Poe Street - by Michael Raleigh (Paperback)

About the Book

It is the summer of 1946, the sinister, Gatsby-like millionaire Cary Morrison is found dead in his Chicago mansion, apparently the victim of a burglary gone hopelessly wrong.

Book Synopsis

It is the summer of 1946, the sinister, Gatsby-like millionaire Cary Morrison is found dead in his Chicago mansion, apparently the victim of a burglary gone hopelessly wrong. Soon after, the burglars themselves are found dead, one by one. Ray Foley, just returned from wartime service in Europe, finds himself embroiled. One of the dead burglars was Ray's boyhood friend Eddy Walsh, and Ray decides to involve himself in the search for the killer. At the heart of the mystery is a missing statue, a hollow Greek statuette said to contain Morrison's records of all his illegal financial transactions with mobsters and public officials. Ray's investigation attracts the wrong kind of attention, as a number of interested-and dangerous-people assume he has the statue or knows of its whereabouts.

Ray's search brings him in contact with street toughs, bookies, gangsters, a slick private investigator named Max Silver, a tough young nurse named Hannah Marcel, a crusty street cop named Carmody, and the eccentric Sal Greene, a major figure in the local mob, and the killer, in the hot Chicago summer.

Review Quotes

THE RIVERVIEW MURDERS

"An old-fashioned knight at the hard-boiled round table, Whelan honors the dignity of the poor, respects the social integrity of the neighborhoods and goes nuts for ethnic food."-Marilyn Stasio, The New York Times

IN THE CASTLE OF THE FLYNNS

"One of the warmest and funniest novels I've ever read."-Irish News

THE BLUE MOON CIRCUS

"Hilarious and tragic and very, very American - it's as if both Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer had run off to join the circus. "-Henry Kisor, Chicago Sun-Times.

KILLER ON ARGYLE STREET

"Like his hero, Mr. Raleigh has a thing for losers, characterizing them with compassionate care that spills over into affectionate studies of bartenders, waitresses and the owners of a slew of delis, bodegas, and restaurants on Whelan's ethnically mixed turf."-Marilyn Stasio, The New York Times