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Private investigator Tom Casey (better knows as Hawkman) gets involved in a case that takes him to the Morning Glory Haven Independent Living Home on the outskirts of Medford, Oregon. A high number of senior citizens have been dying in their sleep, which doesn’t seem all that surprising at first—at least not until Hawkman discovers that all of them were diabetics who were otherwise healthy. When Hawkman questions the staff, the number of recent deaths surprises them. It’s not something that they pay much attention to, since it’s normal for senior citizens to die in a senior citizen home.
George Hampton hires Hawkman to figure out what’s going on—to find a murderer, if there is one—and to protect his stubborn wife, Maggie. She won’t come home, and she insists on going about her day as if nothing’s wrong. Maggie grudgingly accepts Hawkman’s intrusion into her life, but she won’t be smothered or confined to her room.
Hawkman has his work cut out for him as he tries to find proof that the older citizens of Morning Glory Haven are dying under suspicious circumstances. Unless he can convince the police to do an autopsy on the next victim, they may never know exactly what is killing them. Soon, everyone becomes a suspect—including George and Maggie.
Though I was a little puzzled by some of Hawkman’s assumptions, Shadows in the Night is a pleasant and engaging read, with a mystery that twists and turns at every corner. There may not be a whole lot of excitement going on in this Hawkman mystery, but it’s just as much fun to follow along with the characters and try to solve the case.
I couldn’t guess who the killer was—but I think that’s partly because he or she didn’t seem to have a clear motive. I guess that people sometimes kill just for the fun of it—or because they’re mad at the world. Still, I would have liked the story to end with a more solid conclusion.
However, Hawkman is still one of the most distinctive private investigators in the fictional world. When his name comes up, I think of a good-hearted, long, lanky man in a cowboy hat, with an eye patch over one eye (the result of an accident when he worked for The Agency). Hawkman is familiar—like someone you know in real life and you like to visit from time to time. That alone makes it worth reading Shadows in the Night.
