[GlenBarrington]

The best Post Apocalyptic detective novel I've ever read. And Amazon still has it for free. (as of 02/06/2014)

Set in Boston, Massachusetts after what appears to be a limited nuclear war that had pretty severe cultural and economic consequences (causes and who the war was with were never discussed, I guess everyone in that place knew the causes and don't discuss them as a rule).

North America has pretty much fallen apart and is slowly beginning to rebuild. Britain somehow escaped much of the warfare, but while much better off than the USA, is still in pretty reduced circumstances.

They, the Britons, also created a relief force that came to the USA to restore order but their motives were considered suspect, and after a few years, they returned home, taking many of the US's remaining top scientists with them. Whether those scientists went willingly or were kidnapped is not clear to anyone. This leaves the US/British relationship kind of brittle. Even so, Americans dream of England the way they used to dream about California in the 1950's.

The main character is a man in his thirties obsessed with the detective fiction of Dashiell Hammett, and the films of Humphrey Bogart even though he has never actually seen a film. So he decides to become a Private Detective.

His very first case is that of a man who is convinced he is the clone of a scientist who the Brits took back with them when they left the USA.

An interesting alternate universe and a very believable one I think. This is a book worth looking into. I'm buying the second book in the series. I hope there's more.