Book Review: Burning Moon

Reviewed By: Ruth Jordan - RAM

Burning Moon     Amazon US PB Amazon US HC Amazon Canada PB Amazon Canada HC
Richard Barre
Class/Genre:   Mystery   Private Investigator   Hard Boiled
Series: Wil Hardesty # 5
2003, Capra Press 330 pages/$25.95

Time to start a conga line. Bichard Barre and Wil Hardesty have returned to the pages of crime fiction. Burning Moon is a must read this spring. Richard Barre’s Shamus winning series featuring P.I. Wil Hardesty is back after a brief sabbatical and Mr. Barre moves seamlessly from Blackheart Highway to this new adventure.

As Burning Moon opens Wil is approached by a father. Vihn Tien is a fisherman who has lost his only son and first grandchild in a fishing accident he believes to be something far more sinister. Can Wil look into it for him? It is a challenging investigation that brings Wil face to face with his past as a Vietnam Vet. Old prejudices must be tossed aside and the new Southern Californian Vietnamese culture must be explored. The search for the truth leads Wil to places he may not want to be. Corruption and Tongs, ATF agents with unknown agendas and death for many.

There are moments when our hero falls and moments when the moniker hero seems almost too small in as human a story as you’re likely to read this year. As always in a Hardesty book the case is the thing but Wil’s life is about to change on a very personal level as well. In beautifully written passages of angst, sadness, and finally hope Barre is giving us a glimpse of Wil’s future and a promise that we the reader will get to share it.

Welcome Back , we really missed you!

Ruth Jordan - RAM

Reprinted with permission. Do Not repost without permission from the author, Ruth Jordan - RAM