There is simply no writer alive who captures the gritty language of the street in quite the same way as George Pelecanos. He is a poet of the inner city, and his characters and settings possess their own unique voices that never fail to ring true.

THE BLUE FLAME is Pelecanos’ latest and includes one of his finest recurring characters, private investigator and ex-cop Derek Strange, whose busted neon sign “Strange Investigations” hangs above his office in Washington, D.C. A shady defense attorney is the next person to offer work to Strange, who at least is open to hearing what he has to say.

Billy Lake is defending a young man named Antone Anthony, who is behind bars awaiting a murder trial after being accused of killing his friend, Nigel Walker. Antone may have been a known drug dealer (primarily of weed), but he has always maintained his innocence. Lake needs Strange to find out whatever he can to assist in his defense.

"There is simply no writer alive who captures the gritty language of the street in quite the same way as George Pelecanos.... This slick novel treats its subject matter with more than enough edginess, and the grit leaps off the page."

Our hero PI builds his own case that is slowly developing into an ironclad one for Antone’s release. But it suffers a major blow when the principal witness for the defense, Cynthia Barnes, turns up dead --- her naked and beaten body found inside a freezer outside a tenement complex. Her father is a former police officer, and eventually it will be his involvement in the case that becomes the turning point in more ways than one.

Antone gets his chance to meet with Strange directly rather than going through the untrustworthy Lake, and he makes an impression on him. Strange's involvement really gets under the skin of the police department, and they have several meetings with him, some of which appear to be attempts to scare him off. But one of the leads working the case believes in him and ends up giving him enough leeway to do what he can to prove Antone’s innocence while also nabbing Cynthia’s killer.

It will be the investigation into Cynthia’s murder that will become the most eye-opening, with drugs, prostitution and inferences to human trafficking of young women at the center of it. In most novels, ultimately someone like Strange would triumph. However, in a George Pelecanos tale, which pulls absolutely no punches and strives for authenticity, it remains unsure right up to the very end how everything will work out.

THE BLUE FLAME is an outstanding read, and the title is a reference to the fire that still exists inside anyone who has ever been a cop. This slick novel treats its subject matter with more than enough edginess, and the grit leaps off the page.

Derek Strange is such a great character, and Pelecanos seamlessly has worked him into his literary universe, which has featured dozens of characters who breathe the fumes of the street. It is all set to an amazing catalog of musical references that every Pelecanos fan has come to love.