Steve Hamilton - The Hunting Wind

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THE HUNTING WIND

"When the left-hander found me, I was sitting in my usual chair in front of the fire, trying to stay warm. The calendar said April, but April in Paradise is still cold enough to hurt you, and I could feel the sting of it in my hands and on my face. I sat there by the fire, watching the baseball game on the television over the bar, nursing a cold Canadian beer as the left-hander made his way in the darkness. He knew where he was going, because he had a hand-drawn map in his back pocket, with a little star on the right side of the road as you come north into Paradise. The Glasgow Inn, that was his destination. He knew I'd be there. On a cold Tuesday night in April, where else would I be?"

Synopsis
In his most stunning mystery yet, Steve Hamilton returns readers to the bitter cold of Paradise, Michigan, and the solitary world of Alex McKnight. When a bullet lodged too close to his heart ended his career as a Detroit policeman, McKnight moved to the cabins his father built on the Upper Peninsula. His days are passed taking care of the cabins and stopping in at the Glasgow Inn for his nightly round of Canadian beers.

According to Alex McKnight and anyone else who lives there, "April in Paradise is still cold enough to hurt you." So, on a typical chilly April night, McKnight is sitting in his usual chair at the inn drinking his Canadian beer, unaware that even then someone is traveling two thousand miles to see him. It is Randy Wilkins, the crazy southpaw pitcher who used to keep McKnight dancing behind the plate in their minor-league days. They haven't seen each other in thirty years, but Randy is convinced that McKnight is the right man to help him on his quest. Randy has come back to Michigan to find Maria, the one true love of his life. The only problem? Randy walked away from her in 1971 and hasn't seen or heard from her since.

McKnight can't believe what he is hearing. The whole story sounds ridiculous, but McKnight, occasionally known for being a soft touch, agrees to help Randy look for her.

The search takes them to Detroit, and as it deepens, McKnight begins to realize that he is an unwilling player in a dangerous game.

With gut-wrenching twists and revelations as chilling as a winter night in Paradise, Hamilton unreels another superb mystery that will leave you wondering just how well you know your friends.

Reviews

Edgar and Shamus Awards-winner Hamilton's third Alex McKnight thriller (after A Cold Day in Paradise; Winter of the Wolf Moon) is the next best thing to Evelyn Wood. It is un-put-down-able. McKnight, a former Detroit copy, was "retired" by a bullet that remains lodged in his chest. He owns a small business in upstate Michigan and likes to spend his time in the local pub watching his beloved Tigers on TV. One day an old friend walks in - a man he hasn't seen for 30 years. Alex has a soft spot for old buddies who exploit him mercilessly. This one is no exception. He wants Alex to help him find a former girlfriend whom he hasn't seen in decades. As he won't listen to reason, he and Alex are soon in Detroit on the almost nonexistent trail of his boyhood love. It is a leisurely - but interesting - trek that doesn't quicken until it seems to peter out entirely. Then, an unexpected act of violence causes everything we have believed real to blur into a haze of doubt. We are in the glorious, shadowy realm of noir where nothing is what it seems. Alex, the street-smart cop, is momentarily a babe in the woods in a pit of vipers. Hamilton's prose moves us smoothly along and his characters are marvelously real. His world is an existential one - merciless to the innocent - but in this exceptionally entertaining novel, McKnight is a decent man whose wits are a match for a whole world of vipers.
-- Publishers Weekly starred review

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