Looking for one of the latest PI novels?
Listed below is a selection of private investigator novels that were released in September 2020. Included is a brief synopsis provided by the publisher along with information about where the book sits within their relevant series (or whether they are stand-alone novels). Click here for new releases from August 2020.
Back Bay Blues by Peter Colt (pub. Kensington)
2nd book in the Andy Roark series
Publishers Synopsis
Theft, greed, and corruption collide in Peter Colt’s hard-edged new mystery featuring Vietnam veteran turned Boston P.I. Andy Roark.
1985, Boston. In Vietnam, Andy Roark witnessed death and horrifying destruction. But for the soldiers who made it back alive, there are other casualties of war—the loss of tenderness, trust, and connection. Still feeling adrift and unsettled, Andy has struck up a welcome friendship with Nguyen, a Vietnamese restaurant owner. Sipping beer and trading memories after the restaurant shutters, Andy gradually learns of the extraordinary lengths Nguyen took to flee Saigon shortly after its fall.
Andy’s latest case, too, has ties to Vietnam. His new client, a beautiful and enigmatic young Vietnamese woman, hires him to investigate her uncle’s murder. Andy discovers a connection to a group of refugees determined to overthrow the communist government. Led by the sinister Colonel Tran, the Committee is extorting local business owners to raise funds. The search for more answers takes Andy from Boston to Washington D.C. to San Francisco, and deep into a web of political and personal betrayal.
Somewhere near the heart of this mystery is a connection to Nguyen’s daring escape from Saigon. Decades may have passed, but sometimes the price of freedom twists allies into enemies, loyalties into betrayals, and truth into a web of lies . . .
Perchance To Dream by Larry Darter (pub. Larry Darter)
8th book in the Malone Mystery series
Publishers Synopsis
When a routine missing persons case goes sideways, Los Angeles private eye Malone must once again descend into the seedy underbelly of the City of Angels in his quest to find two missing Brentwood socialites and to find the answers to some very pressing questions.
When two young Kardashian-like sisters, Brentwood debutantes, go missing, their father calls in Malone to find them. The client, the ultra-wealthy owner of Los Angeles' largest luxury car dealership and a candidate for the Los Angeles city council with a trophy wife half his age, can't imagine where his daughters have gone. Malone embarks on what he expects to be a routine missing persons gig, a simple bread and butter case for a gumshoe, but things get complicated. After Malone interviews one of the missing girl's close friends, she inexplicably commits suicide. Next, there's a mysterious murder. He uncovers hints of blackmail. Once again, Malone must descend into the seedy underbelly of the City of Angeles in his quest to find the missing young women and get the answers to some very pressing questions.
Troubled Blood by Robert Galbraith (pub. Mulholland)
5th book in the Cormoran Strike series
Publishers Synopsis
Private Detective Cormoran Strike is visiting his family in Cornwall when he is approached by a woman asking for help finding her mother, Margot Bamborough – who went missing in mysterious circumstances in 1974.
Strike has never tackled a cold case before, let alone one forty years old. But despite the slim chance of success, he is intrigued and takes it on; adding to the long list of cases that he and his partner in the agency, Robin Ellacott, are currently working on. And Robin herself is also juggling a messy divorce and unwanted male attention, as well as battling her own feelings about Strike.
As Strike and Robin investigate Margot’s disappearance, they come up against a fiendishly complex case with leads that include tarot cards, a psychopathic serial killer and witnesses who cannot all be trusted. And they learn that even cases decades old can prove to be deadly . . .
Whiskey Lullaby by Liliana Hart (pub. 7th Press)
8th book in the Addison Holmes series
Publishers Synopsis
Addison Holmes has her hands full. Marriage changes a woman, and pregnancy hormones are no joke. But despite her promise to retire from dangerous P.I. work, she has no choice but to take this case. Twenty years ago, her father and his partner cracked the case of their careers. But it was all a set up. They sent the wrong men to prison, and now it's time for the real culprits to tie up loose ends. Her father is dead, but his partner, who happens to be her mom's new husband, is very much alive. At least for the time being. Discovering the truth is no easy task, but saving her father's legacy and her step-father's life is her top priority. Because family means everything.
Bad Aim by Alan Lee (pub. Sparkle Press)
8th book in the Mackenzie August series
Publishers Synopsis
A wealthy retired businessman knows someone is trying to kill him and he hires Mackenzie to keep him alive. But he doesn't just hire Mackenzie. He also hires two other private detectives. It's Mackenzie's first case working with other PIs, and it might be his last...
Tie Die by Max Tomlinson (pub. Oceanview)
2nd book in the Colleen Hayes series
Publishers Synopsis
Back in London’s swinging 60s, Steve Cook was teen idol number one. But that changed when a sixteen-year-old fan was found dead in his hotel room bed. Steve’s career came to a crashing halt after he was dumped by his record company and arrested. Now, in 1978 San Francisco, Steve works construction, still dreaming of a comeback.
Until his eleven-year-old daughter is kidnapped.
Steve turns to one person for help: Colleen Hayes. She was quite a fan herself, back in the day. And she knows what it’s like to be on the wrong side of the law and live in judgement for the rest of your life.
It doesn’t take Colleen long to realize something fishy is going on with the kidnapping of Melanie Cook. What transpires is a harrowing journey through a music industry rife with corruption and crime. Colleen’s search takes her through San Francisco’s underbelly and all the way to 70s London, where she discovers a thread leading back to the death of a forgotten fan in Steve’s hotel room.