Death at Fort Devens
It’s a race against time to find a teenager missing on the mean streets of Boston, in this hardboiled mystery featuring Andy Roark, Vietnam veteran turned Private Investigator.
"As good as, and maybe even better, than Robert Parker or Dennis Lehane, Peter Colt’s Andy Roark is my new favorite sleuth" – International aid worker, journalist and writer Roberta Gately, author of the Jessie Novak mysteries
"Strong mystery . . . Colt plays fair with the reader before the satisfying reveal" Publishers Weekly
Boston, 1985. Private Investigator Andy Roark left the military behind years ago, but his past comes flooding back when he’s hired by an old army buddy who’s worried about his rebellious teenage daughter’s safety. There are bonds of blood between Roark and the highly-decorated Lieutenant Colonel Dave Billings, forged in the steamy Vietnamese jungle, and some debts aren’t easy to forget.
Working the case for free, Roark’s investigation quickly leads him to Boston’s Combat Zone, five acres of sex, drugs and crime, right in the heart of one of America’s oldest cities – and to Judy’s unsavory new boyfriend, the drug-dealing K-nice.
Then Judy runs away, and the clock starts ticking in earnest. Roark is determined to save his friend’s daughter from a life of drugs and prostitution, but it’ll take more than missing-person flyers and polite questions to save the girl and get them both out of the concrete jungle of the Combat Zone alive.
This page-turning hard-edged mystery, written by a US Army veteran and New England police officer, is a great choice for readers who enjoy military detail, twisty plots and classic PI heroes with plenty of flaws, humour and attitude.
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Peter Colt
Peter Colt writes mysteries that feel lived-in because, in many ways, they are. Born in Boston in 1973 and raised on Nantucket, he grew up surrounded by New England landscapes that now provide the backdrop for his fiction. His novels are steeped in the atmosphere of Boston’s back alleys, island harbors, and small-town secrets, giving readers not just a puzzle to solve but a place they can step into.
Before turning to fiction, Colt spent twenty-four years in the Army Reserve, including deployments to Kosovo and Iraq. Later, he built a career in law enforcement in Rhode Island, where he also trained as an FBI-certified crisis negotiator. These experiences sharpened his understanding of conflict, trauma, and the gray areas of morality, elements that echo through his characters’ choices and the dangers they face.
An Andy Roark Mystery
An Andy Roark Mystery consists of six books. The current recommended reading order for the series is provided below.
