I was intrigued by the description of this book on Netgalley because of its Chicago setting and its noir feel and I was not disappointed. It turns out the Michael Raleigh is not only a Chicagoan but has already created another mystery series set in Chicago with titles like Death in Uptown and A Body in Belmont Harbor, all featuring detective Paul Whelan (which I will be checking out next).
I don’t know if Peerless Detective is a standalone or the beginning of a new series but my guess is the latter. It tells the story of Billy Fox, who spends five years post-military service (just missed Vietnam) wandering aimlessly but finally returns home to Lansing, Michigan to discover that Rita, the girl he left behind, has not only married and had a child but has left her husband to escape to the big bad city of Chicago. After a brief stay with his Aunt Jo, a family friend, Billy heads to Chicago with the hazy idea of finding Rita and building a new life with her.
However, as soon as he gets off the Greyhound bus, Billy realizes that Chicago is bigger and more dangerous than he imagined and tracking down one person in this city of several million is not going to be easy. Yet, Billy is determined. He begins to explore the city and look for a way to support himself. He finds a cheap room in Uptown, takes on some odd jobs, and begins to walk the city. A few weeks in, a chance encounter connects Billy with Harry Strummer, the middle-aged owner of a detective agency, and soon Billy has a job and a small community of support—including the other employees of the agency—Leo, a former cop, and Doris, the office manager. Harry Strummer is Sherlock Holmes with people skills and he begins to teach Billy to really look at the world around him—to see the stories beneath the stories. Also, the jobs Harry gives Billy to do take him out into various parts of the city—giving him more chances to spot Rita.
Raleigh does a good job of evoking the gritty feel of Chicago in the late 70’s—especially how it might seem to an outsider from a smaller town. Though the setting is noir-ish, the characters aren’t; Billy has issues but isn’t a dark and tortured anti-hero, which also gives the book a slightly old-fashioned feel. This is definitely not the world of George Pelecanos (who has focused on DC in the same time period) but that’s okay. This was a solid beginning to what I hope is a series because I’d like to see where life takes Billy in the 1980’s.
