to the classic TV sleuths of Matlock of Perry Mason. From his rundown office decorated with sports memorabilia to his relaxed, methodical approach to solving a case, he has a charm that feels wonderfully old school.

With the pedigree this author brings, its no surprise that the pacing felt just right. This isn't a thrill a minute read, but the steady stream of plot kept me turning the pages, and I found myself reading it in almost one sitting. Its easy to see how Derek Strange could become the foundation for a series, and I enjoyed getting a little education along the way around sports and music. A great introduction of a character Id happily spend more time with

[Debra]

Thank you Cardinal Books for my free ARC. These opinions are my own:

Pelecanos knows DC! I followed the realistic, interesting plot through familiar roads and landmarks. And Derek Strange is an old hand. The vibe of the book matches the character--gritty and world weary. It felt like The Wire with shades of Raymond Chandler, providing a nuanced view of investigations, crime, and the US judiciary system. This is not a pat plot, cut and dried and tied with a bow at the end. Strange is an imperfect detective working an imperfect case in a tough world.