Chicago Grit

If you like noir and novels about Chicago, there's a new favorite out for you.

The Governor's Wife by Michael Harvey is the latest in the Michael Kelly series, which starts with The Chicago Way. Harvey's books are atmospheric, and pretty much all the places he mentions actually exist, or have existed. Harvey's specialty is conspiracies, but they all seem plausible in this dirty old town. Like all the great noir detectives, Kelly often has woman troubles. In The Governor's Wife, the main woman is Marie Perry, wife of an Illinois governor who disappeared from an elevator after being sentenced for corruption charges. Kelly is being paid handsomely to find the absconded governor, but there are those who will kill to keep the secrets Kelly unearths. If you like your Chicago tales gritty and bleak, these books are for you.

Theresa Schwegel's Sloane Pearson is used to being underestimated and harassed because of her gender and blond hair. While she's transferred from Homicide to the Sex Crimes Division, nothing has changed. In Last Known Address, Pearson follows a trail of gruesome sexual assaults from Chicago's mean streets to a high-end property development company. She's the odd woman out, and her boss demands that she quit, but Pearson keeps at it, delivering hard-boiled thrills along the way.

Eleanor Taylor Bland has been writing the Marti MacAlister mysteries for a while, and the one I'm going to talk about is Windy City Dying. Taking aim at the juvenile welfare system, this socially conscious mystery describes what happens when Chicago troubles follow policewoman MacAlister and her husband to the suburbs. Marti's late husband made enemies, and one of them is fresh out of prison and bent on revenge. It seems that several foster kids may hold the key to a murder he's committed, but will they talk? The bleak atmosphere and an African American protagonist make this a unique series.

Of course, what discussion of Chicago noir is complete without Sara Paretsky's V.I. Warshawski? Brush Back is set to release on July 28. Doing a favor for an old flame, Warshawski looks into a possible wrongful conviction. However, the woman she's supposed to help hates her and her family, and accuses Warshawski's late, lamented cousin of having had a hand in the crime. Warshawski battles not just Chicago corruption but the insular South Side white ethnic community. Definitely a read if you're into V.I. Warshawski's backstory, but the nice thing about this series is that they all work well on their own so you can start anywhere.