Private Heat

Rating:
Summary: Authenticity and action crafted by an emerging star!
Review: Authenticity is hard to come by in the world of fiction, but this first novel offers plenty.

The back of the dust jacket says the author is a military veteran as well an experienced private investigator. I have no doubt of this, for as I read 'Private Heat', it was obvious to me that Mr. Bailey has personally experienced the events which enabled him to craft and plot this excellent story.

His first hand experience not only allows him to accurately portray the technical details of a detective story, but, he is also able to strike the elusive and delicate balance between fiction and reality.

IE, "Private Heat" is not a 'true crime' novel, but it's entertaining and REAL at the same time.

"Private Heat" offers excellent dialogue and a well crafted plot. Highly recommended. Collectors should grab their own first printing of Mr. Baileys first novel while they still can. I'm looking forward to the next installment.

Rating:
Summary: Fantastic!! Engaging, funny, a great story!
Review: I haven't read a lot of mystery novels, but when I happened to run into Robert Bailey while he was speaking at a local bookstore, I decided to buy his first book and give it a shot. He was a genuinely nice guy, and you could tell that he really, really liked what he had written. That sold me right there.

It took me a couple of chapters to get into the book, but after that I was completely hooked. Art Hardin, the main character, is very believable detective, and I liked the fact that he's a family man and not the typical gumshoe that you see in the movies. I loved that he kept getting arrested, and I loved that he was always on top of every situation. The story moves along at a whirlwind pace, the action unfolding in a way that keeps you wanting more and more right up until the end. This book is addictive! The characters are real, the author has a great sense of humor, and the plot is both well thought out and well presented. I laughed out loud a few times while reading the book, which was a surprise.

I might be a bit partial, because the book is set in my home town. As a matter of fact, Art's office is located a mile and a half from my house! Robert Bailey has depicted the adventures of a detective in Grand Rapids in a way that I would have never imagined possible, and it was a thrill to see so many of the places with which I'm familiar in print.

This novel will appeal to readers of all types. I know that for certain, because I myself am more into SF and dark fantasy than anything else, and I loved this book. I'll be recommending it to others, and I can't wait for the second book in the series, which, according to Mr. Bailey, is set to be published soon.

Great job!!

Rating:
Summary: Very Good Debut: Priavte Heat
Review: In this debut novel of a new series, the author has created a multi faceted private investigator, an intriguing cast of characters, and a complex ever changing mystery. Art Hardin is the middle-aged part owner of Ladin Associates, a detective agency. After the sudden death of his partner and the man the company was named for, his newly widowed wife Marg sold Art Hardin her half of the business and then stuck around to take care of the books, the phone and run her own small accounting firm out of the office. Marg pays a third of the rent and Art takes care of everything else as well as dealing with her at times shrew like personality.

A former counterintelligence officer for the Defense Intelligence Service, he has had a few clashed with the local government. As a result of being sued for false arrest by Art some time ago, the county government hired the premier attorney firm of Van Pelham and Timmer. The case was ultimately won by Art despite being thoroughly trashed by attorneys representing the firm. Therefore, it is a bit of a surprise when Martin Van Pelham wants to meet with Art and wants to hire him.

Martin Van Pelham wants and needs someone who won't be intimated by the local law enforcement community. His niece is going through a messy divorce with her soon to be ex-husband, a city police officer. He has a history of assaulting her and the simple solution of serving him with divorce papers and a restraining order while she leaves town won't work. Martin Van Pelham grudgingly explains that his nice is the one "Karen Terisa" featured prominently in lurid detail in the local media as being deeply involved in a sex and money laundering scandal that resulted in the finding of her boss dead in a trunk of a car parked at the airport. The money is missing and she knows where it is among other things. At the same time, her soon to be ex is part of a very suddenly made public undercover squad cited in numerous civil suits regarding assault, battery and other less than savory things.

Martin Van Pelham wants Art to guard her and keep her safe from everyone for not more than two days so that he can get his niece into the witness protection program. Art has some financial consideration issues as well as making sure that the firm will pay for his defense should anything go wrong. Then he agrees to do the job and before he has cashed the check, he has walked right into a puzzle house of mirrors where nothing is as it seems and more than one party wants him dead.

Combining dirty cops, crooked feds, and scummy clients, this very enjoyable novel soon turns into a wild ride. Told in first person format, this novel sets up numerous secondary but very important characters in addition to Art Hardin for future books. Within a matter of pages the supporting cast becomes quite familiar as old friends while the overriding mystery becomes more and more complex.

While that is all good, the author also does one small thing, which lowered the book one level in my estimation. I slowly became somewhat annoyed buy his refusal to use the same name for the same person through out the book. Instead, sometimes he uses the first name, sometimes the last, and at other times, apparently the person suddenly sprouted a nickname hence not seen before. The naming issue became annoying, as occasionally I had to flip back to the first part of the book to make sure he was still referring to the same person.

One constant is the fact that action is the primary component of the book. Unlike many novels that are heavily action oriented as this one certainly is, character development and plot are not given short shrift. The book moves forward at a steady fast pace despite Art Hardin's occasional and very amusing wise guy humor. Not a word is wasted in the telling of the tale and the author spins a very complex tale in deed. As the pages fly by, the reader is quickly pulled into the author's world where the real world we all have to deal with does not exist. Simply good stuff.


Book Facts:


Private Heat (An Art Hardin Mystery)
By Robert Bailey
M. Evans and Company, Inc.
2002
ISBN # 0-87131-970-5
Hardback
$21.95 US



Kevin R. Tipple © 2004


Rating:
Summary: Hold on to your hat! You're in for a ride.
Review: It's tough to find a contemporary first book by an author--and a mystery, at that--as compelling and entertaining as PRIVATE HEAT by Robert Bailey. What a pleasant surprise. A gut-wrencher one moment, the reader laughs out loud the next. On top of it all, Bailey's experience as a private investigator lends the book a believability that pulls the reader right into the action.

The plot moves along quickly, as Bailey masterfully builds his characters. The reader cannot help but identify with the not-quite-smug protagonist, Art Hardin, and his sidekick, as well as the entire Hardin family--especially his wife, Wendy. Throw in his dead partner's widow, who holds the business pursestrings, and a few cops who don't take to a PI who continually gets ahead of them , and Bailey has woven a great setting for a dynamite murder case.

PRIVATE HEAT is loaded with the irony that underscores real life. In one scene, Hardin's wonderful "rotor"-tailed dog careens across a vehicle's hood to catch a frisbee while the cops, called to check out a shooting at Hardin's house, cheer him on.

Bailey's polished, well-turned phrases give the book impact. It's a damned good read, and the last page is the best. But don't cheat. You'll miss out on a great ride if you do.

Note: I hear the next book in the series, DYING EMBERS, is due out any time now.

Rating:
Summary: Great action--fine characters
Review: Private Detective Art Hardin is hired to help in a domestic violence case--a police officer isn't taking his divorce calmly and Hardin has a reputation for not taking the police terribly seriously. He soon learns that the case is a lot more complicated than domestic violence...

Author Robert Bailey delivers an action-packed thriller. Hardin is a fine wise-cracking hero, ready to take on the police or anyone else for his client and his pride...

PRIVATE HEAT was occasionally too complicated, with too many corrupt officials and too many tough-guy acts on the part of Hardin, but only occasionally. For the most part, this was a fine and exciting novel. A real page turner and hard to put down.