I love a good mystery but this three pack fell flat for me. There wasn't much depth or life to the main character Nick. He made fantastic jumps of intuition near the very end of each mystery after going in the wrong direction each time. Of the three mysteries, I liked Little Boy Found the best but I would not recommend any. ( )

I enjoyed the book for the most part. It was very well written and the mysteries were well done. Nick is a douchebag, but he has his reasons and most of the are valid. The last mystery ending gave me hope things will change in the next book, and I'm looking forward to reading it.

BUT.

The sex scenes? They were too much like bad 80s porn and there were so many of them I couldn't just have a laugh and let it go. And I'm not talking just about the descriptions of sex (though those were bad and cringe-porny too). I'm talking about the scenarios - in spoiler tags because they do betray a bit of the plot.


A handsome private dick going door to door interviewing people when a scantly-clad young man opens the door and decides to explore the dick's privates.



A handsome private dick investigating a fire and the handsome buff fireman decides to help him with more than just the investigation.



A handsome private dick goes undercover as a secretary when his boss corners him in the filing room and gives him an assignment he didn't expect.


I could almost hear the tune. You know, THE tune. ( )

This is written about the early 80's. It really took me there. During the time period, gays weren't accepted and safe sex wasn't a big deal. It isn't romanticized. If you're looking for something romantic or erotic, this probably isn't for you. The mysteries are great. The lead role is real, not perfect but desirable. Sex is abundant and done for hell of it not for love. I found it to be a really refreshing pace from a lot I normally read. ( )

Three short stories that introduce the reader to Nick Nowak, private eye, dismissed police officer of the Chicago PD and exiled from his family for being gay. This is Chicago in 1980. These are noirish stories where we learn about Nick's life, how he deals with the job, his isolation from his fairly large Polish family who are all connected to the Chicago PD one way or another.

The casual hook ups, the gay community as it were, the pre-AIDS times (but right at the beginning of the awareness of AIDS) are well portrayed. This is a bit rough around the edges as far as writing goes but it fits with the characters, the times and the place.

More like 3.5 stars. I will be reading more of this series. ( )

Very good PI stories, each with a well written and cleverly contrued crime plot. The stories have a rough feel to them, mostly imo thanks to 1st person narrator ex-cop an tough guy Nick Nowak. ( )