The Man with the Crooked Hat by Harry Dolan is a standalone murder mystery. Jack Pellum, an ex-cop, is our hero. Two years ago, Jack’s wife was murdered, and he is obsessed with finding the murderer, which eventually cost him his job. Even his detective friends try to get him to move on. But Jack can’t rest, and uses every moment to put up flyers about a man with a crooked hat, which was his only clue to the killer.
The main difference in this murder mystery is that we know from almost the beginning, who the murderer is. Michael Underhill has finally found his life coming together. He was a beautiful girlfriend, who loves him, and makes him happy; this is the life he wants badly, and he will let nothing change that.

After awhile, when Jack begins to weaken his resolve, he gets a message and meets someone else looking for the man with the crooked hat. This will bring Jack to a small town, which will lead to various clues of previous murders that maybe related, even as far back as twenty years. The mystery is chilling, as there are many twists that will reveal a cunning murderer, and several deaths that are remotely connected. Jack being an experienced former detective, as well as driven by his wife’s death, is probably the only one who can possibly to tie the strange pieces together.

What follows is an exciting story and at times early on, a bit confusing. It was also an amazing in depth mystery, that involves several crimes, with various people, deaths that occur over the years, and those that had no real relation to each other. Slowly, with a POV of mostly Jack, but some with Mike Underhill, we learn the consequences that lead to Jack’s wife’s death, as well as some other recent deaths.

I do not want to give spoilers, and this is a difficult review that telling too much more would ruin it for you. The Man with the Crooked Hat was an excellent murder mystery that kept us turning the pages, especially in the last half, which started to make more sense with each revelation. If you enjoy murder mysteries, a flawed but great leading character, in depth storytelling, very good secondary characters, a conniving murderer, and many twists and turns along the way, I suggest you read Harry Dolan’s The Man With the Crooked Hat.