Alex McKnight

11 primary works • 12 total works

A Cold Day in Paradise

by Steve Hamilton

Published 15 August 1998

The bullet has been lodged next to Alex McKnight's heart for fourteen years now, the police officer who was his partner is fourteen years dead, and the borderline psycho named Rose, who shot them both, has been shut up in the state penitentiary since he was caught a year later. So how is it that in a small town named Paradise, on the shore of Lake Superior on Michigan's Northern Peninsula, the man named Rose seems to be stalking Alex McKnight? There is no doubt that Rose is still in prison - he has neither seen nor spoken to anyone on the "outside" in all these years. But McKnight, returning to his cabin in the woods late one night, finds a rose - the killer's calling card - in the snow at his doorstep. He'd been called out earlier by Edwin Fulton, a wealthy acquaintance and a compulsive gambler, who unilaterally thinks of McKnight as his "best friend." Fulton had gone to a local motel to pay off a bookmaker and found the man murdered with his throat cut. In his panic, he called ex-cop McKnight to extricate him. The bookmaker's murder is only the first of what becomes a series of killings, and Fulton's domineering and semihysterical mother engages McKnight, now a private detective, to ensure her son's safety. McKnight accepts the job reluctantly, knowing he will suffer the recriminations of Fulton's beautiful, dissatisfied wife, with whom he had a brief liaison. And all the while, there are the constant reminders that, impossible as it seems, somewhere nearby is Rose - his namesake flower at McKnight's door, his ghostly phone calls, his insane letters that remind the ex-cop of things done and words said that only McKnight and the killer could know. It's a double mystery that plaguesAlex McKnight - how could Rose be in Paradise, and what is he planning to do to Alex?

Winter Of The Wolf Moon

by Steve Hamilton

Published 14 February 2000

A breathtakingly chilling novel of suspense from the author of A COLD DAY IN PARADISE

It's winter in Paradise, a small town in Michigan's Upper Peninsula on the frozen borders of Canada. After ploughing the new snow from his drive every morning, Alex McKnight is content to stay warm in front of the fireplace at the Glasgow Inn with a bottle of his favourite Canadian beer. Once a catcher in the minor leagues, later a Detroit police officer, Alex gave the private eye business a try and it ended up being the 'second worst' mistake of his life.

So when a young native American woman of the Ojibwa tribe comes to him for help, Alex is reluctant to become involved. Nor does he want anything to do with goofy Leon Prudell, who wants to get back in the PI business and has fixed on Alex as his partner. But before you can say 'storm warning', events have spun out of Alex's control. Soon he'll have to deal with an entire team of drug-crazed hockey goons, two mysterious men wearing guns and hunting caps, and a cold-blooded killer from the other side of the world. Perhaps Alex needs that new partner after all...

The Hunting Wind

by Steve Hamilton

Published 8 June 2001

An old friend tears ex-Detroit cop Alex McKnight away from his barstool in Michigan's Upper Peninsula to search for the woman he walked out on thrirty years before. As the search progress, Alex learns that the job will be much more dangerous than he first thought.

North of Nowhere

by Steve Hamilton

Published 1 May 2002

Alex McKnight rarely ventures out from his home these days, even to spend time at his friend Jackie's Glasgow Inn. Even as he lets Jackie force him out one night for a poker game at a stranger's house, Alex is certain it's a bad idea. And when the genial atmosphere rapidly deteriorates, he starts to think maybe he was right. Then three masked, armed robbers burst through the door, and things get a whole lot worse. Soon Alex's three closest friends are implicated in the robbery, and Alex finds himself the object of hostile attention from the victim. As events spin out of control, it becomes clear that somebody is not telling the truth, and has put them all in terrible danger...

Blood is the Sky

by Steve Hamilton

Published 1 June 2003

It is October in Paradise, Michigan, and Alex McKnight is rebuilding one of his cabins with help from Vinnie LeBlanc, his Ojibwa neighbor. They're interrupted when Vinnie is called away to deal with a family emergency - his brother, Tom, has not returned from a hunting trip to Canada. He is already four days overdue. Alex and Vinnie decide to retrace the steps of the hunting party, driving all the way up as far as the roads will go in northern Ontario. When they arrive at the lodge, they are told that the men had already been flown back from the outpost, and had promptly left to return to Michigan. But something is not right. Aided by a young Cree Indian and his grandfather, they fly to the remote outpost. Left alone there, they discover a terrible secret. Now Alex and Vinnie are miles away from civilization, with no food and no weapons. And there's someone out there who definitely does not want them to make it back alive.

Ice Run

by Steve Hamilton

Published 1 June 2004

"The thing was sitting on the hallway carpet, right in front of the door to our room. . . I pulled the napkin off. Underneath was a hat, upside down, filled with ice and snow. . ."What the hell," I said. I bent down and picked it up. "
""That's the hat he was wearing, right? The old man downstairs?""
""It is," I said. "But why?""
""Wait a minute," she said. "Is there something else inside there?""
"She was right. I reached into the frozen mess and pulled out a piece of paper. There were five words written on it with an unsteady hand. "
""What does it say?" she said."
"I didn't answer. I just turned the piece of paper and showed it to her."
"I KNOW WHO YOU ARE!"
Alex McKnight is in love. Even though he met Natalie Reynaud, an officer from the Ontario Provincial Police, under difficult circumstances, they share a common bond of solitude, as well as the same nightmare - they're both cops who buried their partners. It's Alex's first real relationship in years, which in some ways is terrifying. But Natalie has her own fears to deal with, and her own secrets.
They brave a violent snowstorm to spend the night together in a historic hotel in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan. There, they meet a mysterious old man who seems to know a lot about Natalie, and about her family. But they won't be getting any answers from him - he'll be found frozen to death in a snowbank the very next morning. From this single incident, an old blood feud will be reignited, one going back decades to an event buried in her family's past - an event that even now can still drive men to kill each other.
As much as Natalie doesn't want Alex to become entangled in this web of lies and hatred, there's no way he can let her face this danger alone. This is a man who has gotten beaten up, shot at, and even dragged behind a snowmobile, all because he's a sucker for a friend in need.
How much farther will he go for love?

A Stolen Season

by Steve Hamilton

Published 15 August 2006

It's the most miserable summer anyone can remember in Paradise, Michigan. Alex and his occasional partner Leon are outside the local casino waiting to see the 4th July firework celebrations when they witness a spectacular boat crash. They drag four men from the wreck and revive them. When Alex's friend Vinnie is later beaten up by four strangers, it doesn't take Alex long to figure out who they might be. Vinnie suspects that these strangers have been preying on some of the local tribes people, pressuring them to make fraudulent claims for medicine, which the men then sell on at street value to drug addicts. When Alex and Vinnie begin to investigate, the men are forced into desperate action. One of them winds up dead, while the others are determined to prevent Alex and Vinnie from cutting off their drug supply. These dangerous newcomers receive a warm welcome from one quarter though - the criminal fraternity. At least Alex can be certain that his cop girlfriend, Natalie, is safe in Toronto, working on a long-term undercover operation against a group of gun-runners.
But Alex doesn't realise the true nature of the op and its link to the drug-traffickers; nor is he aware that Natalie is perilously close to having her cover blown. Then she comes face-to-face with three men who could be used to redefine the word vicious ...

Misery Bay

by Steve Hamilton

Published 7 June 2011

Two months after an apparent suicide in a place known as Misery Bay, PI Alex McKnight is asked for help from his professional nemesis Sault Ste. Marie police chief Roy Maven. What seems like a simple quest to find a few answers will turn into a nightmare of sudden violence and bloody revenge, and a race against time to catch a ruthless and methodical killer.

Die a Stranger

by Steve Hamilton

Published 3 July 2012

"The newest novel in by two-time Edgar award-winner and New York Times bestselling author Steve Hamilton A plane lands in a deserted Upper Peninsula airstrip one night, and five dead bodies are found the next morning. The evidence suggests that not only are these murders the beginning of something bigger, but that Alex McKnight's friend Vinnie may be part of it. Alex knows he needs to find him before it's too late. Vinnie LeBlanc is an Ojibwa tribal member, a blackjack dealer at the Bay Mills Casino, and he just might be Alex's best friend. He's certainly come through for Alex more than once in the past, so when he goes missing, Alex can't help but be worried. There's a deadly crime war creeping into the Upper Peninsula, leaving bodies in its wake, and Alex never would have expected that his friend could be involved. But when a mysterious stranger arrives in town also looking for Vinnie, Alex will soon find out that the stakes are higher than he ever could have imagined. After his award-winning The Lock Artist and the New York Times bestseller Misery Bay, Hamilton kicks things up to the next level with this outstanding new novel in the beloved Alex McKnight series. "--

"A plane lands in a deserted Upper Peninsula airstrip one night, and five dead bodies are found the next morning. The evidence suggests that not only are these murders the beginning of something bigger, but that Alex McKnight's friend Vinnie may be part of it. Alex knows he needs to find him before it's too late. Vinnie LeBlanc is an Ojibwa tribal member, a blackjack dealer at the Bay Mills Casino, and he just might be Alex's best friend. He's certainly come through for Alex more than once in the past, so when he goes missing, Alex can't help but be worried. There's a deadly crime war creeping into the Upper Peninsula, leaving bodies in its wake, and Alex never would have expected that his friend could be involved. But when a mysterious stranger arrives in town also looking for Vinnie, Alex will soon find out that the stakes are higher than he ever could have imagined. After his award-winning The Lock Artist and the New York Times bestseller Misery Bay, Hamilton kicks things up to the next level with this outstanding new novel in the beloved Alex McKnight series"--

Let It Burn

by Steve Hamilton

Published 1 May 2013

A brilliant thriller from the author of the Edgar Award-winning THE LOCK ARTIST.

Half a lifetime ago, Alex McKnight was a young cop in Detroit. Now he's an occasional private eye up in Paradise, Michigan, and trying hard to put the past behind him. Then he gets the call that every cop dreads: a killer he helped put behind bars is getting released, and he might just have payback on his mind.

Suddenly the years fall away, and in his mind Alex is back in that hot summer in Detroit, hunting the brutal murderer of a young woman. The problem is, something about the case no longer makes sense, and Alex feels compelled to retrace the steps that led to the arrest and conviction of Darryl King. But it's not just the case that looks different: returning to Detroit, Alex finds a city that is almost unrecognizable from the one he left, a city that is quite literally dying on its feet, where crime and decay hold sway, and law and order are in retreat.

And as Alex searches for the truth among the shadows of the past, he discovers a story more shocking than the one he thought he knew and a danger more threatening than an ex-con looking for revenge.

Dead Man Running

by Steve Hamilton

Published 21 August 2018

"Alex McKnight--hero of Steve Hamilton's bestselling, award-winning, and beloved private eye series--is back in a high-stakes, nail-biting thriller, facing the most dangerous enemy he's ever encountered. On the Mediterranean Sea, a vacationer logs onto the security camera feed from his home in Scottsdale, Arizona. Something about his living room seems not quite right--the room is bright, when he's certain he'd left the curtains closed. Rewinding through the feed, he sees an intruder. When he shifts to the bedroom camera, he sees the dead body. Martin T. Livermore is the key suspect in the abduction and murder of at least five women, but he's never been this sloppy before. When the FBI finally catches him in Scottsdale, he declares he'll only talk to one person: a retired police officer from Detroit, now a private investigator living in the tiny town of Paradise, Michigan. A man named Alex McKnight. Livermore means nothing to McKnight, but it soon becomes clear McKnight means something to Livermore. and that Livermore's capture was only the beginning of an elaborate, twisted plot with McKnight at the center. In a hunt that will take him across the country and to the edge of his limits, McKnight fights to stop a vicious killer before he can exact his ultimate revenge. And his grand finale will cut closer to home than he ever could have imagined"--

"The 11th book in the Alex McKnight series"--

Beneath the Book Tower, See ISBN 978-1-4299-6681-8

by Steve Hamilton

Published 17 May 2011