Inspired by a horrific, unsolved true crime in the author's old hometown, The Shades Dripped Red (Longitudes Press) is the second thriller in the Nick Montaigne mystery series by Peter Kurtz. As with the debut Montaigne novel, Black Jackknife (praised by both Publishers Weekly and Midwest Book Review), The Shades Dripped Red continues the exploits of suave Atlanta private detective Nick Montaigne and his clumsy but lovable partner, ex-cop Vern Wister. Here, the two investigators travel to a small Ohio town seemingly stuck in time to investigate a 25-year-old double-homicide. Assisted by a crusading news reporter with a substance abuse problem (and, in Montaigne's case, a very sexy engineer), they become immersed in COVID-era espionage, small-town parochialism, and the military-industrial complex.
Still a mystery in real life, perhaps. But with Montaigne-Wister poking around, it's only a matter of time before this cold case is thawed.
