book review: The Chicago Way by Michael Harvey
The backstory: The Chicago Way is the first in Michael Harvey's Michael Kelly mystery series. The basics: When private investigator Michael Kelly, a former Chicago cop, takes on an 8-year-old rape and battery case for his former partner, his partner is murdered. Now Kelly has two cases to solve. My thoughts: After a wonderful trip to Chicago in March, I find myself drawn to fiction set in the city. The Chicago Way doesn't paint the most complementary picture of the city, particularly its politics, but Harvey captures the essence of the city beautifully. Michael Kelly is something of an antihero himself. He reads and quotes classic Greek literature, but he's clearly fighting some demons. Harvey keeps part of Kelly mysterious, and I appreciate that. He manages to develop the character, fill in his backstory, but he doesn't overwhelm the story to paint a picture of Kelly. In this book, it seems there's no one to trust, or rather no one Kelly can really trust. Ha...