Crosshairs -- Harry Hunsicker

I've said before that I'm opposed to mixing first- and third-person narration in p.i. novels that have the p.i. narrating the story. Call me a traditionalist, or a fuddy-duddy, and keep off my damn lawn. Anyway, those days are gone forever. I'm here to say that I've decided not to object anymore. Robert B. Parker did it in at least one Spenser novel, James Lee Burke has started doing it all the time, Robert Crais took up the habit, Dave White did it in his first novel, and now Harry Hunsicker has done it in his third book. I'm sure I've missed plenty of others. So who am I to object?

But enough of that. What about Crosshairs? Well, Lee Henry (call him Hank) Oswald, shaken up by the events of the previous book in the series (The Next Time You Die), has become a bartender. That doesn't last long, though. An old Army buddy calls in a favor, Oswald bumps into the buddy's doctor, and the next thing he knows, he's up to his neck in mayhem again. That's one of the things I like about the books, in fact. There's always plenty of mayhem, and Hunsicker's very good at action scenes. Good at the snappy patter, too, and at giving you a look at the down and dirty of Dallas. An bonus in this one is some good stuff about the Travelers. I was planning to use them in a Rhodes book I've started, but now I probably won't.

I don't know if there are plans for more in the Hank Oswald series, but I figure there must be. Wouldn't surprise me if Hunsicker didn't have a standalone in mind, too. Check him out if you haven't already.