Past Tense (Matt Moulton Mystery 1) by Michael Amedeo-review

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ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date February 20, 2024

As America races toward the supposedly bright new decade of the 1950’s, disillusioned white private dick Matt Moulton finds himself faltering in the dark. Should he serve an amnesiac client whose recovering memories of paid murder intensify his own wartime guilt as an assassin? Should he risk endangering the person he loves, a beautiful black woman, for information on that case and an apparently related one? Does he imagine he can save her and himself from the corruption, the intolerance, and the apathy that linger in that violent nation’s shadows?

Taking place in a misty, sulky San Francisco, “Past Tense” appeals to readers who love their thrillers hardboiled. It brings pulp fiction back from the past, but here the genre seems more modern and yet more noir-like than ever before.

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REVIEW: PAST TENSE is the first instalment in Michael Amedeo’s historical, adult MATT MOULTON MYSTERY noir, mystery series focusing on private dick Matt Moulton.

NOTE: Due to the nature of the story line premise, there may be triggers from more sensitive readers.

Told from first person perspective (Matt) PAST TENSE follows former US Army sniper / Detective turned private dick Matt Moulton. The year is 1949, and Matt Moulton, a successful private investigator is about to find himself in the middle of an investigation where the body count rises in proportion to the secrets and lies uncovered by our story line hero. Matt has been contracted to find a missing woman but the information Matt receives only veils the truth when another case involving an assassin with amnesia crosses over with Matt’s current case, involving a corrupt politician, and several unscrupulous law enforcement officers. With the aid of his office assistant Sara, and administrative assistant Gina, Matt begins to unravel the truth, a truth that becomes stranger than fiction as a killer takes aim at everyone involved.

There is a large ensemble cast of colorful and interesting secondary and supporting characters. We are introduced to Matt’s assistant Sara Manson; his girlfriend and detective bureau administrative assistant Gina Harner; Lieutenant Gilbert Brannigan; San Francisco mayor Anthony Rossini, and assassin John Boorman.

PAST TENSE is a story of secrets and lies, power and control, murder and corruption, race, acceptance and relationships. The premise is intriguing, suspenseful and dramatic; the characters are colorful and charismatic.

Copy supplied for review

Reviewed by Sandy

Click HERE for more information about Michael Amadeo

The Writer with an Edge

It’s an edge in talent for conceiving and writing persuasive and engaging marketing, public relations, and journalism.

And now it’s an edge in subject matter and style: My two new hardboiled noir novels—with a third on the way—feature private dick Matt Moulton, whose opportunistic work uncovers and reluctantly confronts the dirty, violent underside of late 1940’s and early 1950’s America.