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FredinVick, August 1, 2008

Ray Dudgeon is a former investigative journalist turned hardboiled PI in Chicago. He has his own ideas of justice and takes no prisoners. The character reminds me of Spillane's Mike Hammer. This is an excellent first novel with well developed, interesting characters, and some good descriptions of Chicago settings.

Dudgeon had planned to take some time off during the Christmas holidays, but is talked into being a bodyguard for a Hollywood type who is a witness against a lower ranking mobster in the Outfit (someone who has not yet made his bones). The case turns out to be more complex than it originally appeared as there is a power play within the Outfit and questions about who is siding with whom. There is corruption is high places. and Dudgeon finds himself entangled in a web. The novel is a page turner that holds your attention.

A short story about PI Ray Dudgeon is included in the collection "Killer Year." I would hope to see more of the character. Like the late Dashiel Hammett, the author was a PI for a short period early in his career.

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