Wolf Point

Ian K Smith

Thomas & Mercer

 

Chicago: From the mean and violent streets of Englewood to the glittering downtown Loop, hardened PI Ashe Cayne has seen it all. That’s why he knows there’s trouble ahead when the family of dead African-American politician Walter Griffin asks him to look into the circumstances of his death. Griffin’s body was found in the secluded Wolf Point riverside area two years ago. The death was ruled a suicide, but the family knows Griffin would never have killed himself. Cayne reluctantly agrees to take the job. His strong sense of justice is twitching at the smell of an official cover-up. Cayne’s golfing addiction and complicated love life may have to take a back seat this summer.

Ian K Smith is a worthy modern successor to Hammet and Chandler.

Griffin got ahead well for a black guy from the ‘hood. He had friends in high places, including the notorious Fifth Floor, a.k.a. the Chicago mayor’s office, ruled over by Griffin’s childhood buddy, Jack Bailey. Cayne suspects corruption in high places led to Griffin’s death. He was cleaner than most and not as rich as some who work the system. Russian mobsters and homegrown criminal talent through to Griffin’s fellow politicians all wanted him out of the picture. As Cayne digs deeper it seems his first suspicions may not be correct. How high up the chain of officialdom does the stink of corrupt practices rise? Can Cayne find the truth and avoid becoming a target of the notorious system?

The mean streets of Chicago come to vivid, gritty life in Wolf Point, Ashe Cayne’s latest appearance. Ian K Smith is a worthy modern successor to Hammet and Chandler.