Accustomed to the Dark

Joshua Croft #5

by Walter Satterthwait

Targeted again by the same psychopath who nearly killed her six years earlier, Rita Mondragon begins a harrowing cross-country odyssey accompanied by her business partner and lover, Joshua Croft. Reprint.

Genres: Mystery

250 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 1996

About the author

Walter Satterthwait (b. 1946) was an author of mysteries and historical fiction. A fan of mystery novels from a young age, he spent high school immersed in the works of Dashiell Hammett and Mickey Spillane. While working as a bartender in New York in the late 1970s, he wrote his first book: an adventure novel, Cocaine Blues (1979), about a drug dealer on the run from a pair of killers.

After his second thriller, The Aegean Affair (1982), Satterthwait created his best-known character, Santa Fe private detective Joshua Croft. Beginning with Wall of Glass (1988), Satterthwait wrote five Croft novels, concluding the series with 1996’s Accustomed to the Dark. In between Croft books, he wrote mysteries starring historical figures, including Miss Lizzie (1989), a novel about Lizzie Borden, and Wilde West (1991), a western mystery starring Oscar Wilde. His most recent novel is Dead Horse (2007), an account of the mysterious death of Depression-era pulp writer Raoul Whitfield. 

Reviews

[Khanson919 · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is the fifth and final Joshua Croft book and I have to say I really enjoyed this series. In this one, Joshua needs the help of characters from past books to help him track down the fugitives who shot his partner/girlfriend Rita. The story had some nice twists and turns, but I did not love the ending. Not sure if this was how the author wanted to end the series, or if there was another book intended that did not happen. Either way, it was an unfulfilling ending to the series.

[Hunter Bunter | Kindle Era · Rating 5 out of 5]

went hard

[S Richardson · Rating 5 out of 5]

V, Good.

As good as anything I have ever read in the genre, maybe a bit wordy. Not quite bleak enough. But the best I have read in a long time.

[Jersey Joe · Rating 3 out of 5]

The book in the series, ends with a whimper, not a bang. Still, entertaining and worth reading.

[David Malmberg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another great Joshua Croft mystery.

This book was the third in the series that I read. I have enjoyed them all and look forward to reading more in the series.