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1 Burnside Mystery- A to Z

The Fifth Floor

by Michael Harvey

The Fifth Floor Cover

ISBN13: 9780307266873
ISBN10: 0307266877
Condition: Standard
Dustjacket: Standard
All Product Details

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Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments:

Michael Harvey's sizzling follow-up to The Chicago Way ("A magnificent debut that should be read by all" — John Grisham; "This book heralds the arrival of a major new voice" — Michael Connelly) opens with a murder in contemporary Chicago and winds its way back to Mrs. O'Leary's cow and the Great Chicago Fire of 1871.

When PI Michael Kelly is hired by an ex-flame to tail her abusive husband, he expects trouble of a domestic rather than a historical nature. Life, however, is not so simple. The tail leads Kelly to an old house on Chicago's North Side. Inside it, the private investigator finds a body and, perhaps, the answer to one of Chicago's most enduring mysteries: who started the Great Chicago Fire and why. The ensuing investigation takes Kelly to places he'd rather not go, specifically, City Hall's fifth floor, where the mayor is feeling the heat and looking to play for keeps. Ultimately, Kelly finds himself in a world where nothing is quite what it seems, face-to-face with a killer bent on rewriting history and staring down demons from a past he never knew he had.

A fast-stepping, intricately woven narrative, rich with the history and atmosphere of a great city, The Fifth Floor is a worthy successor to Harvey's critically acclaimed debut.

Review:

"Harvey's superb second thriller to feature PI Michael Kelly (after 2007's The Chicago Way) has the ex-Chicago cop taking on what he thinks is a simple domestic violence case. But when he tails Johnny Woods, a 'fixer' for the city's powerful mayor, to what turns out to be a grisly murder scene, Kelly realizes he's stumbled onto a scandal that began with the great Chicago Fire of 1871. Digging deeper, Kelly unearths what was once considered an urban legend: two of Chicago's most eminent families conspiring to eradicate Irish immigrants by burning down the city's slums. As more bodies pile up and he becomes romantically involved with a judge with secrets of her own, Kelly vows to expose the conspiracy, even if that means putting himself on the wrong side of the city's most powerful men. Harvey's plot twists in all the right places, and his noir-inspired dialogue crackles without sounding showy. Marlowe and Spade would readily welcome Michael Kelly into their fold. 4-city author tour. (Aug.)" Publishers Weekly (Starred Review) (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

Review:

"[F]irst-rate....Like Chicago itself, The Fifth Floor is edgy but intoxicating, and Harvey seems ready to join Sara Paretsky at the top of the city's crime-fiction A-list." Booklist (Starred Review)

Review:

"PI Michael Kelly digs into the history of the Great Chicago Fire for his second case in what's shaping up as a strong series....Dry wit, delectable clues and tricky leads hallmark this trenchant tale of the Windy City." Kirkus Reviews (Starred Review)

Review:

"[A] page-turner with a damaged yet interesting hero worth rooting for....Vivid writing, snappy dialogue and fast-paced drama, along with the mystery and intrigue of Chicago and its legendary fire, make The Fifth Floor an end-of-summer sizzler." BookReporter.com

Review:

"In The Fifth Floor, Michael Harvey gives us a tale of murder, bare-knuckle mayoral politics, and historical catastrophe–in short, the perfect Chicago detective story, complete with a loving tour of the city's funkier locales that'll make any displaced Chicagoan long for home." Erik Larson, author of The Devil In the White City

Synopsis:

A fast-stepping, intricately woven narrative, rich with the history and atmosphere of a great city, The Fifth Floor is a worthy successor to Harvey's critically acclaimed debut, The Chicago Way.

Synopsis:

Harvey's sizzling, intricately woven follow-up to The Chicago Way opens with murder in contemporary Chicago and winds its way back to Mrs. O'Leary's cow and the Great Chicago Fire of 1871.

About the Author

Michael Harvey is a journalist, documentary film producer, and writer, as well as the co-creator and executive producer of the television series Cold Case Files. His work has won many national and international awards, as well as an Academy Award nomination. He lives in Chicago.

What Our Readers Are Saying

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Average customer rating based on 1 comment:
cosifan, August 31, 2008 (view all comments by cosifan)
By choosing to continue down the traditional private-eye route he explored so well in "The Chicago Way," Harvey joins the Raymond Chandler firm by creating a familiar core around which he can spin a million dark dreams. Michael Kelly, his resourceful ex-police officer, can still crack wise with the best of them and bed anything that looks female. But he also can bring you to tears with memories of old loves and hates—especially when a case involving wife and child abuse touches some old wounds:

"I thought about the guy who once called himself my father. The death of quiet inside an apartment. A footfall on the doorstep and voices down a hallway. A quiet, dangerous sort of rumble. Something you developed an instinct for. Ten years old and creeping through the kitchen as the voices got closer. Out the back door and into the fading sunlight."
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Product Details

ISBN:
9780307266873
Author:
Harvey, Michael
Publisher:
Alfred A. Knopf
Subject:
Mystery & Detective - General
Subject:
Police
Subject:
Murder
Subject:
Mystery fiction
Publication Date:
August 2008
Binding:
Hardcover
Language:
English
Pages:
277
Dimensions:
9.38x6.62x1.09 in. 1.19 lbs.

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