CUTTHROAT DOGS, Loren D. Estleman’s 29th novel featuring the incomparable Amos Walker, is a refreshing departure from your standard mystery series. Whether you want to label it hard-boiled or crime noir, these books are a throwback to the writing of Raymond Chandler and Ross Macdonald. The only difference is that Estleman’s protagonist exists in the modern day as a private investigator. All that’s missing is the trench coat and hat!

What makes Amos Walker such a memorable character is his way with words and continuous snappy dialogue that practically jumps off the page. At the start of this latest entry, Amos is waiting in line to make a deposit at the Detroit Bank & Trust Building. His keen detective’s eye spies a man “whose fashion and grooming tips seemed to come from 1970s porn films.” As the stranger approaches the teller, he flashes a gun and demands all her money. Amos pulls out his own weapon, shoots the man in the back of the leg, and patiently waits for the police to arrive.

"CUTTHROAT DOGS is hard-hitting and fast-moving in both action and dialogue. In other words, it is everything we have come to love about an Amos Walker mystery."

Shockingly, Amos is the one who is handcuffed as if he is the criminal. When he arrives at police headquarters, he is not taken to an interrogation room but rather has a one-on-one meeting with John Alderdyce, a retired police officer who now works as a consultant with the Detroit PD. He reminds Amos that carrying a firearm is a felony that brings with it a fine and a year in jail. However, in this case, he is being released because the media has already learned about the foiled bank robbery and is hailing him as a hero.

As he walks out of the police station, Amos is approached by the bank teller, Chrys, who thanks him for saving her and asks if they can meet. She informs him that “someone is dead who shouldn’t be, and the wrong man is in prison.” The prisoner is Chrys' brother, Dan, and the deceased is April Goss, a college freshman who was found dead in her bathtub as an alleged victim of suicide. That was later changed to murder when Dan’s fingerprints were discovered all over her apartment. Dan had been seeing her but to this day maintains his innocence.

Amos takes on the case and soon crosses paths with the detective who originally worked on it. Knowing that someone will be constantly looking over his shoulder, he goes about his own investigation that begins with meeting Chrys’ brother in prison. Dan doesn’t have much to say but grudgingly offers up that he was wrongly convicted. Amos already can see the headlines from his friends in the local press: "CONVICTED MURDERER GETS SECOND CHANCE." If Dan is innocent, then who killed April? Amos will find out the hard way that there are many people who want this cold case to remain on ice, and he has no idea who he can trust.

CUTTHROAT DOGS is hard-hitting and fast-moving in both action and dialogue. In other words, it is everything we have come to love about an Amos Walker mystery.