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Detroit Shuffle Detroit Mysteries D E Johnson Books

Download As PDF : Detroit Shuffle Detroit Mysteries D E Johnson Books

Detroit Shuffle Detroit Mysteries D E Johnson Books

I love automobiles and their history. I also enjoy a good mystery. This series combines both. Great characters and writing. It also gives you a look at what a great and beautiful city Detroit used to be, and, hopefully will be again in the future, even with its dark side. I have all 4 books in the series and look forward to the next one.


Tags : Amazon.com: Detroit Shuffle (Detroit Mysteries) (9781250006769): D. E. Johnson: Books,D. E. Johnson,Detroit Shuffle (Detroit Mysteries),Minotaur Books,1250006767,Automobile industry and trade;Fiction.,Detroit (Mich.);Fiction.,Murder;Investigation;Fiction.,American Historical Fiction,American Mystery & Suspense Fiction,Automobile industry and trade,Crime,FICTION Mystery & Detective Historical,Fiction,Fiction - Mystery Detective,Historical fiction,Investigation,Murder,Mystery & Detective - Historical,MysterySuspense

Detroit Shuffle Detroit Mysteries D E Johnson Books Reviews

Having lived in Detroit, I had high hopes but was very much disappointed. It's bogged down with back story and heavy-handed descriptions. (How many hundred words to light a pipe?)
I've read all of the Will Anderson mysteries set in old Detroit and they keep getting better. I can honestly say this is my favorite. It features not only D.E. Johnson's usual meticulous research, but a winnowing of his protagonist. Will Anderson is no longer the fallen son of an electric car empire, thrust headlong into the seedy underworld and fighting to come out on the other side, but now he has wised up a bit and becomes more of an operator in his own right.

There's also a mystery involving suffragettes, liquor barons, and skullduggery in city hall, and a brilliant sequence involving the smuggling of a state-of -the-art (for the early 20th century) recording device into a strategic location which is simultaneously hilarious, harrowing, and thrilling.

Highly recommend this book to those looking for an unconventional historic crime thriller.
It's 1912 and there's a presidential election coming up and a state referendum on a proposed amendment to the United States Constitution about giving women the right to vote. Automotive engineer Will Anderson is drawn into the fight to get the amendment passed through his girlfriend, Elizabeth Hume who has organized a series of rallies around Michigan featuring several high-profile speakers. During one of the rallies a man in the crowd fires a shot in Elizabeth's direction, setting Anderson on the trail of the would-be assassin and into the path of a bigger conspiracy.

The book seems to be well researched. I recognized a lot of place and street names in and around the Detroit area, and of course there's a LOT about the automotive industry of the era. The main character, Anderson, is the son of one of the owners of Detroit Electric, an electric automobile company, where he is supposed to be working as a mechanical engineer.

The mystery was wrapped around the pending election that included a referendum on the Women's Suffrage Amendment, but a major portion of the plot tied into an underhanded effort to defeat the amendment along with political and police corruption of the times and a dab of revenge.

The biggest problem I had with the book were the constant references to events that occurred in the previous books in the series that also tied into the current relationships of the characters. Lots of what should have been key points weren't really explained, and the author seemed to assume that the reader had read the previous books. I hadn't, so I was often lost as to motivations, relationships, and other details that would have helped make sense of it all.

The main character had spent time in the county hospital's mental ward and had received radiation (radium) therapy for some reason from a crooked doctor. Why was he there and why was it felt he needed this bogus treatment? It's not explained in this book, but probably was in a previous one, which doesn't help a reader new to the series. Why is the crooked doctor's mentally disturbed son now living with Will's girlfriend's family? Again, no explanation is given. There are a lot more plot points and relationships that didn't make a lot of sense without the background from the first books or at least an attempt to fill in the blanks by the author to ease a new reader into his series.

There was a nifty bit of "modern technology" for the time in a Dictograph and an early wire recorder that was paired with  it called a telegraphone that was used to trap a bad guy. If the minute details of the midnight requisition of the gadgets hadn't dragged on for page after page to the point of boredom, it would have been more fun.

So a fair mystery, but a confusing and unexplained backstory.

Recommended only if you are interested in Detroit or automotive history or take the time to read the previous books in the series to understand all of the details not explained to the reader in this book.
good read
Excellent piece of fiction. Historically accurate- based on my 12 years teaching Detroit and Michigan History
It was an enjoyable addition to the series. Having grown up in Detroit, I enjoy that the history and geography of a he city are well done.
This most recent book in Mr. Johnson's "Detroit Mysteries" series gets back to what I loved about his original book (The Detroit Electric Scheme). It's a story of one man's struggle to cope with how the world around him is changing, many times so rapidly he has a hard time keeping up (and his little adventure in the asylum didn't help see radiation poisoning). Will Anderson really only wants one thing for the woman he's loved (and thinks he "ruined") for years to be safe, and to love him back. Of course, Elizabeth is neck deep in the women's suffrage movement in this book so her "safety" is questionable.

Yes, this is a thriller novel set in early 1900's Detroit which makes it chock full of corruption angles--this one relative to the MLA (Michigan Liquor Association) which, as a former marketing director for a successful microbrewery in Michigan myself, had a humorous irony to it. Yes there are police and bad chases with guns and some death.

But what I love most about this series is the core humanity in the main character. I'm not a huge fan of 1st person novels, and the concept of a thriller written that way did not appeal to me on the surface but Will is an endearing, earnest, if somewhat lazy at times, guy. And the way this book is written truly makes you feel him, and to understand his priorities. He does come across a little spoiled at times, but I believe that is something the author does on purpose in order to juxtapose his various dire circumstances (in jail, in the nut house, broke 'cause Daddy fired from a job he hated anyway as engineer at the electric car company) against the life he could be leading--and simply chooses not to.

this is a must read series!
I love automobiles and their history. I also enjoy a good mystery. This series combines both. Great characters and writing. It also gives you a look at what a great and beautiful city Detroit used to be, and, hopefully will be again in the future, even with its dark side. I have all 4 books in the series and look forward to the next one.