Title The Chicago way / Michael Harvey.

This book is about a Chicago private investigator, Michael Kelly, who used to be a Chicago cop. Something happens and he is forced off the police force and becomes a private investigator. One day his former police partner (John Gibbons) contacts him and asks for Kelly's help in solving an 8-year old rape and battery case. Seems that Gibbons was the cop who handled that rape case and was instructed to "forget about it," which he did. However, when Gibbons turns up dead shortly after contacting Kelly, the former cop decides he needs to try to solve the murder of his former partner and friend, and in the process, the 8-year old rape. The one thing I really, really like about the book was the fact that Harvey has the characters visiting real areas in and around Chicago. There's Navy Pier, various North Side locations like Wrigley Field, Calumet City (which is a suburb south of Chicago) and numerous other landmarks and areas that are readily identifiable to long time Chicago residents. He also threw in characters based on real life local crimes. A character named John William Grime is not-so-loosely based on John Wayne Gacey (Chicago area serial killer of boys between 1972-1978); a character named John "Bull Dog" Donovan is based on John "Bull Dog" Drummond (a veteran Chicago Newspaper reporter famous for his encounters with various local mob men and criminals). The author's notes reflect that he has tried to be faithful to the city's geography, buildings and institutions, but where necessary, he has intentionally taken liberties to fit the needs of the story. I have to admit that the first 20-30 pages did not immediately impress me. The dialogue was almost something out of a bad 1930's Jimmy Cagney gangster movie. I remember wondering if it was supposed to to be set in the 30's but then Harvey started referencing more contemporary things like cell phones, computers, Google, etc. so I knew that was not the case. After I got over the hump of those first 30 pages or so things began to move and the story flowed much better. I had one of the characters pegged within about 15 pages of his first appearance in the book, but I did not see the ending coming. It was good and I found myself throughout the book coming to like Kelly more and more as a character. He's the kind of (former) cop and friend I would want in my life, especially if I was a victim of a crime. Harvey has written two other books which continue the adventures of Kelly and I look forward to reading those also.