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Gritty P.I. Series Shows Crime At Street Level

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By K. SUE COLLINS

Published: January 6, 2008

"Saturday's Child," by Ray Banks (Harcourt Trade, $25)

"Saturday's Child" is a bare-knuckled crime noir not for the faint-hearted. In the first of his Callum Innes series, Ray Banks constructs a new voice in English crime fiction.

Warning: This is not your grandmother's cozy, Agatha Christie mystery novel.

Released from prison, Callum Innes performs favors for friends before he finds his niche as an unlicensed P.I.

When neighborhood crime lord "Uncle" Morris Tiernan asks him to find blackjack dealer Rob Stokes, who disappeared with his $10,000, Innes cannot dare refuse.

Of course, he is not the only one on Stokes' trail. Tiernan's less-than-sane son Mo, with his own motives for tracking down the thief, is hot on Innes' heels. And a cop determined to bust Innes for a crime he did not commit shadows his every move.

"Saturday's Child" duels between Innes' and Mo's narratives. In the course of his case, Innes is seized, beaten and tortured at every turn. Mo fares better because he and his associates are the tormentors.

Snappy, original, obscenity-laced dialogue and narrative provides the reader many opportunities to laugh and wince. Banks' style reflects the new wave of hard-boiled crime fiction infiltrating the genre: flawed protagonists fighting uphill with a mixture of horrible timing, sharp wit and the occasional femme fatales.

This is reminiscent of Dennis Lehane's Patrick Kenzie series, with Boston traded for the cruel streets of England. Fans of Guy Ritchie flicks can almost hear the director yell "Action."

K. Sue Collins of Tampa is a crime novelist.

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