Leonard's style [in City Primeval] is clear, crisp, and mean. He writes about a tough-guy cop, Raymond Cruz, who lights out after crooks and con artists in one of the world's toughest cities, Detroit. Cruz tracks down high-level corruption as he investigates the murder of a very abusive, very angry, very important citizen—Judge Alvin B. Guy. Guy was about to squawk, murder stopped his breath, and Cruz finds out what the judge was about to reveal. Strong stuff.

Connie Fletcher, in a review of "City Primeval: High Noon in Detroit," in Booklist (reprinted by permission of the American Library Association; copyright © 1980 by the American Library Association), Vol. 77, No. 7, December 1, 1980, p. 506.