Reviews and praise for The Devil's Own Rag Doll:

Richard Lipez, writing in The Washington Post:

Mitchell Bartoy's The Devil's Own Rag Doll (St. Martin's, $23.95) is a first novel that's so accomplished it feels more discovered than written, as if it had turned up in the files of Black Mask magazine, a lost good book by one of the early hard-boiled pros....There's not a false or dishonest note in this knockout debut novel that's both superb social history and cop-noir with intelligence and heart.

 

From the STARRED REVIEW in Library Journal:

An impressive debut that will appeal to devotees of gritty crime fiction.

 

From Loren Estleman, author of over fifty novels, including the Amos Walker series:

Those who regard 21^st-century Detroit as a dangerous place know nothing of its scarlet history. When World War II was roaring through the eastern hemisphere, another war, every bit as hot and just as thoroughly rooted in fear and hatred, was tearing the Motor City into long bloody shreds. Mitchell Bartoy's The Devil's Own Rag Doll captures the tension of an industrial city-the engine behind the Arsenal of Democracy-with the accuracy of an eyewitness and the terror of a victim, yet never abandons its faith in heroes. He belongs in the first rank of artists working in the sub-genre of the Detroit thriller.

 

From Christopher Leland, author of Mean Time and Letting Loose:

The Devil's Own Rag Doll is a deep and complex book--big and mean and ambitious. Its maimed and hardened protagonist, Detective Pete Caudill, discovers a realm of lies and half-truths, corruption and conspiracy in the days immediately preceding the Detroit riots of 1943. As we follow our flawed, literally half-blind hero through a society of both glittering prosperity and bleak poverty, there is a growing dread that only catastrophe can lead to some sort of even tentative salvation.

 

From Jason Starr, author of Twisted City and Tough Luck:

Mitchell Bartoy has created a literary portrait of wartime, racially torn Detroit with images so vivid and voices so authentic, that it's hard to believe this book wasn't written in 1943. Brutal, hardboiled, and often quite moving, The Devil's Own Rag Doll is a stunning debut.

 

From Jon A. Jackson, author of the Mulheisen series (and Wayne State alumnus):

Mitchell Bartoy doesn't have much use for nostalgia, for the golden haze of fond memories; his gaze is hard and relentless, and he's a hell of a writer.

Caudill is a terrific character. What a rage, what fury!  There is no one I can think of who has rendered the state of mind and condition of poor blacks and whites in the urban situation better than Bartoy -- the poverty and hopelessness, the crudeness and ugliness.  But with all that, there's a terrific vitality and vividness here, real life boiling under the sultry lid of a Detroit summer. The Devil's Own Rag Doll was a wakeup for me, not so welcome but one that can't be denied, and one for which an honest Detroiter has to be grateful, even if rueful.

 

From Stuart M. Kaminsky, author of The Last Dark Place:

Too many writers have been hailed as the heir to Dashiell Hammett. Mitchell Bartoy, however, really hits the mark. THE DEVIL'S OWN RAG DOLL is pure Hammett and a joy to read. One-eyed Pete Caudill in 1940's Detroit ranks right alongside The Continental Op. Bartoy captures the WWII homeland perfectly and creates a tale filled with memorable characters. I definitely want to see a lot more of his work and soon. This is as hard-boiled as they come and as good as it gets.

 

Pick of the week from Sarah Weinman's web log: Confessions of an Idiosyncratic Mind:

This is the kind of moody, atmospheric treat that warms the cockles of my noir little heart.