Black Jackknife: A Nick Montaigne Mystery

by Peter Kurtz

Urbane, vain Nick Montaigne has a taste for Porsches, fifties jazz, and cinnamon chewing gum. When a beautiful Georgia coed is brutally murdered on the Appalachian Trail, detective Montaigne and his lovable but awkward partner Vern Wister are pulled into terra incognita. Montaigne not only has to hobnob with tennis studs at an elite university, and match wits with an arrogant attorney while bedding the man’s ex-wife, he also has to keep trail dirt out of his Italian shoes, all while solving a murder and disappearance.

In BLACK JACKKNIFE, author Peter Kurtz introduces a detective who has the panache of James Bond and the craftiness of Lieutenant Columbo. BLACK JACKKNIFE is a mystery thriller with a little sex, a little blood, and several packets of freeze-dried noodles. Cue up some Dave Brubeck, strap on a backpack, and join Montaigne and Wister as they hunt for a mysterious psycho killer, lurking somewhere between downtown Atlanta and the trail shelter near Buzzard Knob.

"If you like quick reads packed with twists and turns, lifelike characters, and a throwback detective (think Lew Archer and Travis McGee), you'll eat this one up. It played like a film in my head. Nick Montaigne could become a habit." - Dean Wray, producer/writer/actor of "Down Here"

"Suspenseful mystery...Kurtz keeps readers guessing...Montaigne is an entertaining enough lead to make a sequel welcome." - Publishers Weekly

"A deftly crafted mystery novel...an author with an impressive flair for humor, originality, and the kind of narrative driven storytelling style that makes for a truly entertaining and memorable read from first page to last." - Midwest Book Review

243 pages, Paperback

Published November 24, 2020

About the author

Peter Kurtz was born in New Jersey and grew up in Mansfield, Ohio. A 1981 journalism graduate of Ohio University, Kurtz has worked as a jazz disc jockey, freelance magazine writer, newspaper film critic, and technical writer and editor. He and his wife Lynn have two children and three grandchildren and currently live in Cincinnati, Ohio.