I became totally and permanently hooked on Jonathan Moore’s novels after reading THE POISON ARTIST, THE DARK ROOM and THE NIGHT MARKET, which together presented a tightly written and loosely connected triptych of San Francisco. His newly published BLOOD RELATIONS, which has been eagerly anticipated by anyone who 1) has read any of his prior books and 2) has a pulse, is the equal of any and all of its predecessors, with a true and pitch-perfect mystery at its core and a solution that blurs but does not break genre lines.

Lee Crowe is the bent, but not broken, narrator of BLOOD RELATIONS. He is a private investigator in San Francisco, operating out of a modest office on Van Ness Avenue and living in out-of-the-way digs in Chinatown. His primary client is Jim Gardner, a highly successful and utterly ruthless defense attorney who keeps him busy on just this side of an ethical boundary (with an occasional crossover). When we meet Crowe, he is temporarily ensconced in an itchy apartment in the city’s infamous Tenderloin area, on an assignment the description of which is worth the price of the book all by itself. He is taking an early morning stroll to his office when he finds the body of a young lady who has either jumped or been pushed from a great height and landed on a Rolls Royce in front of a hotel.

"Jonathan Moore has been compared to Raymond Chandler. While such comparisons are inevitable, I believe that they state things backward.... [I]f Chandler was alive today, he would be writing like Moore. Yes, the guy is that good."

Sensing extra money, Crowe snaps a few pictures of the unfortunate woman with his cell phone and sells them to the media. This gains him a bit of notoriety, which he already possesses in the city to a great degree. Eventually the victim is revealed to be Claire Gravesend, the heiress to an extremely large fortune. Crowe, through Gardner, is hired by Claire’s mother Olivia to discover what actually happened to her daughter, who was supposed to be attending school in Boston. Questions abound, particularly when the autopsy photos reveal a series of scars on Claire’s back and neck that cannot be explained. Crowe travels to Claire’s apartment in Boston, a trip that provides enigmatic clues but no real answers and ultimately results in him getting into more hot water.

When Crowe returns to San Francisco, a bit of solid detective work leads him to find a pied-à-terre that Claire had acquired, unknown to her mother. The mystery then takes a shocking new turn, as he finds a woman who is identical to Claire in every way, right down to her scars, sleeping there. Everyone seems to be lying to him, and there is more than the case at stake. Crowe has a target on his back as well, and if he doesn’t get some answers, he may wind up as dead as Claire (if she is actually deceased). You’ll have to read the book to find out the answers, and it will be worth every moment of your time.

Jonathan Moore has been compared to Raymond Chandler. While such comparisons are inevitable, I believe that they state things backward. With all due respect, if Chandler was alive today, he would be writing like Moore. Yes, the guy is that good. If you have even sniffed around private-eye fiction, or great fiction of any genre, you will want to read BLOOD RELATIONS and Moore’s backlist.