Angel Eyes

Amos Walker #2

by Loren D. Estleman, David Regal (Reader)

Loren Estleman, a seasoned suspense writer, involves Amos Walker, a crusty sleuth, with Detroit characters who range from very rich to tough, underworld types. Mystery fans will quickly become addicted to Walker, who manages the menacing facets of his profession with a shot of scotch and a sense of humor. In this highly successful novel, Amos Walker becomes involved with a nightclub dancer who gives him an expensive diamond ring as a retainer and then disappears. This story has all the right ingredients - a beautiful woman in trouble, illicit sex, stolen funds, murder, and the unexpected twist at the end. Tough abounds. There is tough talk, tough cops, a tough union boss a la Jimmy Hoffa, tough hoods, and a tough woman editor of a small town newspaper. Relax with the knowledge that a thoroughly pleasant few hours of listening entertainment is in hand.

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Crime, Thriller, Detective, Audiobook

Audio Cassette

First published January 1, 1981

About the author

Loren 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

Reviews

[Skip · Rating 3 out of 5]

Book # 2 in the Amos Walker P.I. series. He is hired by a stripper with incredibly beautiful eyes, who fears for her life. She immediately disappears, having left Amos with a pedigree diamond ring. Walker tracks the ring to a union boss with a shady past, and a wealthy lawyer, who disappeared in a plane crash, but whose body was never recovered. Walker has to fight his way out of the strip club, only to find the bouncer dead in the stripper's apartment. Then, the strip club owner is killed, and the police want to pin the murders on Walker. Walker follows the clues, leading back to the lawyer's family and eventually solves several mysteries in his usual unorthodox manner.

[Josh Hitch · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this hardboiled detective story, I believe it's better than the first one in the series. This time Amos Walker is hired by a dancer who says she is about to be missing and wants to be found. When he goes to meet up with her to discuss it further he finds a dead man in her apartment and her missing. His determination in finding her started a lot of things to happen and none of them were all that good.

Recommended, it's a solid tale and Walker is a well written character. However there is a side character, a small 63 year old female newspaper lady, who steals the book, she is great.

[Lulu · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a wild ride; gotta love this guy—such a wise ass.

[K · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this, the second book in this series, better than the first. Amos Walker is the classic hard boiled private detective, cracking wise in the face of danger and tracking down his quarry despite overwhelming odds.

Suspend disbelief while you turn the pages and enjoy a story about greed, a woman who arranges her own disappearance and a variety of central casting bad guys. This ain’t classic literature, folks— just a good way to spend a few evenings as you follow (or try to) a rather tangled plot. Like the first Amos Walker story, Estleman wraps up any and all loose ends in the final chapters.

3.5 stars rounded up for a good yarn that kept me entertained despite some rather large stretches of incredulity that fans will readily overlook.

[Rodger Payne · Rating 3 out of 5]

When reading in and around Detroit...

The plot was mostly interesting, though also somewhat convoluted. The detective made some major leaps to solve the crime(s) and I understand that the author is something of a Sherlock Holmes buff, which perhaps explains that style choice. The detective constantly makes the kind of wisecracks that detectives make in old movies and they are mostly dated and not especially amusing here. The entire book feels a bit dated (it was published in 1981) and I may not give the series more than one more attempt to hook me. I was a bit familiar with some of the Detroit landmarks having just visited to attend a Tiger game and take in the wonderful Detroit Institute of Art.

[Mika · Rating 2 out of 5]

For someone as prolific as Estleman, it's reasonable to expect there are better and worse efforts. This early novel is in the latter category. It's in that uncanny valley of old: it's too recent (1981) for all the things that have not aged well to be excusable. ("He was a burly black." "The Arab's hook nose...") And it is soooo derivative of its genre. Yes, it's self-consciously derivative, with references and allusions to Chandler, Mike Hammer, Rex Stout, and others. But it nevertheless feels boring and predictable.

The best part about the novel for me is the glimpse of the early 1980s Detroit: already badly reeling, but still some of its old institutions in place, and some people optimistic (or wishful) about one of the many imagined renaissances.

[Cyndy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was written about a Detroit PI during the 70s - pre cell phones, internet access, and political correctness. So set your mind back in time and meet Amos Walker, a PI that is generally on the wrong end of fists or guns. In this story he is hired by a "go-go dancer" to find her, if she disappears. The mayhem ensues from there. "The dangers you can count on are problem enough without worrying about something as neurotically unpredictable as a tornado." Estleman, Loren D.. Angel Eyes (Amos Walker Novels Book 2) (Kindle Locations 1117-1118). Open Road Media Mystery & Thriller. Kindle Edition.

[M. Sprouse · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is carried by PI Amos Walker. The plot and other story elements are secondary. Walker and with his witty dialogue are the best of the contemporary hard-boiled genre. He's a tough guy, who often seems to like doing things the hard way. The story is interesting but rushes to have everything wrapped up tidy with a nice bow. It's a clever hard-boiled ending. Though it runs precariously close to not only being difficult to believe but in also feeling convoluted, which is a feat considering this book is barely two hundred pages long. I'll give Amos Walker 5 stars, but can only give this book 4, which ain't bad at all, sweetheart.

[Ed · Rating 4 out of 5]

Detroit P.I. Amos Walker on another hardboiled case encounters murder and mayhem. Great prose style and voice. Sidetrip gives nice view of small-town Michigan.

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5/5-Solid writing in the old-school, wise guy detective crime fiction genre. I liked the first book in this series a little better.

[Ruth · Rating 1 out of 5]

11. Trying too hard to be a noir story and Chandleresque. I didn’t like the tone or the multiple metaphors and similes. I don’t think I will worry about finding the next one in the series.

[Jeff Tankersley · Rating 1 out of 5]

Detroit Private Eye Amos Walker is paid by a dancer to find her when she will soon go missing. After a confrontation with a would-be thief and then a murder, Walker finds that the woman has, in fact, disappeared. The dead man and woman are somehow connected to a mobbed-up union boss.

"Angel Eyes" (1981) is my second attempt at an Amos Walker detective story and there's a lot to like about him; his cynical, smart-aleck tough-guy, street-smart act is like Phillip Marlowe transported from 30's LA to 70's Detroit. Estleman's writing style is also obviously inspired by Chandler's noir detective stories with regard to environmental immersion and descriptions, putting us in the depths of the decayed urban back-alley and countryside nightscapes in and outside of Detroit with Amos Walker.

That said, the prose is indebted to Chandler's but not nearly as interesting or attention-holding. I was frequently distracted by other things, my mind drifting while trying to follow the story. That might just be me.

The mystery itself has a lot of twists and plot moves that I didn't see coming, but it also got so bogged down in lies and fronting behavior with all these ugly characters that I actually didn't care how it turned out and lost track of who had been grifted by whom.

Verdict: A short noir 70's-Detroit era PI mystery, "Angel Eyes" is boring enough that you'll move on to other reads but short enough that you'll probably come back to finish it later, just to see how it ended. Or at least that's how it went for me.

Jeff's Rating: 1 / 5 (Bad)
movie rating if made into a movie: R

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is book 2 in the Amos Walker series, written in 1981 taking place in Detroit.
Amos is hired by an exotic dancer who fears she will “missing” soon. In his usual style, he starts investigating right away after she hands him a large ring in good faith.
The ring brings him clues to the designer and it’s not long before a meeting is set up either the Union head. The automotive industry and its workers are threatening to strike.
A dead bodyguard causes the police to question his whereabouts at the time of the killing. A fun quote “ he was frisked from chest to ankles in less time than it takes to tell it”.
Another fun one “the guys had circles under his eyes like glass marks on a bar”
Missing people, a death of a judge, and a wife’s suspicious nature help to make this a case that has unexpected twists and turns.
This is not a genre I have explored before, but the excellent writing and fun terminology has me wanting to read more.

[Ken Finlay · Rating 4 out of 5]

“A woman who called herself Ann Maringer hired me to find her.”
Amos Walker P.I. sets out to find the woman, a go go dancer who hired him - she went missing only an hour or so later.
It doesn't take long before he finds out that she was the one-time mistress of Judge DeLancey who died a few years previously in a plane crash.
“Angel Eyes” is set in 1970s Detroit, with one memorable trip outside, and sees Amos in fine fettle as he verbally jousts with just about everyone he meets.
In the first book in the series, “Motor City Blues”, he was beaten up on a regular basis but this time out his forte is being first on thye scene of several murders.
Just like before a series of seemingly unconnected events eventually come together to form a unified whole.
It's a very solid work of P.I. Noir.
I liked it, a lot.
4 Stars.

[Susan Miller · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good mystery with an ending that is hard to figure out. The Detective is astute and street wise. The story involves a missing person, murder to cover up secrets, and lots of characters who are not what they appear to be. Well written with lots of similes and metaphors for which, I believe, characterize the writers style. I will continue to read this series.

Borrowed from the Berkley, MI Public Library.

[Crisman Strunk · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good book and one that reads more smoothly than its predecessor. A bit too much exposition at the end (and a few fairly fantastic leaps in logic) but a good read nonetheless and Estleman can really turn a simile!

[Kevin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Audiobook

Overall a 4* review

I have to say, as a new author to me, this is very good, character development not overly done, but done in a tasteful manner. Location is well descent for the time it is set.

Definitely will listen/ read more of these books.

[Gary S · Rating 5 out of 5]

#2 of 3. Worth the time.

[Zorba · Rating 5 out of 5]

Estleman does a masterful job weaving together a complex plot, which really pays off at the end. A terrific book and very impressive display by the author.

[Susanne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good series.

[Wayne Zurl · Rating 5 out of 5]

ANGEL EYES by Loren D. Estleman…..

This is an early (the 2nd) Amos Walker mystery, copyrighted in 1981. But if you didn’t look for a date, you might easily believe it was born in 1941. Any fan of hard-boiled/noir PI fiction would award this book five stars for the first chapter alone. Raymond Chandler, eat your heart out. Estleman nails it early in Walker’s career.

The story has all the elements: A stripper with incredibly beautiful eyes, sleazy clubs with thugs for owners and waiters, a union boss with a shady past, and a wealthy lawyer, possibly tied to the stripper, who disappeared in a plane crash, but whose body was never recovered.

The stripper thinks she may be in danger and hires Walker to protect her and, if necessary, find her if she disappears. Early on, bodies begin to pile up with Amos in the middle of everything. And, of course, the police involved become secondary antagonists because they all hate private cops and Walker in particular. A little suspension of disbelief is necessary and easily given when these detectives attempt to arrest Walker for a murder or two without having that pesky thing called reasonable cause to believe. But that’s PI fiction for you.

The solution is explained in lengthy confessions from several of the shady players, but you don’t get the entire story until the last two pages where everything is wrapped up. But good doesn’t exactly triumph over evil, so Amos Walker lights up another “coffin nail,” trudges up the stairs to his crumby office, and prepares for another day of 86ing the bills that can wait and waiting for a new client to step into his place of business.

4.5 stars

[Julie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Angel Eyes, Loren D. Estleman, B
Amos Walker #2
Detroit, 1980s
First line: The Crescent was a cellar place on Cass, established before Michigan
outlawed public dining and drinking below ground level.
A go-go dancer hires Amos to find a missing person -- herself. Then promptly disappears
leaving behind a very dead man in her apartment. Over the course of the next 36 hours,
Amos finds three more bodies, but no go-go dancer. This second outing was good up
until the last 30 pages or so. Major information dump and explaining things by saying
"she somehow learned this" when you can't think of a single way she could have learned
that. But I have read a book later in the series and I know they do improve.

[Dave Wallace · Rating 4 out of 5]

The lone detective out of time (1980) and place (Detroit) with character and characters is good fun to read. The plot was just a bit too complicated and a mite convenient here and there but at least it didn't tie up like a bow at the finish. Dialogue reminiscent of Pat Novak: "Do you serve water?" I asked. "When they ask for it. These days it costs us" "Lets be extravagant" "That mean you want water?" I said it meant water. It was the longest conversation I could recall ever having on the subject.

[Robert James · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's been years since I read an Amos Walker book. I completely missed out. I'm going to make up for lost time. Every current writer should take lessons from Block, Westlake, McBain, Kaminsky, Collins and some of the other writers that had their major success in the 70's, 80's and 90's. These writers knew how to write dialogue and how to build characters. Connelly gets it. Bruen gets it. Atkins gets it. Very few get it. Add Estleman to that list that knows how to set a scene and knows how to write dialogue.

[Kathy KS · Rating 3 out of 5]

Amos Walker, private detective from Detroit, takes a case from a mysterious woman (surprise!) and begins a journey with many suspects, dead bodies, and double crosses. It's almost hard to keep track of everything once readers discover who (and why) commit the murders. But I enjoy following Walker along the trail and will continue with the next volume. Definitely written in the 1980s, but the writing style was easy.

One thing I really noticed here, though. Author Estleman REALLY likes similes and metaphors. They almost overwhelm, but I will admit that I learned a few that I had never heard.

[Liz Flom · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the first time I’ve read anything from this author so I wasn’t sure what to expect. Pleasantly surprised though. Due to the setting being in the 70’s it lacks a lot of modern drama (I.e. before social media explosion), but I actually found the story interesting. Though it may have lacked some modern flare, story line was complex enough to keep the reader interested. Will consider reading other books in the series.

[Glen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Amos Walker is hired by a stripper to find her if she disappears. He follows her to her apartment, and she's gone, but there's a dead body in there. He follows the trail, which takes him to a Union, a missing judge, and a whole lot of other murders.

Not bad. Walkers is a jerk, but in the 70's that passed for personality.

[Jim Collins · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have so many unread books on my shelf, but here I am re-reading the second Amos Walker novel and loving every minute of it. I won't go into details, but if you're a Chandler reader and a reader of hardboiled P.I. stories this is the series for you. When I first read Amos Walker years ago, it was like a lightning strike. This is damn good stuff!

[Francis · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ex-cop, wise cracking, detective trying to make a living on the hard streets of Detroit. Too many bodies, too many plot twists and too many wise cracks that didn't quite make it.

Although, as stated in an earlier review - the series does get better.

[Sharlene · Rating 4 out of 5]

Walker is hired by a gorgeous nightclub dancer to find her when she goes missing! She leaves him with a diamond ring. The head of a powerful union is involved along with a long missing judge. As always there's lots of Detroit in the story this time the Renaissance Center and a suburb.