H. N. Hirsch’s Rain, the latest in the Bob & Marcus Mystery
Series, available now!
H. N. Hirsch is a political scientist and just-retired university professor as well as an accomplished writer.
Born in Chicago and educated at the University of Michigan and Princeton, Hirsch has taught at Harvard, the University of California-San Diego, Macalester College, and Oberlin, where he served as Dean of the Faculty and is now the Erwin N. Griswold Professor of Politics Emeritus.
He is the author of The Enigma of Felix Frankfurter (“brilliant and sure to be controversial,” The New York Times), A Theory of Liberty, and the memoir Office Hours (“well crafted and wistful,” Kirkus), as well as numerous articles on law, politics, and constitutional questions.
Available now at online outlets or through Pisgah Press
Rain
H.N. Hirsch’s gay detectives Bob Abramson, a San Diego attorney, & UC-San Diego Professor Marcus George tackle a case involving one of Marcus’s graduate students, Lenny Glick, who fears he will soon be arrested for murder. The twists and turns of the plot lead to a completely unexpected denoument as the detectives discover and expose the seamier side of life in Southern California.
Fellow mystery writer RF Wilson, author of the Rick Ryder Mysteries, says, “Like your Scotch with a twist? H.N. Hirsch seamlessly weaves a classic who-done-it and a moving family drama into a startling end. At once suspenseful and tender, this is a welcome addition toHirsch’s Bob & Marcus series.”
Previous books in H.N. Hirsch’s fascinating Bob & Marcus Mystery series are Fault Line and Shade.
Fault Line
5.0 out of 5 stars from Goodreads’ Grady Harp:
A bristling murder mystery . . . taking place in the ’80s, when AIDs and other shadows altered so many lives. Hirsch weaves his tale well, capturing Southern California ambience and the interplay of his characters cinematically.
A fine study in intrigue! . . . Diane Donovan, Donovan’s Bookshelf & Midwest Book Review:
The story is replete with satisfying twists and turns . . . a memorable, compelling read.
5+ Stars from N.N. Light’s Book Heaven!
Written in the classic style of James Ellroy, Fault Line is a murder mystery you won’t soon forget. With a full cast of characters, a scenic setting, plus a laundry list of suspects, I couldn’t stop reading until the dramatic conclusion. Fans of L.A. Confidential will enjoy this political murder mystery.
5+ stars!
In this sequel to Shade, the first in the Bob & Marcus Mystery series, newly minted 25-year-old lawyer Bob Abramson joins the DA’s office in San Diego, where he soon finds himself leading an investigation into a politically charged murder.
Bob’s first encounter with murder occurred four years before, when the murder of his roommate—the handsome scion of an old Boston family—was investigated by Harvard professor Marcus George. Now, thrust into the investigation and its political ramifications, Bob and Marcus discover a gay subculture that roils much of southern California’s placidly straight surface.
Newly minted 25-year-old lawyer Bob Abramson joins the DA’s office in San Diego and soon finds himself leading an investigation into the politically charged murder of the mayor’s husband, a powerful, wealthy developer with far too many secrets for his wife’s political ambitions. As they settle in to their new home, they’re thrust into the investigation and its political ramification, and they find that a gay subculture roils much of southern California’s placidly straight surface.
Shade
H. N. Hirsch is a successful writer of serious nonfiction who has at last turned his hand to creative fiction: Shade, a classic murder mystery.
Its protagonist is a young, gay Harvard faculty member striving to find his footing in the Ivy League in the face of the publish-or-perish standards of academia, the strictures of life in exclusive enclaves in Boston and Kennebunkport, and the gay subculture along the New England coast circa 1985. Here Professor Marcus George, already beset by the tense, competitive world of Ivy League politics, is drawn into investigating the murder of one of his former students, the son of an elite Massachusetts family. As he investigates the murder, Marcus stumbles across academic and financial corruption that could ruin several lives—even as he falls into a tender and heartwarming love affair that will change his own.
Shade is a beautifully realized, gripping tale in the classic style of an endlessly surprising, twist-and-turn murder mystery. Imagine a book like Dorothy L. Sayers’s Gaudy Night set in Harvard Yard, Boston’s elite Louisburg Square, and Miller’s Cove, a fictional Maine coastal resort reminiscent of the famous Ogunquit.
As reviewed by Diane Donovan of Midwest Book Review, “Describing Shade as a ‘murder mystery’ alone does it an injustice. Few books would tackle the conundrum presented by the outcome of a murder probe that reveals forces of corruption alongside the draw of a love destined to change everything. These elements set Shade apart from most other murder mysteries, giving it a boost that makes it highly recommended.”
Or, as fellow writer C. Robert Jones writes, “Shade is a dilly of a mystery! … Hirsch brilliantly captures the milieux of Boston and the very rich, the dog-eat-dog world of faculty hierarchy, and gay life at the beginning of AIDS’ deadly march.”