NEIL LOW

Seattle in the 1940s: from its sprawling ports to its exotic bordellos in Chinatown, it is a rain-drenched harbor of greed, sex, and corruption-and now a mysterious murder. Alan Stewart loses his private investigator father at the hands of corrupt police officials. As he sets out to seek answers and to avenge his father's death, Alan uncovers clues that lead all the way to the "Crime of the Century"-The Lindbergh Kidnapping!

the # 3 best-selling trade
mystery paperback in 2008
(Independent Mystery Booksellers Association)

"Murder and justice. Sex and love. Greed and honor. This is a morality play in the tradition of Shakespeare's  'Richard III' in which the line between right and wrong is as blurred as when one looks through gray rain at twilight over Seattle's somber hills. Neil Low, a veteran Seattle cop, has seen it all." ~Lowen Clausen

1940 - The eve of WWII. Imperial Japan threatens to conquer Asia and the entire Pacific Theater. Supplies and support are flowing into the region. Vital to this effort is the city of Seattle. But now, it’s crucial role in the supply chain is beginning to attract the interest of some shadowy and exotic international forces... Following a tip from his mentor Vic Morrison, young Alan Stewart uses his detective skills to track down Tiger Lee, a sexy American operative on a mission to disrupt the Japanese spy network. Working together, the two set out to eliminate the head of their Japanese rivals: a dangerous samurai whose movements are shrouded in mystery. What begins as a hunt for justice quickly turns into a maelstrom of revenge—and a race against the clock as politics becomes personal and loyalties are tested from every side. Returning to the scene of his first novel, Thick as Thieves, author Neil Low, proves once again that in the shadowy underbelly of a city nothing is as it first appears, and what you don’t know just might hurt you after all….

the # 2 best-selling trade
mystery paperback in 2009
(Independent Mystery Bookseller Association)

In the dark misty streets of Seattle, there are no vacations from crime. Just one week after young PI Alan Steward tangles with the White Dragon, he finds himself once again paired with the beautiful and dangerous Vera Deward and embroiled in a mystery that’s shaking the entire city. This time, a well known and aging heiress has disappeared.  Has she simply departed early for a glamorous honeymoon, as her much younger and newly acquired husband insists or has there been foul play? 

Alan and Vera race against the clock, through the murky Seattle cityscape looking for clues to the heiress’s whereabouts. Clues that lead to shady hotels, underground catacombs in Chinatown, and to heart-pounding confrontations on fast-moving locomotives. Can Alan unwind the mystery and recover the heiress or will this mystery elude him?

the #3 best-selling trade
mystery paperback in 2010
(Independent Mystery Booksellers Association)

SEATTLE 1948: Despite dubious wounds, including two .38 slugs to the face, Police Officer Charles “Hacksaw” Sawyer’s death is ruled a suicide. Suspecting something far more sinister, Chief of Detectives, Mike Ketchum attempts to dig a little deeper until he is ordered by his superiors to leave the crime alone. Unable to let matters lie, Ketchum once again turns to private detectives Alan Stewart and Vera Deward.

Unaided by the police, and thwarted by the underworld, Alan and Vera race to unravel clues that lead them through opium dens, tattoo parlors and the region’s most infamous pleasure palace. Along the way, they uncover a long list of suspects that include forty or more police officers, convicted bootleggers put out of business by Sawyer during his recent tenure on the Dry Squad, and the godfather of Chinatown’s largest pleasure emporium, Goon Dip Wong. Can Alan and Vera outwit both sides of the law to solve the mystery that no one wants solved or will they fall prey to the same forces that brought down Hacksaw Sawyer?

the #1 best-selling trade
mystery paperback September 2011
(Independent Mystery Booksellers Association)