cover image Yesterday Is Dead: A Bragg Thriller

Yesterday Is Dead: A Bragg Thriller

Jack Lynch. Brash (brash-books.com), $11.99 trade paper (234p) ISBN 978-1941298374

First published in 1985 under the title Seattle, Lynch's low-key, medium-boiled seventh Peter Bragg PI thriller brings the San Francisco%E2%80%93based PI back to his hometown of Seattle, where a freelance writer friend, Benny Bartlett, is in trouble. Benny, "the funny little sort of man who could restore my faith in people whenever I got fed up with the tribe of wackos, con men, and bad guys I'd met over the years," has been told to leave town%E2%80%94and a bomb tossed through Benny's office window indicates someone is serious about the idea. If guarding Benny and his family and sleuthing around for answers isn't enough trouble, Bragg reconnects with his ex-wife and rekindles that quirky flame. Highlights include the detective taking a (yes, classic) beating, and a fast-paced wrap-up at an airfield. Dialogue-driven, but with pauses for contemplation typical of this crime subgenre, this reissue ought to be on the radar of any enthusiast for American private eye fiction. (May)