5-STAR REVIEW: THE JANUARY CORPSE by Neil Albert

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The Description

Dave Garrett Mystery: Book 1
Publication Date: January 1, 1990

Dave Garrett is a disbarred lawyer eking out a living in Philadelphia as a private eye. At noon on Friday, a law school classmate offers him what looks like a hopeless investigation. Seven years before, a man named Daniel Wilson disappeared. His car was found abandoned with bullet holes and blood, but no body. A hearing is scheduled for Monday on whether Wilson should be declared legally dead. The police have been stumped for seven years. Organized crime warned off the first investigator to look into the case. Over the course of the weekend, the case takes Dave from center city to the coal regions and back, where the story comes to what the critics called “a startling and satisfying conclusion.”

Nominated as a Best First Novel by the Private Eye Writers of America when it first appeared in 1990 and the first of a series of twelve.

The Review

Before cell phones and the Internet, private investigators had to rely on their abilities to gather clues by asking the right questions and drawing conclusions.

Dave Garrett, a disbarred lawyer turned PI, is hired to investigate whether a man who disappeared seven years ago can be declared legally dead. The catch? He gets handed the case on a Friday, with the hearing scheduled for Monday.

The January Corpse marks the first installment in the Dave Garrett Series set in 1990. Author Neil Albert originally published the first six books of the series between 1991 and 1996. He’s republishing those earlier books and plans to finish the series.

From the opening scene, readers are drawn to Garrett as a down-on-his-luck PI who has seen better days. However, his instincts are solid. As he investigates the circumstances surrounding Dan Wilson’s disappearance, he gets a sense that organized crime is involved.

As the clock ticks, Garrett finds himself in the middle of something much more complicated than a death verification case. The twists and turns deliver a top-notch reading experience.

The January Corpse provides an engrossing introduction to the Dave Garrett Series that will leave readers ready for more. Buy Links

About The Author Neil Albert is a trial lawyer in Lancaster, Pennsylvania and this book is based on a real presumption of death hearing. He has completed nine of the projected twelve books in the series and hopes to finish with December within the next two years. His interest in writing mysteries was kindled by reading Ross Macdonald and Neil operates a blog with an in-depth analysis of each of Macdonald’s books, In his younger years he was an avid fox hunter. His best memory is that he hunted for fifteen years and was the only member not be to seriously injured at least once.