Tonight I Said Goodbye, Michael Koryta, St. Martin's, $21.95.

Tonight I Said Goodbye by Michael Koryta

St. Martin's doesn't have a perfect track record with their PWA and Malice Domestic winners, but with writers like Steve Hamilton and Julia Spencer-Fleming on the books as past honorees, they've uncovered some pretty major talents. Michael Koryta is another such gift, and his assured first novel, Tonight I Said Goodbye, is a revelation. I felt the kind of disconnect I felt when I read Memoirs of a Geisha - I couldn't believe it was written by a man. In the case of Michael Koryta, it's his youth that's remarkable (his biographical notes say that he hopes to finish his college degree) because the maturity of his writing and of his characters would make the unsuspecting reader think this was an author well into his 40s, not barely into his 20's. The graceful plot, the smooth use of the P.I, genre in a way that makes it his own creation, and the emotion he's able to draw from the reader in several instances are all remarkable. Aside from that, this is a story that moves.

His main character, Lincoln Perry, is a former cop who has become a P.I. Unusually (and refreshingly) his partner/sidekick, Joe Pritchard, is older and more experienced. When they take on a case of a dead private investigator at the behest of his father everyone thinks they're a little nuts. The dead man, Wayne Weston, looked like a suicide; and the night of his death, his wife and small daughter disappeared. The grieving father/grandfather wants nothing more than to know what has happened to his granddaughter, and the more Lincoln discovers about the family, the more he wants some kind of justice for this little girl as well. To any regular mystery reader, the tropes are familiar and make you expect certain outcomes, but the skillful Koryta manages to foil your expectations at every turn. You may expect the little girl to be dead; you may expect a mysterious female; you may expect some bad and unpleasant tough guys; but any expectations you have will (usually) be wrong. While clearly Koryta is a devotee of the P.I. genre, he's really managed to create something a little different with his wonderful storytelling skills. Like all the best P.I. heros - from Spenser to Amos Walker - Lincoln Perry walks on the side of the angels; he's a hero in the guise of a hard working tough guy. Koryta is a welcome breath of fresh air to this particular subgenre, and to mystery readers everywhere. Mr. Koryta has been nominated for both the Edgar and Shamus awards, as well as the Great Lakes Book Award for best mystery novel. He'll be on the 2 p.m BookFest panel "The Private Eyes".

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