Back Bay Blues (Andy Roark Series #2)

by Peter Colt

Overview

Theft, greed, and corruption collide in Peter Colt’s hard-edged mystery featuring Vietnam veteran turned Boston P.I. Andy Roark.

1985, Boston. In Vietnam, Andy Roark witnessed death and horrifying destruction. But for the soldiers who made it back alive, there are other casualties of war—the loss of tenderness, trust, and connection. Still feeling adrift, Andy has struck up a welcome friendship with Nguyen, a Vietnamese restaurant owner. Sipping beer and trading memories after the restaurant shutters, Andy gradually learns of the extraordinary lengths Nguyen took to flee Saigon shortly after its fall.
 
Andy’s latest case, too, has ties to Vietnam. His new client, a young Vietnamese woman, hires him to investigate her uncle’s murder. Andy discovers a connection to a group of refugees determined to overthrow the communist government—and extorting local business owners to raise funds. The search for more answers takes Andy to D.C. and San Francisco, and into a web of political and personal betrayal. For near the heart of this mystery is a link to Nguyen’s daring escape. Decades have passed, but sometimes the price of freedom twists allies into enemies, loyalties into betrayals, and truth into lies . . .

“Excellent. . . . Colt makes his wounded lead sympathetic, and balances a gripping plot with further development of Roark’s character. Jeremiah Healy fans looking for a new Beantown hero will be eager for more.”
—Publishers Weekly, STARRED REVIEW

 

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781496723468
Publisher:	Kensington
Publication date:	09/29/2020
Series:	Andy Roark Series , #2
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	304
Sales rank:	782,295
File size:	1 MB

About the Author

Peter Colt is a currently a police officer in a small New England city where he has worked for the since 2007. He spent over twenty years in the Army reserve and was deployed to Kosovo in 2000, where he was attached to the Russian Army. He was deployed to Iraq in 2003 and again in 2008. He was fortunate to get to know many Vietnam vets and U.S. Army Special forces soldiers. He lived on Nantucket Island from 1973-1986. He’s currently working on the next Andy Roark mystery.

Editorial Reviews

…a classical mystery with an honor-bound detective and a keen sense of place…Besides having the P.I. spiel and the P.I. moves down pat, Roark is genuinely likable (not too tough, but not a patsy) and very much a character of his time…Silly us, we thought they didn't make them like this anymore. It seems that they do.

The New York Times Book Review - Marilyn Stasio

★ 07/27/2020

Set in 1985, Colt’s excellent second hard-boiled mystery featuring Boston PI Andy Roark (after 2019’s The Off-Islander) finds Roark, a Vietnam War vet still traumatized by his combat experiences, supporting himself with routine investigations, until Thuy Duong brings him the case of her journalist uncle, Hieu, a shooting victim. While the police have treated the murder as a botched mugging, Thuy believes Hieu was gunned down because of his reporting. Hieu was critical of the work of the Committee, an anti-communist group opposed to the Vietnamese regime. He’d told his newspaper colleagues that he believed that the Committee was fraudulent and was ripping off the Boston Vietnamese community rather than advancing its political agenda. Duong also suspects that her uncle’s death is related to the recent fatal stabbing of a Vietnamese businessman. The nature of the case inevitably reawakens some of Roark’s demons as he doggedly searches for the truth. Colt makes his wounded lead sympathetic, and balances a gripping plot with further development of Roark’s character. Jeremiah Healy fans looking for a new Beantown hero will be eager for more. Agent: Cynthia Manson, Cynthia Manson Literary. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly

Praise for Peter Colt and The Off-Islander
 
“Entertaining . . . Like Philip Marlowe—or Robert Parker’s Spenser—Andy has a sharp eye for telling detail and male haberdashery. Those who enjoy newish reworkings of classic PI tropes will be satisfied.”
—Publisher Weekly
 
“If you like your mysteries to be old-school in the vein of John D. MacDonald, or even farther back to Raymond Chandler or Dashiell Hammett, then you will appreciate this striking debut by Peter Colt. Long on atmosphere, detail, and character, it could place detective Andy Roark amongst the classic noir sleuths.”
—Raymond Benson, author of Blues in the Dark
 
“New England police officer Colt’s first novel is a boozy pipe dream of a private eye’s search for a long-missing father . . . [with] lots of attitude.”
—Kirkus Reviews
 
“This atmospheric debut mystery should appeal to fans of the early works of Dennis Lehane and Robert B. Parker.”
—Library Journal
 
“By the end of the book . . . the reader has been taken for a long, exciting ride . . . We are told that this is not the last of the Andy Roark novels. I look forward to the next one.”
—Vietnam Veterans of America
 
“Readers yearning for a noir mystery in the vein of Mike Hammer or Sam Spade are in luck. Peter Colt has delivered just such a tale of intrigue. . . . Colt, an Army veteran who served in Kosovo and Iraq and now is a police officer in a small New England city, captures his firsthand, on-the-job experience in moody prose. The novel spends nearly as much time exploring Roark’s inner demons from the Vietnam War and life afterward as it does with the case at hand, adding a deeply evocative perspective to events.”
—Bookpage

From the Publisher

08/28/2020

Private investigator Andy Roark has come to the streets of Boston for a fresh start and to escape some of the horror he witnessed years before in the Vietnam War as he deals with PTSD and survivor's guilt. Roark soon develops a strong friendship with a Vietnamese restaurant owner, Nguyen, whom he is able to share stories and drinks with and who eventually helps Roark settle some into the community. Roark is soon approached by a young Vietnamese woman to investigate the connection between the death of her uncle and another prominent businessman from Washington, DC Later, he witnesses Nguyen talking to some strange men who turn out to be extortionists sending money back to Vietnam. The investigation continues and soon Roark discovers a link between the dead men and the extortionists and his friend may be involved. VERDICT The second installment of Colt's 1980s-set series (after The Off-Islander) will lure fans of Robert Parker's Spenser into the atmospheric Boston setting. A tight plot, great characterization, and sensitive topics make this a good addition to library collections.

Library Journal

With vivid descriptions; sharp, authentic dialogue; and a compelling plot, this audio mystery, set in Boston in 1985, is worth the listen. Narrator Keith Sellon-Wright pulls listeners in with his portrayal of former Army Special Forces soldier Andy Roark. Now an investigator, he’s trying to figure out what comes next in his life. Sellon-Wright portrays him as smart, dedicated, and skilled—though sometimes haunted by his service in Vietnam. In his latest investigation he is hired by a young Vietnamese woman to look into her uncle's murder. With flashbacks to his service, the case has both personal and political implications. The investigation ramps up with perfect pacing and tension, and the ending will leave listeners looking forward to the next book in the series. K.S.M. © AudioFile 2021, Portland, Maine

JANUARY 2021 - AudioFile