46, Chicago

Steve Monroe. Hyperion Books, $22.95 (270pp) ISBN 978-0-7868-6731-8

Tough-talking copper Gus Carson has been trying to walk the straight and narrow ever since he got back to Chicago after a tour in WWII, but a visit to a whorehouse proves his undoing when he kills a man whos just murdered a john and his gal and gets suspended from the force. Steve Monroes classic hard-boiler follows Carson through the citys underbelly in pursuit of a kidnapped swindler (whos also on the payroll of a political mover and shaker) before he uncovers the truth in a veritable bloodbath in 46, Chicago.

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