The Governor's Wife

Reviewed by Richard A. Lupoff. PI Michael Kelly, Harvey's Chicago ex-cop, is back in this tightly written page-turner. With Illinois's real ex-governor Rod Blagojovich impeached, removed from office, convicted by a federal jury on corruption grounds, and sent to the slammer, it may have been inevitable that a crime novel would be inspired by (if not entirely based on) this sensational case. It's fortunate that a writer as highly qualified and skillful as Harvey is the one to write it.

The ex-governor in Harvey's version, however, is not behind bars. Rather, having been convicted and facing 30 years in the penitentiary, he leaves the courtroom with his wife, enters an elevator%E2%80%94and simply disappears.

Enter Kelly. Hired by an anonymous client to find the missing ex-governor, Kelly enters an ever-deepening world of swirling emotions, corruption, and ultimately violence.

The Governor's Wife is deeply rooted in Chicago: its neighborhoods, its ethnic communities, its politics. Harvey creates a cast of vivid characters, including the eponymous and seemingly ice-cold wife, her old-style ward-heeler father, the governor's alleged paramour, Kelly's closest cop friend, and his contact at a major Chicago daily.

Harvey uses standard hard-boiled characters and situations, perhaps in a deliberate nod to his many forerunners (especially Nelson Algren) and possibly with his tongue ever so slightly in his cheek. But the book is replete with surprises. Every time the reader turns the page and thinks he knows what he's going to encounter, there's Harvey waiting to wallop him with a sandbag.

And for all the hard-bitten grittiness of this book, Harvey is capable of writing with touching tenderness. Consider this paragraph:

"I put on some music and we settled on the couch. Karen [a woman Kelly has brought home to his apartment] scooted close, and I put my arm around her. The music was Elvis Costello. Mellow Elvis. I listened to him sing about a girl named Alison and thought about one named Rachel [Kelly's ex-wife]. Then I thought about the one beside me. I could feel the rise and fall as her breathing slowed. When the music was finished, I got up carefully. Karen mumbled something and curled up on my couch. I got some blankets out of the closet and slipped a pillow under her head. Then I turned off the lights. I called to Mags [Kelly's dog], but she was laid out on the floor and not moving. I made my way back to my room and crawled into bed. The night was mostly quiet. I listened to the traffic below and the wind in the trees until I fell asleep."

Reread that paragraph. Just when you think Harvey's PI is about to bed a new sweetie%E2%80%94surprise, he doesn't!

Harvey does that: he surprises you. Repeatedly. As for the requisite crime and its solution, they are bafflingly complex and ingeniously resolved. Read this book. You'll enjoy it a lot.

Richard A. Lupoff's most recent books are Rookie Blues (a novel) and Writer, Vol. 1 & 2 (collected nonfiction).