'46, Chicago

Named to the Top Five Mysteries of 2002 and Noteworthy Books of 2002 by the Kanasas City Star
 
“From white-hot rising talent Monroe (’57, Chicago, 2001), a punishing cops and robbers tale . . . in post-Capone Chicago gangsterland. The same old dirty-cop-in-a-dirtier-city tune is made to sound like something completely new.” —Kirkus Reviews
 
“. . . Steve Monroe’s classic hard-boiler follows Carson [a tough-talking copper] through the city’s underbelly in pursuit of a kidnapped swindler (who’s also on the payroll of a political mover and shaker) before he uncovers the truth in a veritable bloodbath in ’46, Chicago.” —Publishers Weekly
 
“This detective story offers not only a splendid sense of place and time but also a swift plot, crackerjack dialogue and an oddly appealing hero. Fans of noir will take it to heart.” —Chicago Sun-Times
 
“Monroe not only manages to capture perfectly the flavor of 1940s Chicago but also writes in wonderfully spare prose. The obvious comparison is to James Ellroy, but Monroe deserves to have this one stand on its own.” —Library Journal
 
“Crime fiction readers who insist that the good guys win and the bad guys lose, and that you ought to at least be able to tell the two apart, should steer a wide course around Steve Monroe’s ’46, Chicago. Moral compromise and relativism are the very foundations of this somber yet compulsively driving yarn about power and greed and the corruption they engender . . . As he did in his first novel, ’57, Chicago, Monroe brings distinction to a fairly conventional noir plot. His juxtaposition of caviar-class white and worker-class black cultures adds depth to this occasionally violent drama, his exposure of Carson’s conscience is patiently and convincingly done, and some of the dialogue here is sharp enough to cut lips.” —Amazon.com

Autorentext

Steve Monroe

Klappentext

Dateline Chicago, 1946: Policy, the illegal lottery, makes millions of dollars for racketeers in Chicago’s black community. But the numbers don’t add up when kingpin Ed Jones is kidnapped. Who grabbed him? The mob? Another policy wheel operator? And why?
 
Gus Carson, World War II veteran, a survivor of the sinking of his ship in the Pacific. A Chicago cop, he’s suspended for a late night shooting at a brothel. Enter wealthy politico Arvis Hypoole. He hires Gus to find Jones. The caveat: He’s got one week to do it. The challenge: Everyone’s looking for Jones and most don’t want to find him alive.
 
Author Steve Monroe offers another slice of underworld life told through fact-based fiction. And his protagonist, Carson, is the conduit to the intrigue. Haunted and violent, he staves off pressure with a wisecrack or a hard cross to the jaw. He navigates through a world of gambling, nightlife, shady politics and murder, all the while seeking much more than the kidnapping victim. He’s seeking redemption. And there is only one time and one city in which he can find it: ’46, Chicago.