As a decades long devotee of All things detective fiction, I was excited to review an unknown PI novel. To say this excitement ended in disappointment is to discount how troubling the experience was. I spent days trying to find anything redeeming in this story. A character, a witty line, an entertaining twist. I did not find a single one. With a confusingly disjointed (and absolutely unbelievable) plot, ridiculous action scenes, trite dialogue, and an over the top use of both adjectives and adverbs, this novel was simply painful to read. But because I agreed to review it, I read it. Cover to cover, every page, every word. This might not be the worst book I have ever opened, But it is certianly the worst I have read in my adult life.
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Started this book right after receiving. Just couldn't get into it. So, I let it rest and decided to read on Wednesday 7-19 and finished it this morning 7-21. It really was a fun . read.. It times the story dragged a little. I had to goggle the Volvo classic M Series Amazon Sedan. Great looking car. . . ( )

Call of the Nightingale was an enjoyable read. It was first book that I have read by the author, Oliver Dean Spencer, and the second in the James Cartwright Mystery series. My bad! I will definitely add the two other books in the series to my list plus check out other series books by this accomplished author. Now to the book.

James Cartwright is a wise cracking ex-cop turned PI operating on the mean streets of Detroit. The story begins with Cartwright getting a call from his longtime nemesis, homicide detective William Ant, reluctantly asking Cartwright to come to the station to meet with a young woman accused of killing her grandfather, a retired professor from the University of Michigan. Cartwright and his new partner, Jason, are quickly convinced she had nothing to do with her grandfather's death and set out to prove her innocence.

One of the odd features of the story is Cartwright is without a car so takes taxis. He ends up in a cab with a very talkative and engaging ex-soldier turned cabbie named Jason. In short order Jason becomes his partner and off they go to the police station. Although an odd pairing, Jason does in fact become an integral part of the story and violence seems to follow him and Cartwright throughout the book as they search for the actual killer and the professor’s missing formula that could change the course of civilization.

I found the dialogue between Cartwright and various characters—good and bad—to be a strength of the book as he spent equal amounts of time being held hostage and running around Detroit and Ann Arbor detecting with Jason in the wings saving his life on a few occasions. There are several sub-plots that add intrigue, personal but confused relationships, and always in search of justice that add interest throughout the well told story. I look forward to reading his other books in the coming months. ( )