Moonlight Mile by Dennis Lehane

So here’s a slightly different take on the PI lifestyle — Kenzie and Gennaro are quite a bit different than Izzy and the Spellmans. If you haven’t read Gone, Baby, Gone, or seen the fabulous cinematic adaptation, I’m about to spoil the ending, so back off.

Gone, Baby, Gone was Lehane’s fourth installment in the Kenzie/Gennaro series (quick aside: everything I’ve ever read by Lehane has been golden. I may reread my collection just for a chance to review them for CBR). In it, the PIs are called in to investigate the disappearance of a four year old named Amanda McCready. In the end, it turns out that Amanda was “kidnapped” by her uncle and given to a family to raise her, since Amanda’s mother was a drugged out piece of shit. Patrick Kenzie made the decision to do the “right” thing and return Amanda to her real mother. The uncle went to jail, lives were ruined, and Patrick lost his girlfriend/partner.

I can’t really remember the plot of the fifth book, but Kenzie and Gennaro get back together. Moonlight Mile is number six, and takes place 10 years later. Kenzie and Gennaro are married with a little girl, and struggling to make ends meet taking PI jobs that are of a safer, more family-friendly variety. Kenzie is confronted by Amanda’s aunt, who called in the original case without knowing that her husband was the kidnapper. Amanda has gone missing again, and her aunt believes Kenzie owes the family to at least try to find her again.

It’s a compelling book, and while it wasn’t maybe not quite as good as Gone, Baby, Gone, it was still superior to most of the detective fiction I’ve read. Lehane is not too shy to use his characters to tackle some real ethical questions, and it’s hard not to consider them yourself while reading.