Michigan Mystery

Steve Hamiltons first novel A Cold Day in Paradise is a winner. Not only did it recieve the Edgar Award for Best First Novel but it also won the Shamus Award. The main character, Alex McNight, is a Detroit cop who has retired to Michigan's upper peninsula after being shot. Alex is enjoying the peaceful, slow pace of the U.P., tending a hunting camp, playing cards with friends and doing casual private eye work for the local lawyer, until he suddenly becomes involved in murder. This book could be called a typical hardboiled detective novel but it's a lot more than that. It's fun to read because it takes place in the U.P., it's a great read because it catches you from the first page, and it's a fantastic story because the plot twists and turns unexpectedly. A Cold Day in Paradise is the first book in the Alex McNight series. SG