These are the first two books by Johnson with two more out as of this date. His stories are set in Detroit starting in 1910. They are rich with the history of the beginnings of the auto industry when Ford was still perfecting the assembly line and the electric cars were the class of the industry, as long as you did not want to go over 25.

Will Anderson and his love, Elizabeth Hume, are the heroes of the stories, getting themselves mixed up in all kinds of murder and criminal activities. In the first book, Will begins the story as a drunk playboy rudely awakened by a murder the police think he committed.

The first sentence of the second book reads, “My left index finger traced the shape of the little morphine bottle through the outside of my trouser pocket.” Reading on, you will understand his addiction, even though Elizabeth does not.

I always like historical mysteries and this is one of the better ones. I can see and smell the dirty streets of a booming industrial city and suffer along with Will and Elizabeth. If you like plot twists, you’ll like these stories.

Mike Lawrence