Book Review: A Cold Day in Paradise

Reviewed By: Harriet Klausner

A Cold Day in Paradise     Amazon US PB Amazon US HC Amazon UK PB Amazon Canada PB Amazon Canada HC
Steve Hamilton
Class/Genre:   Mystery   Private Investigator   Police Procedural
Series: Alex McKnight # 1
St. Martin's, Sep 1998, $22.95, 277 pp.

Detroit police officer Alex McKnight was forced to accept a disability retirement when he took a bullet near his heart. Alex moves to Paradise, a small community in Michigan's Upper Peninsula where he rents cabins to hunters. Local attorney Lane Uttley urges Alex to get his private investigator's license by promising to send the former cop his investigating business.

When Edwin Fulton of the wealthy Detroit family is mixed up with the murder of his bookie, Alex is hired to protect the Fulton name. However, a second murder of another local bookie and the disappearance of Eddie changes the case. Alex and Lane begin to investigate murders and the disappearance. However, at the same time the ex-cop begins to receive mail and calls allegedly from the individual who shot him near the heart fourteen years ago, a person supposedly spending life behind bars without parole.

Readers will easily see why A COLD DAY IN PARADISE was the winner of 1997 St. Martin's Press/Private Eye Writers of America's Award for Best First Private Eye Novel. The characters are brilliantly developed and the mysteries are fun puzzles that blend together in a witty and wonderful story line. However, what really makes Steve Hamilton's debut a smashing success is the clever way the author provides background material from several different years and incidents from Alex's past in the context of a current situational dilemma. Hopefully, there will be more cold days spent in paradise with Alex and the local community.

Harriet Klausner

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Harriet Klausner