Damnation Street -- Andrew Klavan

I confess that I'm a sucker for Andrew Klavan's novels. I've been a fan ever since he was writing as "Keith Peterson." I find his books entertaining in ways that a lot of other books aren't. They're often quite inventive (The Uncanny is a particular favorite in that regard), and the plots are engrossing.

Damnation Street is the final book of the trilogy that began with Shotgun Alley and continued in Dynamite Road. The books are about a young man who gets out of college and finds a job with a detective agency. The other members of the agency play important roles in the young man's growing up. Scott Weiss, the agency's owner, is the older man who provides wise counsel. Jim Bishop is the near-Superman who shows what physical prowess can do. Sissy is the secretary, who provides sex education. All three books in the series are tough and suspenseful, and even the mixture of first- and third-person narration doesn't bother me because it makes perfect sense the way Klavin's narrator explains it.

These books probably aren't for everyone, but I enjoyed all three of them. They pretty much have to be read in order, I'd say. Check 'em out if you're looking for a slightly different angle on the standard p.i. story.