The Fairfax Incident

It begins as a locked-room mystery. Sort of. A rich old guy locks himself in his office and is later found with his brains blown out. Suicide, everyone agrees, including private eye Charlie Doherty. But the old guy's widow won't have it. Suicide is something people like us just don't do, she says, and she hires Charlie to prove murder. Charlie sees his job as convincing her the official version is right. But, as he goes through the motions, odd things emerge. Why was a phone call not...
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It begins as a locked-room mystery. Sort of. A rich old guy locks himself in his office and is later found with his brains blown out. Suicide, everyone agrees, including private eye Charlie Doherty. But the old guy's widow won't have it. Suicide is something people like us just don't do, she says, and she hires Charlie to prove murder. Charlie sees his job as convincing her the official version is right. But, as he goes through the motions, odd things emerge. Why was a phone call not in the police report? An interview with a staffer left out? The key is the year. It's 1933, the Depression is crushing the country, and no-one was making dreams like they used to any more. A different dream is being dreamed in Germany, by committed lunatics who think they have God on their side. Charlie doesn't close the case until he's gone up against a group of heavily armed German Americans and found the link to the old man's death. The author has merged a classic detective story with a full-on actioner, and it works beautifully.