cover image Hell’s Detective

Hell’s Detective

Michael Logan. Crooked Lane, $25.99 (288p) ISBN 978-1-68331-171-3

Logan (World War Moo) does justice to his offbeat concept—that even in hell the damned need the services of a hard-bitten PI—in this entertaining mystery. Gumshoe Kat Murphy committed suicide in Los Angeles in 1978 after accidentally gunning down her lover. She now exists in Lost Angeles, “that stinking pit masquerading as a city,” where she’s routinely tormented by memories of her tragic mistake. At a bar, Kat meets the mysterious Laureen Andrews, the chief administrator of Lost Angeles, who offers to stop her nightly sufferings if she succeeds in recovering a “significant item.” Kat resists at first, but she comes around and learns that the item in question is an “Earth-shaped box carved out of mahogany” stolen from Laureen’s personal safe. Kat quickly realizes that Laureen is hoping to keep the loss a secret from her boss, Satan himself. Logan has a knack for crafting lines that will gratify noir fans (“She had curly black hair and cheekbones so sharp that a man could kiss her and shave at the same time”). (June)