‘Autumn Dead’ and ‘The Night Remembers’: Two of Ed Gorman’s best recently re-released together

Two of Ed Gorman's finest novels are out in an omnibus offering that gives longtime fans an opportunity to revisit them and new readers a chance at discovery.

'Autumn Dead' and 'The Night Remembers' have been packaged recently as Mystery Classics by Stark House ($19.95, 318 pages). It's vintage Gorman in two tales featuring private investigators named Jack.

'Autumn Dead' (1987) is the fourth in a five-book Jack Dwyre series and is set in a place that could be Gorman's native Cedar Rapids. 'The Night Remembers' (1991) is a stand-alone novel featuring private-eye Jack Walsh and is set in Cedar Rapids. Both have on full display the tapestry on which Gorman draws his literary prowess.

As writer Rick Ollerman points out in an introduction to this publication, Gorman is easy to read, but his work is far from simple.

Gorman delivers prose in a variety of genres that is rich in thought process and poignant in sense of time and place. It's dripping in nostalgia; not necessarily representing a longing for where we were but rather to help explain how we got here. His is sophisticated blue-collar writing, rife with wit and doused heavily with social commentary, droll humor and occasional cynicism.

'Autumn Dead' is about a former cop who wants to be an actor. That means he's paying the bills with a security job supplemented by private investigative work when he can get it. This job comes up when a former crush asks him to track down a missing suitcase. 'The Night Remembers' features Walsh, an aging former sheriff's detective enlisted to help prove the innocence of a man he previously helped to convict.

This is less a review about the two books than it is of the author. He's prolific and a native son. One who deserves notice and appreciation for what he's accomplished. He's widely recognized in the industry for having helped many neophytes navigate its murky waters.

If you haven't read Gorman, here's a splendid opportunity to start doing so with this 'twofer.'