Death in Uptown: A Paul Whelan Mystery

By Michael Raleigh

“This series is a small treasure.” —BOOKLIST

A killer terrorizes Chicago’s diverse Uptown neighborhood. Private investigator Paul Whelan’s specialty is tracking down missing persons, but when his good friend is found slain in an alley, Whelan is steered down a path of violence as he searches for answers.

His investigation is interrupted by the arrival of an attractive young woman, Jean Agee, who is on her own search for her missing brother. But as clues lead Whelan to believe the two cases may be connected, the body count rises quickly, and he finds himself racing to catch a killer before he strikes again.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Diversion Books
• Release date: Feb 17, 2015
• ISBN: 9781626816190

Michael Raleigh

Michael Raleigh is the author of five Paul Whelan mysteries. He has received four Illinois Arts Council grants for fiction, and his stories and poetry have appeared in a number of literary magazines. His fifth book, The Riverview Murders, won the Eugene Izzi award. He lives in Chicago with his wife, three children, and a deranged cat.

Reviews for Death in Uptown

[jimmaclachlan · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

The version I listened to was from "Books In Motion" read by Ron Verella. He did a good job. The quality started out poorly, but then got better. Not sure what was up with that whether it was damage to the file or not. I suspect it was just poor quality on their part since at least 3 times there were misreads & then repeats. They obviously should have been edited out, but weren't. I also tried another audio book by this producer just before this & turned it off quickly due to the quality. I may give it another chance to see if it gets better, although that reader wasn't very good.

This was a pretty good murder mystery, reminding me of Block's writing in the understated tone. Our hero was fairly tough, but not a great fighter & fairly stupid in the art of self defense. That last hurt the novel in a couple of situations as it undercut the motivations. Raleigh did paint a good picture of skid row in Chicago, not that I've ever been there, but it felt real.

The characters were full blown, a little too much so in some cases. One gets a couple of drinks in him & then does an info dump. Interesting, but not really in character. Still, it was an interesting look into him & he was a more fun than the hero in some ways.

One surprising aspect was the dated feel to this novel. It was first published in 1990 & I would have guessed 5 or more years earlier. That's still only 20 or 30 years ago, but it felt dated due to the lack of cell phones & the smoking. People smoked in so many public places & a phone answering service played a fairly part. Amazing how times have changed.

I have one more of these from the library. I think I'll listen to it soon.