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Amos Walker #1
Motor City Blue
A secret mob boss is forced to emerge from the shadows and hire a private eye to track down his daughter, who appears to have disappeared into the pornographic underground. Original.
244 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1980
About the author
Loren D. Estleman
309 books286 followersLoren 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
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
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 109 reviews
November 11, 2018
Some days, you're just in the mood for whiskey, dying mobsters, journalists in hiding, porn shop owners, and hookers with a heart of gold, all wrapped up in a 1970's bow, Detroit style. As Estleman admits in his 2000 'Afterward,' "it has everything." I enjoyed it, though it was the enjoyment of escape. Mostly, that is; although I was uncomfortably reminded of current times once or twice when one character talked about abandoned, burned-out homes, and Nixon was mentioned as a crook at the highest level.
Like the best classic private eyes, it's a first person narrative, a cynical but honorable detective just trying to make rent. He's smart, and street-wise, and has a tendency to narrate a touch more convoluted than he should.
"Wherever he was going, he was either already late or didn't want to be. Twice more he came close to running into pedestrians as he threaded his way through the sidewalk traffic, eyes skimming the street in search of a cab, and once he was forced to do a wild Charleston to keep from falling when he slipped on an icy patch. Not that the narrow escapes made him any more cautious. If anything, he stepped up his pace as if to make up for the lost time. I followed at what the spy novelists call a discreet distance, which means I almost broke my own neck trying to keep him in sight."
Nonetheless, I enjoyed it. I'd agree with Matthew, who felt there were a couple of creative missteps, particularly in the last third of the book (https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...). The plotting was eventually dizzying, as Estleman really did throw 'everything' into it. As he notes, it was his first book to sell--and perhaps only book--and I'm not sure he could have resisted. At any rate, his affection for the genre comes through, not that it's a frantic device meant to get the reader's attention. As fitting for the 70s, there's quite a bit woven through about black and white politics, but not nearly as much consciousness about women's roles or gay rights.
Overall, interesting and with more than adequate writing. I'll likely check out another couple to see how Estleman develops. Two-and-a-half smokes, rounding up.
Like the best classic private eyes, it's a first person narrative, a cynical but honorable detective just trying to make rent. He's smart, and street-wise, and has a tendency to narrate a touch more convoluted than he should.
"Wherever he was going, he was either already late or didn't want to be. Twice more he came close to running into pedestrians as he threaded his way through the sidewalk traffic, eyes skimming the street in search of a cab, and once he was forced to do a wild Charleston to keep from falling when he slipped on an icy patch. Not that the narrow escapes made him any more cautious. If anything, he stepped up his pace as if to make up for the lost time. I followed at what the spy novelists call a discreet distance, which means I almost broke my own neck trying to keep him in sight."
Nonetheless, I enjoyed it. I'd agree with Matthew, who felt there were a couple of creative missteps, particularly in the last third of the book (https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...). The plotting was eventually dizzying, as Estleman really did throw 'everything' into it. As he notes, it was his first book to sell--and perhaps only book--and I'm not sure he could have resisted. At any rate, his affection for the genre comes through, not that it's a frantic device meant to get the reader's attention. As fitting for the 70s, there's quite a bit woven through about black and white politics, but not nearly as much consciousness about women's roles or gay rights.
Overall, interesting and with more than adequate writing. I'll likely check out another couple to see how Estleman develops. Two-and-a-half smokes, rounding up.
August 28, 2019
Amos Walker is private detective, hired by a retired Detroit mobster to find his missing ward, Marla Bernstein. She disappeared from her finishing school with a unknown man and there is s photo showing that she may be involved in prostitution and/or adult films. Walker has been trying to see if an insurer was being scammed with a faked injury, when he witnesses his CO from Vietnam grabbed by two thugs, and ending up dead in a car trunk. The CO was working for military intelligence looking into the killing of a rising labor organizer. The two stories become integrated in more ways than one as Amos pulls at the few threads to find the truth.
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May 26, 2017This is the first entry in the Amos Walker detective series. Walker is a private eye who works a variety of jobs. Checking for insurance fraud seems to be his bread and butter. He witnesses, in broad daylight on a city street, the snatching of a guy he once knew. Hmmm. He reports it to the police who don't seem to be especially interested. Then he is hired by a major gangster to solve a missing persons case. There are a number of deaths and much mayhem in the story.
I was sufficiently intrigued to try this because it is place in Detroit. Born and raised in Cleveland, this is like a sister city. Walker is an interesting character. Although he won't hesitate to break a few rules (read "laws") if necessary, he also has a sense of protecting those who need it and treating the people he comes across fairly, as he defines that. Much of this story involves the under-belly of the city, whether that under-belly happens to be in the inner city or the wealthy 'burbs.
Race is a bit, mostly taken-for-granted factor in the novel, which is set in some loosely defined time after the riots of the '60's. For the most part, while using the ideas, attitudes, and language of the time, Estleman handles this in a straightforward fashion, sensitive to relevant issues--some characters are flaming racists, others not so much. Still, there are some references that I found quite disturbing.
Also, the book, in it's hard-boiled wonder, is filled with similes, some of which work well, others of which suggest the author is trying too hard. I think I'll try another in the series to see if my concerns are typical of the series or characteristics of the first entry. I do like Amos Walker.
I was sufficiently intrigued to try this because it is place in Detroit. Born and raised in Cleveland, this is like a sister city. Walker is an interesting character. Although he won't hesitate to break a few rules (read "laws") if necessary, he also has a sense of protecting those who need it and treating the people he comes across fairly, as he defines that. Much of this story involves the under-belly of the city, whether that under-belly happens to be in the inner city or the wealthy 'burbs.
Race is a bit, mostly taken-for-granted factor in the novel, which is set in some loosely defined time after the riots of the '60's. For the most part, while using the ideas, attitudes, and language of the time, Estleman handles this in a straightforward fashion, sensitive to relevant issues--some characters are flaming racists, others not so much. Still, there are some references that I found quite disturbing.
Also, the book, in it's hard-boiled wonder, is filled with similes, some of which work well, others of which suggest the author is trying too hard. I think I'll try another in the series to see if my concerns are typical of the series or characteristics of the first entry. I do like Amos Walker.
August 10, 2016
This was my first reading of Estleman and I really enjoyed it. Straight forward approachn. Amor Walker is one tough PI. I look forward to reading more of this long running series.
March 2, 2014
PROTAGONIST: Amos Walker, PI
SETTING: Detroit
SERIES: #1 of 25
RATING: 3.25
WHY: PI Amos Walker is hired by retired mobster Ben Morningstar to find his missing ward, Marla Bernstein. She left her finishing school with some man and hasn't been seen since. A photo indicates that she may be selling herself. The plot is complicated, but Walker manages to uncover the ugly truth. I found the book somewhat difficult to read, as Estlemean is fond of dense paragraphs consisting of very long descriptive sentences and strange metaphors, as well as too much explication. However, the twists and turns of the plot were very well done.
SETTING: Detroit
SERIES: #1 of 25
RATING: 3.25
WHY: PI Amos Walker is hired by retired mobster Ben Morningstar to find his missing ward, Marla Bernstein. She left her finishing school with some man and hasn't been seen since. A photo indicates that she may be selling herself. The plot is complicated, but Walker manages to uncover the ugly truth. I found the book somewhat difficult to read, as Estlemean is fond of dense paragraphs consisting of very long descriptive sentences and strange metaphors, as well as too much explication. However, the twists and turns of the plot were very well done.
July 30, 2016
Sam Spade in Detroit in 1979 starts working on one crime and uncovers the solution to several others.
Really good. I'll be back for more.
Really good. I'll be back for more.
May 16, 2015
Loren D. Estleman's "Motor City Blue" is an interesting novel held back by creative missteps.
Unlike other reviewers, I do not feel these faults merit ridicule and scorn. They are certainly regrettable within the larger context of this novel, though.
"Motor City Blue," which is the first story in a long-running series, establishes its main character, Amos Walker, and setting, Detroit, within the context of a convoluted, (ultimately) uninteresting mystery. As such, an assortment of audience reactions is to be expected.
Estleman's first private eye novel is "skillfully plotted in the Chandler manner," as noted in Robert B. Parker's blurb, which is its greatest strength and weakness. Walker is hired by a semi-retired gangster to find his missing ward who has escaped from a Lansing finishing school. He is also compelled along the way to find a prostitute's missing necklace and solve the murder of his former company commander. The shamus chases down leads, eliciting more interest on the audience's part than expected for golden retriever work — go fetch, go get 'em — that is not intrinsically stimulating. He encounters obstacles and solves the cases. End of story.
Estleman does a number of things well here. The Michigander captures Detroit and its inhabitants in an authentic, unsentimental way. He exposes the corruption and decay, the division and hypocrisy, the racism and violence in a manner that is identifiable for current and former residents. The author does connect these conditions with the storyline, but it is inconsistent in the first half and jettisoned in the second half. He needed these connections to run throughout the text, especially in light of the prejudices and racism that our sleuth tackles. In discarding this element, the author creates questions surrounding his intentions and welcomes the slings and arrows of outrageous claims.
After all, Amos is not likable or sympathetic. He is conflicted and complex. There's a lot of nuance to his character. He is a prejudiced man who despises the racism that he encounters throughout his city and sees in others. Amos acknowledges fear when walking past a group of black males, makes racial generalizations, and uses racial slurs. He is also ashamed by the city's historic racial divide, disturbed by racist comments and ideology presented by other characters, and revolted by the government's role in it all. Amos exhibits a similar thought-process when discussing homosexuals. He advises another character that he broke another man's jaw because this man kept insisting on a dalliance. It's important to note that Amos does not express revulsion that he was propositioned, merely that the man was insistent about it. However, he also exhibits prejudices and uses homophobic pejoratives.
In other words, Amos is not a one-dimensional character who can be summed up in a certain characteristic or trait. He is more true to life, especially in his hometown.
The gumshoe's complexity is problematic in this first novel, because the mystery elements do not add to the world's complexity as a whole.
Estleman's novel is a homage to Raymond Chandler with allusions to Dashiell Hammett and Mickey Spillane. It is also heavily influenced by older films, including those in the noir style, and the vocabulary that it established for the hard-boiled genre. He later veers into parlor mystery territory for the big reveal, which drags the plot to a screeching halt and pulls readers out of the action while our snoop tells us how he figured it all out. A bit jarring, to say the least.
As seen here, the contemporary characters and worldview are at odds with the dated material upon which it is inspired. I am hopeful that Estleman recognized these creative missteps and resolved them in future stories.
Unlike other reviewers, I do not feel these faults merit ridicule and scorn. They are certainly regrettable within the larger context of this novel, though.
"Motor City Blue," which is the first story in a long-running series, establishes its main character, Amos Walker, and setting, Detroit, within the context of a convoluted, (ultimately) uninteresting mystery. As such, an assortment of audience reactions is to be expected.
Estleman's first private eye novel is "skillfully plotted in the Chandler manner," as noted in Robert B. Parker's blurb, which is its greatest strength and weakness. Walker is hired by a semi-retired gangster to find his missing ward who has escaped from a Lansing finishing school. He is also compelled along the way to find a prostitute's missing necklace and solve the murder of his former company commander. The shamus chases down leads, eliciting more interest on the audience's part than expected for golden retriever work — go fetch, go get 'em — that is not intrinsically stimulating. He encounters obstacles and solves the cases. End of story.
Estleman does a number of things well here. The Michigander captures Detroit and its inhabitants in an authentic, unsentimental way. He exposes the corruption and decay, the division and hypocrisy, the racism and violence in a manner that is identifiable for current and former residents. The author does connect these conditions with the storyline, but it is inconsistent in the first half and jettisoned in the second half. He needed these connections to run throughout the text, especially in light of the prejudices and racism that our sleuth tackles. In discarding this element, the author creates questions surrounding his intentions and welcomes the slings and arrows of outrageous claims.
After all, Amos is not likable or sympathetic. He is conflicted and complex. There's a lot of nuance to his character. He is a prejudiced man who despises the racism that he encounters throughout his city and sees in others. Amos acknowledges fear when walking past a group of black males, makes racial generalizations, and uses racial slurs. He is also ashamed by the city's historic racial divide, disturbed by racist comments and ideology presented by other characters, and revolted by the government's role in it all. Amos exhibits a similar thought-process when discussing homosexuals. He advises another character that he broke another man's jaw because this man kept insisting on a dalliance. It's important to note that Amos does not express revulsion that he was propositioned, merely that the man was insistent about it. However, he also exhibits prejudices and uses homophobic pejoratives.
In other words, Amos is not a one-dimensional character who can be summed up in a certain characteristic or trait. He is more true to life, especially in his hometown.
The gumshoe's complexity is problematic in this first novel, because the mystery elements do not add to the world's complexity as a whole.
Estleman's novel is a homage to Raymond Chandler with allusions to Dashiell Hammett and Mickey Spillane. It is also heavily influenced by older films, including those in the noir style, and the vocabulary that it established for the hard-boiled genre. He later veers into parlor mystery territory for the big reveal, which drags the plot to a screeching halt and pulls readers out of the action while our snoop tells us how he figured it all out. A bit jarring, to say the least.
As seen here, the contemporary characters and worldview are at odds with the dated material upon which it is inspired. I am hopeful that Estleman recognized these creative missteps and resolved them in future stories.
December 2, 2011
A nice old fashioned mystery. I have always wanted to read this series and glad I have finally started it. It was fun being transported back a few decades. I also loved the setting of Detroit. I haven't read any books I can remember set there.
December 13, 2024
This book is set in Detroit and that is apparent on pretty much every page!
The story was good but gritty. “Hard-boiled” as one reviewer stated and that’s a perfect description. A hard boiled, noir, gritty detective/PI novel set in 1980s Detroit. The story was good & there were some twists that I did not see coming. I liked the main character and the writing but I don’t know if I’m ready to continue this long series as it is maybe a little too gritty for my tastes. It was interesting to discover that the author grew up just a few miles from where I live. Not in Detroit actually although the writing shows that he clearly knows the city well.
I was curious why this was rated so low and many reviews mentioned the main character being racist and sexist. There was definitely racism and sexism in this book but I didn’t see it as coming from the main character and it definitely wasn’t glorified. So, while not a book for the faint hearted and it could be published in today’s woke culture, but it wasn’t horrible in that respect, in my opinion anyway. It was more like sadly realistic for Detroit in the 80s.
The story was good but gritty. “Hard-boiled” as one reviewer stated and that’s a perfect description. A hard boiled, noir, gritty detective/PI novel set in 1980s Detroit. The story was good & there were some twists that I did not see coming. I liked the main character and the writing but I don’t know if I’m ready to continue this long series as it is maybe a little too gritty for my tastes. It was interesting to discover that the author grew up just a few miles from where I live. Not in Detroit actually although the writing shows that he clearly knows the city well.
I was curious why this was rated so low and many reviews mentioned the main character being racist and sexist. There was definitely racism and sexism in this book but I didn’t see it as coming from the main character and it definitely wasn’t glorified. So, while not a book for the faint hearted and it could be published in today’s woke culture, but it wasn’t horrible in that respect, in my opinion anyway. It was more like sadly realistic for Detroit in the 80s.
August 3, 2025
super pleasantly suprised by this book! what an amazing storyteller is Estleman. I have not read anything like it. Super duper recommended for anyone who likes books in general, you will enjoy this even if your not a big fan of detectives (and its a great one at that too)
October 12, 2022
3 1/2 STARS
November 3, 2017
Amos Walker is interesting and because I am familiar with Detroit's woes the book held some appeal. Just wish there was more hope for Detroit in the future.
August 6, 2012
Motor City Blue has an interesting, twisting plot, and Estleman can string some nice prose together. This should have been a book that I enjoyed a lot. And to some extent I did. My problems with it were two-fold. First, all the characters were highly stereotypical - Walker is cut from the same cloth as almost every PI committed to paper post Hammett and Chandler; Bernstein is the brattish, spoilt child; Morningstar is the laconic, benevolent gangster; Iris is the whore with a heart of gold; the homicide officer is cranky and overworked; military intelligence are straight-backed dolts; etc. Second, the story is bought to a close through a series of long monologues that are used to explain how Walker solved the mystery. The guy barely strings two sentences together for most of the story and suddenly we get pages of monologue revealing, Poirot style, how we as the reader should have been able to piece the puzzle together (except for the fact that we didn’t have all the clues until the explanation). Overall, Motor City Blue will appeal to any fan of hardboiled PI, where the PI is carbon copy of Philip Marlowe. Personally, I enjoyed it for the prose and plot, but I couldn’t help but wonder what it could have been with some original characterisation and style.
September 28, 2016
After two failed attempts to read this book you'd think enough would be enough but no. An audio copy found its way onto my soundbar and I gave it one last spin. Amos Walker comments at one stage that a girl called Iris is the only hooker he ever met that didn't own a fur coat. Maybe that would have been the cliche that broke the camel's back. Amos is a walking cliche (sorry pun police). He's not a guy I'd give any time to. His dialogue doesn't make much sense sometimes. Much of Walker's actual detective work is unseen, which leaves a bunch of confrontational encounters where folk take chunks out of each other. There's no wit to the humour, no truth to Walkers observations and nothing to relate to with the characters. Walker himself is so inconsistent, a good guy supposedly but the jury is out on that one. Maybe I'm harsh judging the pilot book but the problems with every aspect of the novel doesn't inspire hopes that future books can turn this series into a winner. I think it likely that while my in tray still has some 87th Precinct and Nameless in it Walker can cool his heels and check the tv listings for Bogart safely undisturbed.
August 12, 2012
A little bit too much.
I have now read two Amos Walker books, this one and a collection of short stories, and I have yet to make up my mind about whether I truely like this character/writer or not.
I like the tough streets of Detroit stuff and I think the setting, the industrial decay of the upper midwest is the perfect backdrop for a series of hardboiled detective stories. The problem is the term "hardboiled" is a bit of cliche and so is Amos Walker.
It's a little too much like Chandler, and a little too tough, too cynical and too much wise-cracking dialog. Too many chapters that open with vivid prose about rust, decay, decline and failure and then later end summed up by a single, telling wise-crack.
But again, it's a little too much, not way too much, and this is the first book in a long series. For me, there was enough to like here; to want to have another go and see how this writer matures over time.
And ..I'm sure I will.
I have now read two Amos Walker books, this one and a collection of short stories, and I have yet to make up my mind about whether I truely like this character/writer or not.
I like the tough streets of Detroit stuff and I think the setting, the industrial decay of the upper midwest is the perfect backdrop for a series of hardboiled detective stories. The problem is the term "hardboiled" is a bit of cliche and so is Amos Walker.
It's a little too much like Chandler, and a little too tough, too cynical and too much wise-cracking dialog. Too many chapters that open with vivid prose about rust, decay, decline and failure and then later end summed up by a single, telling wise-crack.
But again, it's a little too much, not way too much, and this is the first book in a long series. For me, there was enough to like here; to want to have another go and see how this writer matures over time.
And ..I'm sure I will.
May 3, 2011
I love it when I find a new detective series. Somewhere recently I read a good review about the latest in the Amos Walker series, so being the compulsive person I am, I started with the first and love it. Jeepers, 1980 seems like the dark ages now!
January 5, 2018
I love Amos Walker, but this is not a good introduction. In later volumes Walker fortunately gets less racist and sexist; if you're not a completionist who needs to start at the very beginning, you might want to skip ahead a few.
Want to Read
October 16, 2018Synopsis: Detroit private detective Walker is hired by an ex-gangster to find Marla, his missing ward.
August 30, 2022
Loren D. Estleman has written some 30 books in his Amos Walker detective series. This is the first, published in 1980. It's the first I've read, and I've learned a valuable lesson: don't begin a new mystery series by reading the first novel. I'll admit that I started here with the idea that I'd read them in order. I've started that way with numerous other series. It finally dawned on me this time that I've never read the complete series of anything. There are too many other interesting things to read, so why devote the time for 30 novels to only one character or author? I'll probably read another Amos Walker mystery, but I'll jump ahead to number 20 or so.
The series appealed to me because of its Detroit setting. When the text mentions specific locations, I can look at Google maps and think, "I know where that is." It gives me more hooks on which to hang the narrative. It also reminds me, sadly, that Detroit in 1980 was a very different city from the trendy, up-and-coming city it is today. Amos Walker's Detroit is gritty, decaying and dangerous. This novel is set in winter, an appropriate choice for enhancing the atmospherics: dirty snow, bleak derelict houses, early darkness. Estleman clearly set out to write a hard-boiled detective story in the manner of Raymond Chandler. He succeeded - kind of. The book contains the requisite house of prostitution, complete with an essentially decent hooker who helps Private Eye Walker solve the mystery he's been hired to solve. Fittingly, Walker gets beat up, shot, and otherwise assaulted, but good triumphs over evil in the end (does that merit a spoiler warning?). Appropriately for the genre, some of the supposedly good guys turn out to be bad guys and the innocent runaway teen that Walker is tasked with finding turns out to be not so innocent after all. True to genre, Walker makes use of police-department contacts and trades assistance with them, but demonstrates in the end that the lone, independent Private Eye is more free to solve the crime than the bureaucracy-indentured cops. This is all rendered in classic noir style where the outlandish and sometimes gauche metaphors and similes lay atop the torpid peanut butter toast of the narrative like a thick, undulating layer of orange marmalade (they're not that bad, but you get the idea). Walker even wears a fedora, the brim at an angle.
One reality that's a bit jarring is no fault of the author. Having been written in 1980, the book describes a world very different from today. I remember that world but find it tedious sometimes to wait for Amos Walker while he wastes precious time looking for a public phone that works. More significantly, I'm saddened to be reminded of what Detroit was in 1980 - a hollowed out husk of a city that suffered the trauma of a fiery, destructive race riot in 1967. In its wake, thousands of Detroiters abandoned the city and its housing stock for the perceived safety of the suburbs, leaving entire blocks of unoccupied houses to squatters or arsonists. Today, thousands of those dilapidated or destroyed homes have been razed and some of the lots are actually being farmed. Remaining houses are being renovated and gentrified, with the process chronicled on HGTV. There's no way Estleman/Amos Walker could have anticipated these changes, so the book instead depicts a crumbling, dystopian city, the perfect backdrop for the moral rot lying at the heart of noir fiction.
Estleman is culpable for another reality, though. Walker's racist comments and language belie an inherent bias toward Blacks. The behavior is for the most part not glaring, but reading with 21st Century sensibilities, I find it pervasive. These are words that Estleman put in his character's mouth and behaviors that Walker shows no awareness about. I hope that both Estleman and Walker discovered or were made aware of their biases and changed their attitudes in subsequent novels.
All of the novel's inherent shortcomings are forgivable sins, however, especially for a first effort. Why read a Private Eye story if you bridle at narrative formula? The test of the best detective stories, though, is that they employ the formula with such subtlety and nuance that you don't notice it's there. Complexities, not only of plot but of character and theme, along with stylistic elegance, cause the good ones to rise above formula while riffing on it. Amos Walker is interesting enough, and Detroit is interesting enough, to make me want to read another Estleman chronicle of Amos Walker's exploits - one set about 20 years later, and occurring about 20 novels into the series.
The series appealed to me because of its Detroit setting. When the text mentions specific locations, I can look at Google maps and think, "I know where that is." It gives me more hooks on which to hang the narrative. It also reminds me, sadly, that Detroit in 1980 was a very different city from the trendy, up-and-coming city it is today. Amos Walker's Detroit is gritty, decaying and dangerous. This novel is set in winter, an appropriate choice for enhancing the atmospherics: dirty snow, bleak derelict houses, early darkness. Estleman clearly set out to write a hard-boiled detective story in the manner of Raymond Chandler. He succeeded - kind of. The book contains the requisite house of prostitution, complete with an essentially decent hooker who helps Private Eye Walker solve the mystery he's been hired to solve. Fittingly, Walker gets beat up, shot, and otherwise assaulted, but good triumphs over evil in the end (does that merit a spoiler warning?). Appropriately for the genre, some of the supposedly good guys turn out to be bad guys and the innocent runaway teen that Walker is tasked with finding turns out to be not so innocent after all. True to genre, Walker makes use of police-department contacts and trades assistance with them, but demonstrates in the end that the lone, independent Private Eye is more free to solve the crime than the bureaucracy-indentured cops. This is all rendered in classic noir style where the outlandish and sometimes gauche metaphors and similes lay atop the torpid peanut butter toast of the narrative like a thick, undulating layer of orange marmalade (they're not that bad, but you get the idea). Walker even wears a fedora, the brim at an angle.
One reality that's a bit jarring is no fault of the author. Having been written in 1980, the book describes a world very different from today. I remember that world but find it tedious sometimes to wait for Amos Walker while he wastes precious time looking for a public phone that works. More significantly, I'm saddened to be reminded of what Detroit was in 1980 - a hollowed out husk of a city that suffered the trauma of a fiery, destructive race riot in 1967. In its wake, thousands of Detroiters abandoned the city and its housing stock for the perceived safety of the suburbs, leaving entire blocks of unoccupied houses to squatters or arsonists. Today, thousands of those dilapidated or destroyed homes have been razed and some of the lots are actually being farmed. Remaining houses are being renovated and gentrified, with the process chronicled on HGTV. There's no way Estleman/Amos Walker could have anticipated these changes, so the book instead depicts a crumbling, dystopian city, the perfect backdrop for the moral rot lying at the heart of noir fiction.
Estleman is culpable for another reality, though. Walker's racist comments and language belie an inherent bias toward Blacks. The behavior is for the most part not glaring, but reading with 21st Century sensibilities, I find it pervasive. These are words that Estleman put in his character's mouth and behaviors that Walker shows no awareness about. I hope that both Estleman and Walker discovered or were made aware of their biases and changed their attitudes in subsequent novels.
All of the novel's inherent shortcomings are forgivable sins, however, especially for a first effort. Why read a Private Eye story if you bridle at narrative formula? The test of the best detective stories, though, is that they employ the formula with such subtlety and nuance that you don't notice it's there. Complexities, not only of plot but of character and theme, along with stylistic elegance, cause the good ones to rise above formula while riffing on it. Amos Walker is interesting enough, and Detroit is interesting enough, to make me want to read another Estleman chronicle of Amos Walker's exploits - one set about 20 years later, and occurring about 20 novels into the series.
January 25, 2022
I try to understand the mindset of a reader who enjoys novels like this, in which they get to park themselves inside the orivate eye's pointed point of view and spray withering judgments about everything and everyone they encounter like so much excess gunfire. It's fun of a low sort, I guess, if you're just looking to ride shotgun from the impotence seat of your favorite stuffed chair, but less fun for readers who wish authors would stop trying to share that chair with them by substituting their judgments for the reader's own through their snappy-pattered heroes. No character is allowed to reveal themselves in a book like MOTOR CITY BLUE; no, Amos Walker (like Spenser, a mere pallid proxy for the author's own reactionary crankiness), must beat you to that punch. Usually with a punch, or at least the jab of an overwrought simile. Since I prefer to actually interact with my reading, and this book has no use for readers like that, MOTOR CITY BLUE definitely doesn't work for me.
Beyond that, Loren D. Estleman's first Amos Walker novel, published in 1980, has seen its racism and sexism age less well that post-white-flight Detroit in a way that can't just be glibly written off as "it was a different time and place." Amos Walker is a white man who believes in white men as the center of the moral universe, and lines like "They don’t have finishing schools in Arizona. They have spas and dude ranches and co-ed colleges, complete with hot and cold running gigolos and vending machines with rubbers in them in the men’s rooms" and "I’m no more prejudiced than the next guy, but I tighten up whenever they band together like that" are never going to feel like exercises in feel-good nostalgia for a better time that never was. Not even in 1980. Despite the apathetic nods to justice of all, in the world of MOTOR CITY BLUE, justice is best defined by a white man and definitely best delivered by one.
The prose style is problematic too because it reads like its own parody of the hardboiled-private-eye genre, ripped through as it is with overwrought, over-stylized smilies that spill from the pages of MOTOR CITY BLUE like the ashes of a ten-cent cigar: "The air was as bitter as a stiffed hooker and smelled of auto exhaust" and "It was a high school graduation portrait of a dark-haired girl with even darker eyes that looked as if they flashed and a complexion like twelve-year-old Scotch going down" are fairly representative here, and you can find fifty more lines just like them. This is a novel for people who think the world went to hell with Elvis on Ed Sullivan and the demise of Ban-Lon, haberdasheries and Studebakers. It's a nostalgia exercise, but, like Robert B. Parker's first Spenser novel, THE GODWULF MANUSCRIPT, it's something deeper and darker and danker: it's a reactionary grouse to the idea that people like Amos Walker don't get to decide how the world oughta be.
All that said, MOTOR CITY BLUE is competently written and plotted, and there's an audience for me, and the Amos Walker series has endured with some great affection for more than forty years, and its 1970s cultural signifiers are not just nostalgia fun a useful for those of us who know that those who forget the past are condemned to repeat it, if only in retrograde private-eye novels.
Beyond that, Loren D. Estleman's first Amos Walker novel, published in 1980, has seen its racism and sexism age less well that post-white-flight Detroit in a way that can't just be glibly written off as "it was a different time and place." Amos Walker is a white man who believes in white men as the center of the moral universe, and lines like "They don’t have finishing schools in Arizona. They have spas and dude ranches and co-ed colleges, complete with hot and cold running gigolos and vending machines with rubbers in them in the men’s rooms" and "I’m no more prejudiced than the next guy, but I tighten up whenever they band together like that" are never going to feel like exercises in feel-good nostalgia for a better time that never was. Not even in 1980. Despite the apathetic nods to justice of all, in the world of MOTOR CITY BLUE, justice is best defined by a white man and definitely best delivered by one.
The prose style is problematic too because it reads like its own parody of the hardboiled-private-eye genre, ripped through as it is with overwrought, over-stylized smilies that spill from the pages of MOTOR CITY BLUE like the ashes of a ten-cent cigar: "The air was as bitter as a stiffed hooker and smelled of auto exhaust" and "It was a high school graduation portrait of a dark-haired girl with even darker eyes that looked as if they flashed and a complexion like twelve-year-old Scotch going down" are fairly representative here, and you can find fifty more lines just like them. This is a novel for people who think the world went to hell with Elvis on Ed Sullivan and the demise of Ban-Lon, haberdasheries and Studebakers. It's a nostalgia exercise, but, like Robert B. Parker's first Spenser novel, THE GODWULF MANUSCRIPT, it's something deeper and darker and danker: it's a reactionary grouse to the idea that people like Amos Walker don't get to decide how the world oughta be.
All that said, MOTOR CITY BLUE is competently written and plotted, and there's an audience for me, and the Amos Walker series has endured with some great affection for more than forty years, and its 1970s cultural signifiers are not just nostalgia fun a useful for those of us who know that those who forget the past are condemned to repeat it, if only in retrograde private-eye novels.
September 29, 2026
Written by Claude AI.
## Synopsis
*Motor City Blue* (1980) is the first Amos Walker novel by Loren D. Estleman. Walker is a Vietnam veteran who was thrown out of the Police Academy for punching a fellow cadet. He's a hard man in a ruined city, making a living looking for lost things. When the book opens he's working for an insurance agency, checking whether claims are legitimate. That routine gets interrupted by a much bigger job.
Marla Bernstein, a teenager, is the ward of Ben Morningstar, a semi-retired mobster who wants to keep family business out of the newspapers. When she disappears, he has to call in Walker, and he doesn't take "no" for an answer. The only clue is a pornographic photograph, which shows Marla has become part of a world that disgusts even her criminal guardian. The photo leads Walker into Detroit's porn shops and blue movies, where her trail gets murkier and more dangerous. A search for a runaway becomes a descent through the city's underworld, with a client who is as threatening as the people Walker is hunting.
## Review
The book's greatest strength is Estleman's voice. It's classic hardboiled writing in the Chandler tradition: clipped, wry narration, similes that land, and a hero who is honorable in a world that isn't. Walker is a familiar type, the cynical, principled loner, but the jokes and the weariness make him distinctive. Detroit does as much work as any character. Estleman treats it as a decaying industrial city whose rot seeps into every scene, and later reviewers have called the city and the detective the series' two heroes.
The weaknesses are just as real. One blogger found the plot very complicated, with almost no likable characters except Walker and a couple of decent cops. That also makes it feel of its time. The same reviewer says it reads much like a 1970s novel, while the later Walker books have a more timeless quality. The seedy subject matter is grim and can feel dated. As a debut it's more about mood and voice than about a tightly engineered mystery.
**Verdict:** About 3.5 to 4 out of 5. It's a confident first entry that sets up a long series (about twenty books since), and it's best for readers who want atmosphere and prose style over plot mechanics. If you like Chandler, Ross Macdonald, or Robert B. Parker, it's worth your time.
## Synopsis
*Motor City Blue* (1980) is the first Amos Walker novel by Loren D. Estleman. Walker is a Vietnam veteran who was thrown out of the Police Academy for punching a fellow cadet. He's a hard man in a ruined city, making a living looking for lost things. When the book opens he's working for an insurance agency, checking whether claims are legitimate. That routine gets interrupted by a much bigger job.
Marla Bernstein, a teenager, is the ward of Ben Morningstar, a semi-retired mobster who wants to keep family business out of the newspapers. When she disappears, he has to call in Walker, and he doesn't take "no" for an answer. The only clue is a pornographic photograph, which shows Marla has become part of a world that disgusts even her criminal guardian. The photo leads Walker into Detroit's porn shops and blue movies, where her trail gets murkier and more dangerous. A search for a runaway becomes a descent through the city's underworld, with a client who is as threatening as the people Walker is hunting.
## Review
The book's greatest strength is Estleman's voice. It's classic hardboiled writing in the Chandler tradition: clipped, wry narration, similes that land, and a hero who is honorable in a world that isn't. Walker is a familiar type, the cynical, principled loner, but the jokes and the weariness make him distinctive. Detroit does as much work as any character. Estleman treats it as a decaying industrial city whose rot seeps into every scene, and later reviewers have called the city and the detective the series' two heroes.
The weaknesses are just as real. One blogger found the plot very complicated, with almost no likable characters except Walker and a couple of decent cops. That also makes it feel of its time. The same reviewer says it reads much like a 1970s novel, while the later Walker books have a more timeless quality. The seedy subject matter is grim and can feel dated. As a debut it's more about mood and voice than about a tightly engineered mystery.
**Verdict:** About 3.5 to 4 out of 5. It's a confident first entry that sets up a long series (about twenty books since), and it's best for readers who want atmosphere and prose style over plot mechanics. If you like Chandler, Ross Macdonald, or Robert B. Parker, it's worth your time.
September 11, 2021
Reading a book 40 years after its publication date is always a tricky street to navigate. Social norms change, languages evolve, and technology iterates leaps and bounds beyond what once was. Does the book hold up through these changes? Can it keep a reader's interest and avoid their disgust, or worse, boredom? When you throw a hard-boiled crime book, by definition full of sex and violence and good guys who aren't all that good, into this pit, it becomes even more treacherous terrain.
Motor City Blue mostly manages to steer through the worst of the pitfalls to emerge as a page-turner of a mystery with a mostly-likable protagonist. Set in Detroit, Amos Walker is a private investigator hired to find a missing woman. His investigation leads to a discovery with wide-reaching implications for the city.
The writing is quick and seamless, but there are a few language choice that I think wouldn't fly as easily today, and the book does fall into the genre trap of introducing a number of interesting side characters only to kill them off a chapter or two later. Other genre roots are visible in Walker's allergic reaction to any sort of authority figure and willingness to get in the dirt with the ostensible bad guys, making him the greyest of white-hatted good guys. Perhaps the most egregious trope is Walker's James Bond-like ability to take a beating and carry on with the mission regardless of how much blood has gone missing and how many bones have been broken.
All in all, I enjoyed reading the book and plan to continue on with the series. I'm curious to see how it will evolve and grow as the books stretch from the 80s into the present. I'd recommend this to the noir and crime fan without hesitation; it's an interesting look into the middle period of the genre, well after its roots were established but still far removed from the present.
Motor City Blue mostly manages to steer through the worst of the pitfalls to emerge as a page-turner of a mystery with a mostly-likable protagonist. Set in Detroit, Amos Walker is a private investigator hired to find a missing woman. His investigation leads to a discovery with wide-reaching implications for the city.
The writing is quick and seamless, but there are a few language choice that I think wouldn't fly as easily today, and the book does fall into the genre trap of introducing a number of interesting side characters only to kill them off a chapter or two later. Other genre roots are visible in Walker's allergic reaction to any sort of authority figure and willingness to get in the dirt with the ostensible bad guys, making him the greyest of white-hatted good guys. Perhaps the most egregious trope is Walker's James Bond-like ability to take a beating and carry on with the mission regardless of how much blood has gone missing and how many bones have been broken.
All in all, I enjoyed reading the book and plan to continue on with the series. I'm curious to see how it will evolve and grow as the books stretch from the 80s into the present. I'd recommend this to the noir and crime fan without hesitation; it's an interesting look into the middle period of the genre, well after its roots were established but still far removed from the present.
December 30, 2024
Amos Walker is a thirty something Private Investigator. He has been a boxer, served in the military police, and worked for the Detroit Police Department, from which he was fired. Although a bit young to be characterized as a curmudgeon, he is definitely as sarcastic as they come. His sarcasm adds to the humor of the books.
Ben Morningstar is a former (semi-retired) mobster from Detroit, MI. He is also the guardian/custodian of Marla Bernstein. Bernstein is a pretty teenager who is missing.Wanting to keep family business out of the news Morningstar turns to Private Detective Amos Walker for help. Walker is given a pornographic photo of Marla which is his only clue on where she might be or what she might be doing or who she might be with.
Where to begin looking? Detroit's darker, seedier areas, the porn shops and the illegal businesses of porn “blue” movies. As Walker’s trail get’s hot the dangers to him, personally increase exponentially.
This is my first read of any books in the Amos Walker series. It doesn’t seem to have aged as well as I had hoped. Still, I think that I‘ll give the second book a chance before I turn my back on the series. Next up: Angel Eyes, book 2 (pub. 1981).
⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ Originally published 1980. Narrator, Mel Foster
#EmptyNestReader #instagram #Goodreads #MotorCityBlue #AmosWalkerMystery1 #LorenEstleman ##MysteryCrimeFiction #DecemberReads #bookstagram #bookstagrammer #bookstagramalabama #bookstagrammichigan #bookreviews #bookreviewer #MelFoster #bookrecommendations #readalittlelearnalittlelivealittle #audioibooks #audible #EmptyNestReaderAudioBooks🎧 #StopBookBanning
Ben Morningstar is a former (semi-retired) mobster from Detroit, MI. He is also the guardian/custodian of Marla Bernstein. Bernstein is a pretty teenager who is missing.Wanting to keep family business out of the news Morningstar turns to Private Detective Amos Walker for help. Walker is given a pornographic photo of Marla which is his only clue on where she might be or what she might be doing or who she might be with.
Where to begin looking? Detroit's darker, seedier areas, the porn shops and the illegal businesses of porn “blue” movies. As Walker’s trail get’s hot the dangers to him, personally increase exponentially.
This is my first read of any books in the Amos Walker series. It doesn’t seem to have aged as well as I had hoped. Still, I think that I‘ll give the second book a chance before I turn my back on the series. Next up: Angel Eyes, book 2 (pub. 1981).
⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ Originally published 1980. Narrator, Mel Foster
#EmptyNestReader #instagram #Goodreads #MotorCityBlue #AmosWalkerMystery1 #LorenEstleman ##MysteryCrimeFiction #DecemberReads #bookstagram #bookstagrammer #bookstagramalabama #bookstagrammichigan #bookreviews #bookreviewer #MelFoster #bookrecommendations #readalittlelearnalittlelivealittle #audioibooks #audible #EmptyNestReaderAudioBooks🎧 #StopBookBanning
December 2, 2021
A hard boiled crime fiction complete with Amos Walker, a tough PI in Detroit, MI. The plot was pretty complex, with many curves including those of a hooker that takes a liking to Mr. Walker. Estleman's prose is sometimes a bit over the top with descriptions and metaphor, a literary technique that can be a double edged sword. In this case, I began to feel it was too much and became distracted more than entertained by it.
This was my first encounter with the author and this character. I was hoping to like it more than I did. That's not to denigrate it in any way, but just to admit that it might have missed the mark for my tastes. I might press on with book number two, as I have it, but don't know whether I'll feel any different thereafter. A good, not great, book written in the style of hard, whisky drinking detectives who manage to come out on top despite numerous instances of others getting the "drop on them" from behind, suffering beatings at the hands of bad guys, or suffering other sundry indignities.
This was my first encounter with the author and this character. I was hoping to like it more than I did. That's not to denigrate it in any way, but just to admit that it might have missed the mark for my tastes. I might press on with book number two, as I have it, but don't know whether I'll feel any different thereafter. A good, not great, book written in the style of hard, whisky drinking detectives who manage to come out on top despite numerous instances of others getting the "drop on them" from behind, suffering beatings at the hands of bad guys, or suffering other sundry indignities.
May 12, 2024
“Motor City Blues” introduced the Amos Walker P.I. series and the Crime Noir world became a better place.
Amos is hired by a retired crime boss, Ben Morningstar, to find his ward, Marla Bernstein, who has disappeared from her finishing school in Colorado.
Worryingly, a pornographic photograph of her has recently been found.
The novel starts out with Amos on Amos staking out a suspected insurance fraudster during which he witnesses a man being kidnapped.
That man was Francis Kramer, a company commander when Amos was serving as an MP in Vietnam.
Set in a mostly seedy 1970s Detroit (it was first published in 1980) a series of crimes, seemingly unrelated, come together to form a complete circle.
I quite liked Amos Walker, he can take a beating with the best of them, smokes like a chimney, is politically incorrect, and, of course hides his belief in truth, honour and justice behind a bluff exterior.
The book has aged quite well.
There's quite a lot of descriptive text which I wouldn't normally enjoy but I actually found it mostly interesting.
I'll be reading on.
4 Stars.
Amos is hired by a retired crime boss, Ben Morningstar, to find his ward, Marla Bernstein, who has disappeared from her finishing school in Colorado.
Worryingly, a pornographic photograph of her has recently been found.
The novel starts out with Amos on Amos staking out a suspected insurance fraudster during which he witnesses a man being kidnapped.
That man was Francis Kramer, a company commander when Amos was serving as an MP in Vietnam.
Set in a mostly seedy 1970s Detroit (it was first published in 1980) a series of crimes, seemingly unrelated, come together to form a complete circle.
I quite liked Amos Walker, he can take a beating with the best of them, smokes like a chimney, is politically incorrect, and, of course hides his belief in truth, honour and justice behind a bluff exterior.
The book has aged quite well.
There's quite a lot of descriptive text which I wouldn't normally enjoy but I actually found it mostly interesting.
I'll be reading on.
4 Stars.
September 13, 2019
Old school writers got away with offensive writing, and their books shot up to best-selling lists despite some of the insulting remarks. From Sidney Sheldon to this here Loren D. Estleman, such writing isn't all right to read today. Hard to put up with it.
A novel where you're no longer interested in the story but are cringing, wincing and squirming at nasty language isn't a fun read, so I put it down.
A novel where you're no longer interested in the story but are cringing, wincing and squirming at nasty language isn't a fun read, so I put it down.
September 28, 2017
Estleman would discover a more distinctive voice for him and Walker going forward from this book, but there are strong signals of the three dimensional character Walker will quickly become finding their way around the obstructions of a young writer feeling and writing his way for the first time through a seminal genre. One of Estleman's signature strengths is already firmly in place - in the grand tradition of American regionalism among writers, Estleman wisely placed Walker in environs he knew and understood - Detroit, the Motor City, always a metropolitan area capable of serving as a semi accurate, at least, barometer of modern American life. An entertaining, though flawed, beginning to a legendary series.
July 8, 2025
An old mystery, this one published in 1980, but still a well written gritty story about the streets of Detroit and a missing person. This one has all the elements of a good mystery plot, murder, race, car chases, rich, poor, gangsters, guns and "ladies of the night". I enjoyed all the Detroit references (I worked in the city for over 30 years) especially street names and "historical" sites. The action was plentiful and moving and the book included a good dose of humor. Amos Walker reminds me of "Sam Spade" or a Humphery Bogart character.
I will continue to read this series if I can locate other books in this series.
Borrowed from the Berkley Public Library. It pays to peruse the shelves of your local library. You never know what good book will catch your eye.
I will continue to read this series if I can locate other books in this series.
Borrowed from the Berkley Public Library. It pays to peruse the shelves of your local library. You never know what good book will catch your eye.
September 1, 2020
This is the first in Loren Estleman's "Amos Walker" series of private eye novels.
Estleman is a self-declared film-buff and has written in various genres from mystery, to western and beyond.
First published around 1980, I think that by 2020 there are now 20+ in this series which starts with this tale of Amos Walker hired to find a former gangster's missing adopted daughter.
If you've read the likes of Chandler and/or Hammet you will understand/appreciate the deliberately hardboiled/noir prose style.
Although I'd say that many of the later novels in the series were more polished, this is a nice introduction and definitely shows promise.
Estleman is a self-declared film-buff and has written in various genres from mystery, to western and beyond.
First published around 1980, I think that by 2020 there are now 20+ in this series which starts with this tale of Amos Walker hired to find a former gangster's missing adopted daughter.
If you've read the likes of Chandler and/or Hammet you will understand/appreciate the deliberately hardboiled/noir prose style.
Although I'd say that many of the later novels in the series were more polished, this is a nice introduction and definitely shows promise.
May 23, 2022
The first in the Amos Walker private investigator series, first published in 1980. The action is in the Detroit area. There were times I felt some of the same vibe I get with Parker's Spenser books; a knowledgeable detective, native to the area, and with a wise-cracking attitude. Some of this story felt convoluted at times, but the overall read was enjoyable.
For those worried about triggers, this one definitely has topics and language that might be offensive to many. But, considering the time period in which it was written (some of us were already adults then), it was pretty much indicative of the times (for good or bad). Think of it as "historical fiction", if you must.
For those worried about triggers, this one definitely has topics and language that might be offensive to many. But, considering the time period in which it was written (some of us were already adults then), it was pretty much indicative of the times (for good or bad). Think of it as "historical fiction", if you must.
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