“Valjan paints the town, and all the colors are noir.” – Tom Straw, NYT Bestselling author, as Richard CastleShane Cleary, a PI in a city where the cops want him dead, is tough, honest and broke. When he’s asked to look into a case of blackmail, the money is too good for him to refuse, even though the client is a snake and his wife is the woman who stomped on Shane’s heart years before. When a … before. When a fellow vet and Boston cop with a secret asks Shane to find a missing person, the paying gig and the favor for a friend lead Shane to an arsonist, mobsters, a shady sports agent, and Boston’s deadliest hitman, the Barbarian. With both criminals and cops out to get him, the pressure is on for Shane to put all the pieces together before time runs out.
“Robert B. Parker would stand and cheer, and George V. Higgins would join the ovation. This is a terrific book–tough, smart, spare, and authentic. Gabriel Valjan is a true talent–impressive and skilled–providing knock-out prose, a fine-tuned sense of place and sleekly wry style.” – Hank Phillippi Ryan, nationally bestselling author of The Murder List
“Dirty Old Town hits every pitch out of the park: it’s smart, funny and consistently surprising. A great read!” – Dennis Palumbo, author of the Daniel Rinaldi Mysteries
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Spare, atmospheric writing to thrill any fan of the noir genre. The time (1975) and the place (Boston) provide the perfect backdrop for this first installment in the Shane Cleary Mystery Series. In the best tradition of Chandler and Hammett, Gabriel Valjan creates a P.I. that will have you imagining the story unfolding as a black-and-white movie in your head. Next up in the series: Symphony Road. I’m salivating.
This is the 9th book I have read by this author. I truly enjoy Gabriel Valjan’s novels. This book, however is different from the others. Previous books featured intrigue on an international scale and more politics and history. Dirty Old Town is instead a hard boiled mystery set on the tough streets of Boston in the 70’s.
The main character is a private detective – a former police officer who had to leave the force for doing the right thing. He stood up for a victim’s family instead of protecting the cop who killed an innocent teen. He is persona non grata to his former colleagues. They would be glad to see him dead. So he has to try to stay under the radar as he has no idea when they will strike.
Out of money and desperate for work, and against his better judgement, he agrees to take a case for his ex-wife’s new husband, a man of questionable business practices. Right from the beginning, he has a bad feeling about this. The case is murky and there are many important details left out that he needs to find the truth. As the story progresses, the question arises – is he being set up to take a fall?
The plot is twisted and filled with all the elements you’d want in this genre – mobsters, crooked cops, hidden agendas, a sexy ex-wife, A shady sports agent, a secret sex club, a scary killer for hire and a pet cat with an attitude. A great escapist read.
Well, this has a character that is an ex-cop, down on his luck P.I. Hard as rocks and good and kind at the same time. The kind of character I just love. I must tell you, I never ever tire of this kind of character. This one, Shane Cleary, is as charming as many others but seems to have his own personality. The ability of the author to use a typical character and yet give he or she a unique personality is the “hook” here. Something a little quirky; something that gets your attention. The thing that always reels me in. And Gabriel Valjan seems to have this talent, catching the reader and holding on to us long enough to keep us reading. That’s what happened to me. I sure didn’t put this one down too often.
This almost reads like an old Philip Marlowe or Sam Spade novel. Shane is the kind of P.I. always looking for a job, scraping to pay his rent. Lo and behold…along comes a pretty, yet sultry lady he was in love with long ago. She married for money and she still is a vamp. You won’t like her. I guarantee it. I think that’s the way it’s supposed to be or maybe I was jealous of her looks:)
I did spend an amount of time doing the “who’s trying to get who” which Valjan draws out and hides well. Lots of twists and turns. I won’t say I wasn’t occasionally a tiny bit confused, but I think it was only because there are a few places the story slows down a bit.
If you like Philip Marlowe dialog, settings that are almost black noir with a little humor now and then, this is a book you don’t want to miss.
This is Valjan’s Book 1 in a new series titled “A Shane Cleary mystery”. While this may be the first in this series, Gabriel Valjan is most certainly not a newly published author. He has many books published, all with good reviews. Check him out.
Robert B. Parker would stand and cheer, and George V. Higgins would join the ovation. This is a terrific book–tough, smart, spare, and authentic. Gabriel Valjan is a true talent–impressive and skilled–providing knock-out prose, a fine-tuned sense of place and sleekly wry style.