Long-time readers of this blog know that I love to find the little inside jokes that pop up in mystery fiction. Authors often will give a nod to another's work or pay homage to a writer or slip in a reference that astute readers can pick up.

But it's important that these little asides don't call attention to themselves or take away from the seriousness of the plot.

Such is the case with Steve Hamilton's latest novel Misery Bay.

In Misery Bay, Hamilton, left, brings back his reluctant private investigator Alex McKnight, who last appeared in 2006's A Stolen Season. Hamilton recently won the Edgar Award for best novel for his stand-alone novel The Lock Artist.

Without giving away any of Misery Bay's plot twists, Alex McKnight has a very serious conversation with two cops -- Reed Coleman and Jim Fusilli -- while conducting an investigation into a young man's suicide. The encounter lasts only a couple of pages and never once does it take away from the dark plot or even hint at a wink-wink at the reader.

Still, I couldn't help but smile just a little bit knowing who the cops Coleman and Fusilli were named after.

Reed Farrel Coleman has published 12 novels, including the Moe Prager series (Innocent Monster is the latest) and two novels under his pen name Tony Spinosa.

Coleman's awards include the Macavity, Barry and the Anthony. He has won the Shamus for best novel three times, and has been twice nominated for the Edgar Award. Coleman is the former executive vice president of Mystery Writers of America.

James "Jim" Fusilli, whose day job is the rock and pop critic for the Wall Street Journal, wrote four well-received novels about novice PI Terry Orr, the last one was Hard, Hard City in 2004.

Last year, Fusilli became the first writer to sell a book to Audible without the novel first appearing in print.

The result is the excellent Narrows Gate, a sweeping tale about the Italian-American community set in the early part of the 20th century in Hoboken, N.J., where Fusilli grew up.

In Narrows Gate, gangsters rule the streets but the plot includes a singer, soldiers, businessmen and two young friends trying to survive. Comparisons to Mario Puzo would not be out of line.

I'd say Alex McKnight was in good company.