Once Was Lost by Matthew Iden

Once Was Lost is Matthew Iden’s sixth book in his Marty Singer series.  Marty is a fifty something retired D.C. homicide detective who is recovering from colon cancer.  His live-in girlfriend, Julie is a lawyer and he looks out for Amanda, a twenty something social worker who has become like an adopted daughter to him.  Marty dabbles unofficially in P.I. cases since his retirement.

Tommy Dolan is trying to escape from his Philadelphia mobster Uncle Patrick for agreeing to testify against him.  Tommy’s wife, Grace is kidnapped in public by the Dolan gang and is presumed dead.  Tommy had agreed to enter the witness protection program with his son, Bobby but he just doesn’t trust the Feds and tries hiding out at the shelter where Amanda works.  Julie and Amanda team up on Marty and encourage him to help Tommy and Bobby permanently disappear on their own.  Marty knows some folks in the biz and a skiptrace pal advises them on how to hide out without discovery.  After intense instruction, Tommy and Bobby leave for parts unknown… unknown even to Marty.

Then Grace appears with a different story about Tommy’s intensions.  She wants her son back and convinces Marty to help.  Marty feels like a sucker for believing Tommy and agrees to try and find him.  A US marshal also appears looking for Tommy.  Marty has reason to believe the marshal is working for the Dolan gang and tries to divert him.  Not sure who are the good guys and who are the bad, Marty has to use his training and intuition to figure it out.  But that requires some bumps and bruises to his body as well as his ego and puts him in the middle of a federal investigation, a mob family and a questionable victim.

Two years ago, I was thrilled to discover Iden’s Marty Singer series.  Iden’s descriptive prose and easy to like protagonist made for satisfying mysteries.  But Once Was Lost is a little different.  Marty is gullible, wishy washy, and less sure of his values which I think is out of character for the Marty of the previous five novels and for a former police detective.  Granted Marty Singer does not have the cynical, black vs white nature of the stereotypic ex-policeman but he does have the suspicious nature and powers of observation that the police training instills.  For this reason, Marty’s gullibility just doesn’t ring true for me and that is disappointing.  Hopefully, that is redeemed in the next Marty Singer installment.