Nathaniel Singer

Created by Raymond Miller

“She was a woman who had once been beautiful and would someday be beautiful again.”

Author Raymond Miller caused a minor stir in the shamus pool in 2007when he unleashed the quite promising The Scent of Blood, which introduced NATHANIEL SINGER, a former poet turned Big Apple eye. The book garnered praise and generous blurbs from Kirkus, Mystery Scene, The Washington Post and others, and Singer himself drew comparisons to everyone from Philip Marlowe to Spenser.

It was one hell of a start; a definite dip into the Chandler pool — a deft blend of bruised regret and world-weariness, coupled with a wry skepticism and some well-versed first person narration (Singer’s occasional literary excesses are excused, I guess, by his former occupation). Of course, private eyes showing off their literary chops  is not an uncommon affliction, particularly for those who mine the Chandler vein, but as one sharp-eyed Amazon reveiwer noted, “You have to like a PI who keeps cream soda in his desk drawer instead of whiskey.”

According to the author, The Scent of Blood sold reasonably well. But the planned sequel, Elegy for Jane, all set to be published in the fall of 2008, was pulled by the publisher at the last moment and ultimately rejected, and both the author and his detective weren’t heard for years. Then, in 2014,  Cold Trail Blues, an actual sequel, appeared. In it, Singer is hired to clear an English major charged with murder.

UNDER OATH

• “With this literate and engrossing thriller, Raymond Miller makes an impressive entrance onto the private-eye stage…he will certainly emerge as one of the genre’s major players.”
  — San Diego Times-Union
• “A welcome addition to the ranks of hardboiled private eyes with a softer side.”
  — Kirkus Reviews
• “A fresh new take on a classic structure–like hearing a twelve-bar blues played by a great new talent.”
  — Lee Child
• “Raymond Miller understands the classic hardboiled detective novel…The Scent of Blood balances emotional distress, heated violence and philosophical quandaries, but still manages a breezy and light-hearted tone. Miller’s having a grand time playing with the genre.”
  — The Washington Post

NOVELS

• The Scent of Blood (2006) | Buy this book | Kindle it!
• Cold Trail Blues (2014) | Kindle it!

Respectfully submitted by Kevin Burton Smith