Mon 17 Jul 2023
An Archived PI Mystery Review: JOHN BIRKETT – The Last Private Eye.
Posted by Steve under Reviews[4] Comments
JOHN BIRKETT – The Last Private Eye. Michael Rhineheart #1, Avon, paperback original; 1st printing, March 1988.
I bought this book because of the title. Unfortunately, Michael Rhineheart is “the best private investigator in Louisville,†which is bad news, as far as I am concerned. Louisville means horses. And horse racing, and doped horses, and rigged odds, and what a bore.
Nothing here to change my mind. Rhineheart is “cool,†shrugs a lot, and wanders around with his fly open, Even though the bad guys are obvious, their undoing is only due to bad luck and their own bad temperaments. Rhineheart has nothing at all to do with it.
Bibliographic Update: There was a second book in the series, The Queen’s Mare (Avon, 1990), but not a third.
July 17th, 2023 at 3:01 pm
I may have been wrong about this one.
The book was nominated for a Shamus award by the PWA in the category of BEST ORIGINAL P.I. PAPERBACK.
July 17th, 2023 at 7:11 pm
And, as I have just discovered, the second book in the series was also Shamus-nominated, in the same Original PI Paperback category.
July 17th, 2023 at 7:40 pm
I vaguely recall starting this, I don’t think I finished it. Awards aren’t always accurate predictors of what I’ll like.
July 18th, 2023 at 12:21 am
How right you are. I remember the book only vaguely, but what my review says still goes.