The Enemies Within

Albert Samson #3

by Michael Z. Lewin

PI Albert Samson takes on a new and deceptively dangerous case in the dead of an Indianapolis winter
 
After a Florida vacation spent at the horse races—turning a measly profit of eighty-two cents before expenses—private detective Albert Samson is back in slushy, freezing Indy, where, thankfully, it’s a short walk from his living room to his office door. On this night, he opens it to find a hesitant stranger in an overcoat standing there. With some prodding from the PI, Bennett Willson admits he wants Samson to strong-arm the Broadway producer who stole his play.
 
It turns out that the cleverly crafted story is as bogus as the client himself. Samson blows the lid off a simmering brew of hatred and revenge—leaving his own life hanging in the balance.

Genres: Mystery

225 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1974

About the author

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

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

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

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

Reviews

[Elizabeth du Fresne · Rating 2 out of 5]

A run of the mill private detective novel featuring Indianapolis PI Albert Samson. It has purported child murder, incest and anything else he could throw.I'm the pot The setting in Indianapolis, Kokomo and Chicago is different enough to evoke some.interest Bournemouth to make.It worth searching out.

[EuroHackie · Rating 1 out of 5]

Albert Samson does not hold up well in novel form. He, and everyone else in this book, is a complete idiot - with the exception of the psycho ex-husband, who truly was psychotic. All this trouble over a woman who wasn't worth the energy and effort expended by everyone on her behalf. Bleh.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fourth Albert Samson book I read. As with "The Silent Salesman," very Chandleresque -- funny. And lots of Ross Macdonald-like plot touches: half-brother and half-sister fall in love, etc. Hidden hubbies, missing kids.

[Sandi · Rating 3 out of 5]

PI series set in Indianapolis. This book was published in 1974 so it was fun seeing how much the city has changed.