The private eyes code:  ‘down these mean streets a man must go who is not himself mean, who is neither tarnished nor afraid (Raymond Chandler). In “No Middle Name”, Lee Child tells jack Reacher’s backstory in twelve stories, starting as a teen in New York on the night of the 1977 blackout. n “City of Endless Night” by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child, two boys stumble on the body of headless women in a Queens garage, the first of many in this “tightly wound” thriller. In “The Wanted” by Robert Crais, Elvis Cole is hired to find out where a troubled teen is getting piles of cash.  In “Robicheaux” by James Lee Burke, the titular character struggles with guilt, booze and Bayeux-bred baddies.  In “Promise not to Tell” by Jayne Ann Krentz, an escapee from a cult fears that someone from her old group hunting down survivors.