Peter Quinn

A history mystery...

If you love the line between fact and fiction to be a hair's breadth, a deep plunge into a past era's mindset and atmosphere, and you crave the seduction of a real-life mystery then The Man Who Never Returned by Peter Quinn should be on your to-be-read list.

Based on the 1930 disappearance of Judge Joe Carter, a possible key figure in a judicial corruption investigation, this noirish tale revolves around the 1950's investigation of the case by Fintan Quinn.

Quinn, a show more recently retired private investigator, is called back to New York by a newspaper magnate that wants to build the launch of his media empire on the sensational reveal of the mystery's solution. The anniversary of Carter's disappearance is only months away leaving Quinn with a looming deadline and a challenge that his ego just can't resist. A cast of characters from the bedridden mogul to corrupt politicians and fallen Broadway showgirls litter Quinn's path as he examines the usual suspects. Isn't it always booze, broads, and bribery? show less

The reviews of The Man Who Never Returned were really good so maybe I was expecting too much. I thought the book was OK. Not much action. Not much charaacter study. A routine procedural (not much procedure either) about a private investigator, Fintan Dunne, looking into the unsolved disappearance of Judge Joseph Force Crater in 1930.

Crater exited a restaurant in New York one evening in August 1930, got into a cab and was never seen or heard from again. Quinn takes this event and weaves a show more tale of murder. While the plot was interesting, the book never got to the "I can't put it down" stage. show less

Written with an impressive understanding of the culture and history, this novel charts the tensions between New York's Irish, Protestant and Black communities in the run up to the Draft Riots in the city during the US Civil War, when conscripts for the Union Army were first selected by lot. But it fails to grip as a novel; ultimately, it reads as more of a series of character descriptions than a story.

A compelling and carefully researched novel set in the turbulent days leading up to the American Civil War. Quinn captures the oppression caused by poverty, crime, anti-immigrant and racist attitudes which erupted into chaos in the city of New York. You think New York City is a tough place now? If you have an interest in the subject, this book does a better job of depicting this time and place than did Martin Scorcese's Gangs of New York. (Sorry Marty).