Northtown Eclipse (Fahrenheit Press, 2018)
The brutal summer heat seems to have everyone in Northtown, Ohio on edge.
A high-school reunion is the catalyst for long-held grudges to bubble up to the surface but quickly becomes a sideshow as private detective Raimo Jarvi is drawn into a murderous rampage that extends far beyond his usual remit of unfaithful wives and petty personal disputes.
Raimo knows his estranged brother Rikki is up to his neck in something big and as the conspiracy starts to unravel it’s clear that if he doesn’t move quickly they could both end up dead.
This perfect slice of Midwest noir grippingly captures the long, hot summers and simmering resentments of small-town America where secrets are buried deep but the past is never quite forgotten.
Review by Jochem Vandersteen, author & publisher Sons of Spade
It's hard to do something original with the PI story without involving robots and the undead. Robert White takes a shot, using the best weapon you can use. He has an original protagonist. A PI who has enough in common with the archetype we love but still brings something new to the table. In what reminded me of T. Jefferson Parker's Silent Joe he offers us a PI with a badly scarred face, Raimo Jarvi.
When his estranged brother is in a lot of trouble this PI steps in to help. Raimo is way less macho and slick than most guys in the genre. He's not the asskicking wisecracker but a troubled and romantic soul. There's quite some moving scenes in here and the whole writing has an interesting literate bend.