Purgatory Chasm
A Mystery
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- $12.99
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
In the tradition of Robert B. Parker and Dennis Lehane, Steve Ulfelder's crackling mystery features a gritty, razor-sharp new voice in crime fiction. Conway Sax isn't a hired gun or a wise-cracking urbanite. He's just a mechanic trying to make his way, a blue-collar guy whose ideas about family and loyalty are as deeply held as they are strong.
"Tander Phigg was an a*****e, but he was also a Barnburner. Barnburners saved my life. I help them when I can. No exceptions."
The job seems simple. Conway Sax, a no-nonsense auto mechanic with a knack for solving difficult problems, has never liked obnoxious blowhard Tander Phigg. But a promise is a promise. Tander's a Barnburner, a member of the unique Alcoholics Anonymous group that rescued Conway, and when a Barnburner has a problem, Conway takes care of it. Besides, all Tander wants is to get back his baby, a vintage Mercedes that's been in a shady auto shop far too long.
But Conway soon discovers there's much more to the problem than Tander first let on – especially when Tander turns up dead. Conway was the last person seen with the victim, and on top of that, he has a record, making him the cops' top suspect. He must catch the killer to clear himself, but beyond that, he's a man who honors his promises, even when the guy he made them to is dead.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Ulfelder couples precise, evocative prose with an original private investigator in his compelling hard-boiled debut. Conway Sax, a recovering alcoholic, ex-con, and car mechanic who lives in Massachusetts, fulfills his moral obligations to the Barnburners, the AA group that got him clean and sober, by doing odd jobs for them. Tander Phigg, a Barnburner whose 1980 Mercedes-Benz 450SEL Sax once worked on, persuades him to help retrieve the classic car and the $3,500 deposit from Das Motorenwerk, a garage in New Hampshire that's had the vehicle for 18 months and done nothing. When Sax visits the garage, someone he doesn't see coldcocks him. The assault heightens Sax's suspicions about Das Motorenwerk, and his later discovery of a dead body confirms them. Ulfelder smoothly navigates the many plot twists, and effortlessly introduces wrinkles in his protagonist's backstory that enhance the character. Fans of Michael Koryta's PI crime novels will find a lot to like.