“If anyone is watching out for the forgotten citizens of Oregon Hill, it’s Willie, who grew up there and speaks the local language, a crisp and colorful urban idiom we can’t wait to hear again.”

“Oregon Hill is a wondrous trip into the world of sarcastic newspaper reporters, bad cops, and murder most foul. Having worked as a newspaper reporter, Mr. Owen writes in a captivating voice, his acute observations granting authenticity to the bullet-speed pace of the story. Newspaperman Willie Black is masterfully created, ink and dark humor coursing through his hardboiled veins. It is hoped that this is the beginning of a series of books staring Willie and crew. Bring on the sequel!”

“Oregon Hill could serve as a textbook for a sub-genre that might best be called Southern noir. It hits all the stations of the noir cross, but unlike a lot of noir, it empathizes with the suffering that a hard-boiled world inflicts. Owen doesn’t skimp on the hard-boiled stuff, though…Hard-boiled fans will enjoy Oregon Hill. It’s fast, surprisingly intricate, and often grim.”

“Off-beat characters such as peripatetic drifter Awesome Dude and Owen’s spot-on take on the slow death of a newspaper (shrinking pages, repeated staff cuts, on-line presence, blogging, etc.) add ballast. The deft and surprising plot builds to a satisfying ending. Readers will hope that Willie will soon return in a sequel.”

“Humor,
tragedy, and compassion make for an intriguing mix in Howard Owen’s Oregon Hill. Owen, author of moving
literary novels here focuses his talent on Willie Black, a crime reporter whose
coverage of a Richmond, Virginia, murder almost gets him killed…Owen’s voice
here is perfect—casual but pointed. A reporter himself, he delivers up newsroom
slang by the bucketful. He’s also deft at revealing the jaundiced eye reporters
develop after a few years on the job…But the main character of Oregon Hill is the newsroom itself. Like
so many newsrooms across the country, it’s dying a slow death, losing reporter
after reporter. Willie Black knows the ax will fall on him someday, and like
the rest of them, he plans to go out with a drink (or 12) and a skin-flaying
wisecrack.”

“Character-driven crime fiction executed with style.”

“Owen knows his setting, his dialogue is spot-on, and his grasp of the down-and-dirty work of the police and news reporters lends authenticity to the narrative. This is Southern literature as expected, with a touch of noir, and with a touch of Dennis Lehane’s Mystic River. Willie Black deserves a sequel.”

“Place and culture play such a vital part in this mystery, the question is not so much who-dun-it as what-isn’t-he-telling and how-does-he-know. The narrator’s voice is convincing throughout and the characters leap from the page. Acts of remembrance, compassion, and love are redefined by accident, choice, or conviction. And the reader is pulled into the realities and compromises of an imperfect world, made just perfect enough in this story to carry the weight of hope and a future.”

“While the narrative is certainly compelling, what gives Oregon Hill a degree of heft is its commentary on the fate of print journalism in the digital age…Reminiscent of Carl Hiaasen’s Basket Case, Oregon Hill is as smart as it is thrilling, a true literary page-turner.”