Hamilton, Steve 1961–

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Hamilton, Steve 1961–

PERSONAL:

Born January 10, 1961, in Detroit, MI; son of Robert G. (a small-business owner) and Nonna L. (a graduate studies coordinator) Hamilton; married Julia L. Antonietta, June 8, 1991; children: Nicholas G., Antonia. Ethnicity: "Caucasian." Education: University of Michigan, B.A., 1983. Politics: Independent. Religion: Reformed Church of America. Hobbies and other interests: Golf.

ADDRESSES:

Home—Cotlekill, NY. Agent—Jane Chelius, 548 2nd St., Brooklyn, NY 11215. E-mail—[email protected].

CAREER:

International Business Machines, Poughkeepsie, NY, information developer, beginning 1983; writer.

MEMBER:

Mystery Writers of America, Private Eye Writers of America, Sisters in Crime.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Hopwood Award, University of Michigan, 1983; Best First Private-Eye Novel, St. Martin's Press/Private-Eye Writers of America, 1997, Edgar Allan Poe Award for best first novel, Mystery Writers of America, 1999, and Shamus Award for best first private-eye novel, 1999, all for A Cold Day in Paradise; Michigan Author Award for his outstanding body of work, 2006.

WRITINGS:

"ALEX MCKNIGHT" SERIES; DETECTIVE NOVELS

A Cold Day in Paradise, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 1998.

Winter of the Wolf Moon, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 2000.

The Hunting Wind, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 2001.

North of Nowhere, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 2002.

Blood Is the Sky, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 2003.

Ice Run, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 2004.

A Stolen Season, Thomas Dunne Books (New York, NY), 2006.

OTHER

Night Work, St. Martin's Press (New York, NY), 2007.

Contributor to Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine and Pirate Writings.

ADAPTATIONS:

Several of Hamilton's books have been adapted to audio, including A Stolen Season, Brilliance Audio, 2006, A Cold Day in Paradise, and North of Nowhere.

SIDELIGHTS:

Steve Hamilton's mystery novels center on the character Alex McKnight, a divorced, one-time minor league baseball player and former Detroit cop who now lives in a remote corner of Michigan's Upper Peninsula, renting out a few cabins to hunters, fishermen, and tourists. Although he has tried to isolate himself from the problems of the larger world, McKnight is dragged into problems nonetheless, most of them criminal. Booklist contributor David Pitt described McKnight as "the kind of fellow you'd like to meet—he'd shake your hand, buy you a beer, and, as long as you didn't get on his wrong side, be your friend for life."

Hamilton's first novel, A Cold Day in Paradise, won three major awards for mystery fiction, including an Edgar Alan Poe Award. The novel was originally written for a writing contest. Hamilton once told CA: "When I decided to try entering the contest, I figured I should try to write a novel that was true to the private eye ‘formula’—you know, with the wise-cracking private eye sitting in his office, waiting for the next client to walk in. I couldn't do it." Frustrated, Hamilton sat down at his keyboard and let the story develop naturally. In an online interview with Anthony Rainone for January Magazine, Hamilton explained: "I don't want to make it sound mystical—like this voice came to me from the heavens—but I got this idea for a character in the same mood I was in. Someone who was feeling like a failure, and he was by himself, like I felt by myself that night. So I started asking myself who this guy was and why he was feeling that way. And I got this idea for a character and started following it." "The story that came out was really more of a suspense story than a classic private eye story," Hamilton once told CA, "so I figured I had no chance of winning the contest. But then Robert Randisi, the president of PWA, called me one night to tell me I had won."

A Cold Day in Paradise tells of former cop McKnight's move from Detroit to the small town of Paradise, Michigan, on the shore of Lake Superior. There he runs the camp his father left to him, renting out cabins to hunters, and only gets drawn back into his former life when two friends, a lawyer and a millionaire with a gambling problem, ask for his help. McKnight is reluctant to investigate, but when two bookmakers associated with the millionaire are murdered and the millionaire himself disappears under suspicious circumstances, McKnight is forced to get involved. A Publishers Weekly reviewer praised the novel's "clear, crisp writing, wily, colorful characters and an off-beat locale," calling A Cold Day in Paradise "an impressive debut."

McKnight returns in Winter of the Wolf Moon. In this story, the former cop subs as a hockey referee for a local team, but ends up defending an abused woman from her drug-dealing boyfriend. When the woman disappears, apparently a victim of kidnapping, McKnight and his Ojibway Indian friend Leon set out to find her. McKnight also has to convince the disbelieving police that there is a woman missing at all. Booklist contributor David Pitt claimed the story is, "start to finish, an excellent mystery," while a critic for Publishers Weekly judged Winter of the Wolf Moon to be "a most entertaining tale, peppered with wry humor and real, amusing characters."

The Hunting Wind finds McKnight reunited with an old buddy from his minor-league baseball days. The friend wants McKnight's help in tracking down a girlfriend he has not seen in some thirty years. Although reluctant, McKnight agrees to help, and soon the pair are combing through old public records in an inept effort to find the woman. Their search unwittingly stirs up violent trouble, though, and McKnight must find out just why. A Publishers Weekly contributor found that "Hamilton's prose moves us smoothly along and his characters are marvelously real," concluding that The Hunting Wind is an "exceptionally entertaining novel." Connie Fletcher, writing for Booklist, claimed that "the surprise ending delivers a satisfying jolt."

McKnight turns fifty years old in North of Nowhere, an event that leads him into depression and an almost hermit-like isolation. His friend Jackie Connery, owner of the local pub, decides to take drastic action to cheer up McKnight, dragging his buddy off to a poker game at a local millionaire's summer house. But the friendly game is interrupted by robbers, who force the millionaire to open his safe. The local police chief is convinced that McKnight's poker-playing friends were in on the robbery, and the only way to clear them is for the reluctant ex-cop to discover the true culprits. According to a Kirkus Reviews contributor, Hamilton "spins a brisk, well-plotted tale brightened by his usual deft way with local color." "Hamilton keeps the action fast and furious," reported a contributor for Publishers Weekly, "and manages to keep the reader off balance almost as much as his hero."

Blood Is the Sky finds McKnight trying to rebuild his father's cabin with the help of his friend Vinnie LeBlanc. But Vinnie soon faces a family crisis. His parolee brother, Tom, a professional guide, has been reported missing in the Canadian woods. Because Tom has violated parole by leaving the country, Vinnie dares not report the disappearance to the authorities. Instead, he and McKnight set out to locate the missing man. Along the way they encounter violence, death, and mystery. On his Web site, Hamilton explained that he got the idea for the novel from traveling with friends into remote northern Ontario on fishing trips: "The last time I went up there, I spent a lot of time imagining all of the bad things that can happen to you if you're stranded a hundred miles away from the nearest phone, or the nearest building, or the nearest anything. What happens if you get sick? Or if you have an accident? What do you do if you have to wait six or seven days for help to arrive? Worse yet, what do you do if you suddenly real- ize that the men who are finally flying out to you aren't coming to help you at all?" A contributor to Kirkus Reviews called Blood Is the Sky a "smart, brisk, twisty tale."

Ice Run finds Alex McKnight in love with Natalie Reynaud, a Canadian police officer whom he met in the previous novel. However, despite McKnight's desire to see the relationship turn into something long-term, circumstances appear to be standing in their way. Friends warn McKnight that Reynaud is trouble, and Reynaud herself seems somewhat reticent in expressing her wishes regarding their status. When the couple check into a hotel for a romantic weekend, they find themselves being stalked by an eerie old man whose subsequent disappearance causes even more problems. A contributor for Kirkus Reviews declared the book "character-driven, briskly paced, occasionally witty, even wise: Hamilton's best." Connie Fletcher, writing for Booklist, praised the book's "powerful suspense and a socko climax."

A Stolen Season begins on an unseasonably cool Fourth of July night, when McKnight and his cohort Leon Prudell come across a boating accident in Waishkey Bay and rescue three men. However, when a locked box turns up missing from the wrecked boat, the men accuse McKnight and Prudell of taking it. McKnight finds himself drawn into a case involving drug theft that soon intersects with his girlfriend Natalie Reynaud's arms deal investigation back in Ontario. A writer for Kirkus Reviews stated: "The cast is strong and the local color vivid as ever, but this time, the plot has the phoned-in feel of characters in search of a story." However, a Publishers Weekly reviewer remarked that "plot turnarounds and double-crosses ensure a startling conclusion." Booklist contributor Fletcher believed that the book combines "hair-raising suspense with poignant characterization."

Speaking of the "McKnight" books in general, Rainone concluded that "Hamilton has so far eschewed the high-caliber pyrotechnics of many contemporary novels—action that emphasizes the heroic elements of this genre, but too often stretches believability. Yet he delivers all of the modern detective fiction essentials, including plot twists that the reader flat-out never sees coming."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, February 15, 2000, David Pitt, review of Winter of the Wolf Moon, p. 1088; May 1, 2001, Connie Fletcher, review of The Hunting Wind, p. 1630; March 1, 2002, Connie Fletcher, review of North of Nowhere, p. 1095; May 1, 2003, Connie Fletcher, review of Blood Is the Sky, p. 1545; May 1, 2004, Connie Fletcher, review of Ice Run, p. 1508; July 1, 2006, Connie Fletcher, review of A Stolen Season, p. 37.

Kirkus Reviews, March 1, 2002, review of North of Nowhere, p. 292; April 1, 2003, review of Blood Is the Sky, p. 508; May 1, 2004, review of Ice Run, p. 424; August 1, 2006, review of A Stolen Season, p. 755.

Library Journal, January, 2000, Rex E. Klett, review of Winter of the Wolf Moon, p. 166; May 1, 2003, Jo Ann Vicarel, review of Blood Is the Sky, p. 155.

Publishers Weekly, July 6, 1998, review of A Cold Day in Paradise, p. 53; January 17, 2000, review of Winter of the Wolf Moon, p. 46; May 21, 2001, review of The Hunting Wind, p. 85; March 18, 2002, review of North of Nowhere, p. 80; July 10, 2006, review of A Stolen Season, p. 57.