Death at Fort Devens — Peter Colt

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.

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.