It is part of the essence of the hard-boiled detective to be a little abrasive, so I guess I shouldn’t be surprised when a new HB sleuth finds new ways to be annoying. Douglas Lindsay’s Sam Vikström does just that, but is mostly effective, fictionally, in The Vikström Papers: Restoration Man.

In spite of his Swedish name, Sam Vikström is a Scot. Just to confuse things further, he’s put down roots in coastal Massachusetts, where he works as a private eye. Not the old style PI, with a rumpled trench coat and venetian blind shadows slanting across his office, but an employee of an agency, getting his assignments over the phone. He lives with a cat, drinks too much, and is having an affair with the local chief of police (female), who is married.

His latest job is a missing person’s case. A wealthy woman wants him to find her husband, Carl Fischer, who ran off with his current mistress. She’s not concerned, she says, about his infidelity – they have an “understanding.” She’s just worried about his safety.

Vikström inquires at Carl’s place of business, an erotically oriented art gallery where he restores paintings. Various clues lead Vikström to believe the disappearance is related to a valuable artifact Carl recently got his hands on – a nautical compass from a famous shipwreck. Only people Carl knew (or slept with) are starting to show up murdered, each with a scrimshaw image inscribed on one of their teeth.

Restoration Man was an interesting mystery, and kept me reading. Though set in the U.S., it features English orthography and spelling, so I assume Author Lindsay is English. He should get full marks for doing a pretty good job of reproducing American speech idioms, though – most of the time.

He subscribes to two major current writing conventions that annoy me – he writes in the present tense, and he never describes his characters physically, more than absolutely necessary. (I consider this a lazy affectation – expecting the reader to do part of the author’s job for him.) To be fair, the characters are pretty distinctive anyway.

Sam Vikström himself annoyed me too. He’s always quoting Tolkien, but only the movies – he says he never reads books. He’s also frequently a jerk.

Still, Restoration Man was an engaging book. I might even read another in the series – haven’t made my mind up.

Cautions for adult themes.