Author: Dennis Lehane

Title: Moonlight Mile

Publisher: HarperCollins

Is it possible to do the right thing . . . and still be wrong? That's the question that haunts private detective Patrick Kenzie.

Unlike the stereotypical lone wolf private eye, Kenzie is the married father of a small daughter. He's got a mountain of unpaid debt and a lurking midlife crisis. Currently, he's working on spec, trying desperately to get hired with a corporate investigative firm so he can pay the bills while his wife finishes school. Problem is, Kenzie is a guy with inconvenient moral standards and those standards are taking a beating. Maybe corporate work is not for him, after all.

Just when things start looking up, a voice from the past brings back a mess of memories. Twelve years earlier, Kenzie had been called in on a kidnapping case. He found the missing four-year-old. Unfortunately, that meant little Amanda had to leave her happy new family life only to return to the criminally irresponsible mother she'd left behind. Now Amanda is missing again. So what's a morally responsible guy to do?

Action-packed does not begin to describe this book. Russian mafia, identity theft, adoption scams, stolen treasure, murder, and more mayhem—Moonlight Mile has it all. I'm at a bit of a loss as to how to describe this book. On the one hand, it falls into the "hard-boiled" style of mystery with hard-hitting, hard-living, foul-mouthed characters who would just as soon kill you as look at you. On the other hand, for such a gritty story, Moonlight Mile is surprisingly sweet.

Much of the sweetness comes from Kenzie's relationship with his family. Wife (and former partner) Angie is just as tough as he is, even after her five-year-sabbatical from chasing bad guys. She thought she missed the work, but then again, she wonders, "Is this the job? Did I forget it's just talking to people who make you want to scour your skin with a Brillo pad?" Apparently that does make up much of the job. It's a process made more palatable for the reader because Lehane is such a good writer. The couple trade one-liners with aplomb, no matter how tense their situation. Even when Kenzie is staring down the barrel of a gun he manages to be an entertaining smart . . . um . . . aleck.

Fans of Robert Parker's Spenser will find a kindred spirit in Patrick Kenzie. They're both modern knights-errant jousting with the forces of evil with their lady's favour tied to their sleeves. If you have issues with "colorful" language, casual crime, or violence (there's a lot of blood) then give this one a miss. But if you're looking for a complex, multi-layered story that addresses the greater issues of right and wrong within the context of a finely-crafted mystery, you won't go wrong with Moonlight Mile.

**This Review First Published Nov. 16, 2010