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... Guilt. Moral ambivalence. Dark secrets. Murder. In the first novel in this well-received series, Walking the Perfect Square (2002), MOE PRAGER has to deal with all of these. He's a divorced ex-cop who retired from the force early because of a knee injury, struggling to set his personal life right, and to patch things up with his estranged daughter. Complicating matters is his decision to look into the disappearance of the son of a police officer almost twenty years earlier. He becomes a private eye in the final pages, but by his second appearance, Redemption Street (2004), set in 1981, Moe has let his P.I. license lapse, he's remarried and a new father, and he's working as a wine merchant in Manhattan , of all things. Moe's an appealing and convincing character, a once-failed father, trying to make amends and do the right things, an unobservant Jew still wrestling with the decisions he's made in his life, both personally and professionally, a brooding philosophical man never quite comfortable in his own skin. The books in this series have been very well-written, noirish, character-driven procedurals, offering some great period detail and insight into what it takes to do the right thing. But they weren't exactly setting the world on fire. So no one was quite prepared when The James Deans (2005), the third in the series, just blew up, snapping up a Shamus for Best Paperback Original, as well as assorted Macavity, Barry, and Anthony Awards. It was a watershed moment for Moe's creator, Reed Farrel Coleman, who has since been regularly nominated for numerous other awards, including at least a couple of Edgars, and has managed to win two more Best Novel Shamuses, for Soul Patch (2007) and Empty Ever After (2008). Coleman is also the author of three novels featuring unorthodox investigator Dylan Klein and, under the Tony Spinosa byline, writes about ex-cops Joe Serpe and Bob Healy who go into various businesses together, including oil delivery and private investigation. P.S. Save Moe! UNDER OATH
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