Category: Crime Publisher: All Things That Matter Press
ISBN-10: 098425949X
Type: Fiction
Pages: 175
Copyright: Mar 15 2010
ISBN-13: 9780984259496
The Greer Agency is a gritty detective fiction presented in 15 separate, but connected stories. The reader follows the development of private detective Mike Greer, the only PI in the Altoona, PA phone book. It's tough to make a living in a decaying old railroad town, but with the help of an anonymous benefactor, Greer lands some interesting cases-cases that he solves with guts and determination. Throughout the stories, his budding romance with Susan grows. Eventually, they realize they are right for each other.
Readers will find Mike Greer an accessible everyman with luck, pluck, smarts and a host of interesting friends. He finds his way into and out of problems large and small. Greer narrates the stories in a refreshing and original voice. Each story has its own plot and can stand on its own, but as the book progresses, the mysteries pile up and the plots get more complex until the explosive last story.
There are small crimes and there are big crimes. When you're a small town PI trying to eake out a living in Altoona, Pa, you take what you can get.
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Reviews for "The Greer Agency"
Reviewed by Kenneth Weene
4/20/2010
I’ve never been a fan of private eye novels. Those tough guys with hearts of gold leave me gagging. Luckily that prejudice didn’t stop me from picking up Harris Tobias’s “The Greer Agency.”
Mike Greer is a real person, not the usual stereotype. His work is often boring, and he generally likes his clients, who are a wide-ranging sample of the people in what might be the quintessential American city, Altoona, PA. Their problems, too, are a wide-ranging sample. Drug dealers vie for Greer’s interest with people who need how they feel about relatives and with people who are committing crimes with the best of intentions. And all that is mixed with Mike Greer’s own life, his friendships and his love life.
Mike Greer isn’t going to make it as a world-class investigator, but he does make it as a good protagonist. Besides which, he has the advantage of being the only PI in the Altoona Yellow Pages.
This is a good read – possibly perfect if you want something to take out to the pool along with your ice tea.
(Kenneth Weene, author of “Widow’s Walk” and the soon to be released “Memoirs From the Asylum.”)
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