Michael Raleigh’s DEATH IN UPTOWN is perhaps the finest debut of a P.I. since that of John Francis Cuddy in the first Jeremiah Healy novel…Paul Whelan and Uptown are an unbeatable team, guided by the hand of a fine writer. Author Robert Randisi, Orlando Sentinel
Credible and earthy…tautly written, full of muscular action. Edward Gilbreth, Chicago Sun-Times.
The vividly realized setting of this impressive first mystery is Uptown…A promising debut. Publisher’s Weekly.
Michael Raleigh’s DEATH IN UPTOWN is one fine first novel. It has what too many private eye novels lack, a heart.
Stuart Kaminsky, Edgar winning author.
The mystery is beautifully done with a can’t-miss plot twist at the and. I highly recommend it. Author Mark Richard Zubro.
Sleek plotting and an abundance of small diversions brighten Raleigh’s second tour of Chicago’s ethnically mixed Uptown area. Raleigh, who delivered the goods in his debut novel, DEATH IN UPTOWN, shows no signs of faltering.
Publisher’s Weekly.
For hard-boiled mystery fans who like their detectives on the gritty side…Whelan will hit all the right notes. This is only Whelan’s second outing, but already he’s established his bona fides alongside Robert Ray’s Matt Murdock, Jeremiah Healy’s John Cuddy, Jonathan Valin’s Harry Stoner…
Bill Ott, Booklist
En route to a neat solution, Whelan finds time to protect a hooker from a conventioneering pharmacist, break up a cross -burning on his neighbor’s lawn, mix it up in a bar brawl with his loose cannon police buddy Al Bauman, make cautious time with a smiling waitress… a Shaggy satisfying Valentine to Chicago’s seedy Uptown.
Kirkus Reviews.
With his flair for vivid prose and his vesting of dignity in the humblest of characters, Raleigh renders a superlative work on another of Chicago’s darker recesses.
Edward Gilbreth, The Chicago Sun-Times.
The third Whelan mystery…possesses the same attributes as its predecessor: an agreeably low-key protagonist, plenty of vivid Chicago atmosphere; and a well-rounded portrayal of mean streets and the often very decent people forced to inhabit them.
Wes Lukowsky, Booklist.
Like his hero, Mr. Raleigh has a thing for losers, characterizing them with compassionate care that spills over into affectionate studies of bartenders, waitresses and the owners of a slew of delis, bodegas, and restaurants on Whelan’s ethnically mixed turf.
Marilyn Stasio, The New York Times
An old-fashioned knight at the hard-boiled round table, Whelan honors the dignity of the poor, respects the social integrity of the neighborhoods and goes nuts for ethnic food.
Marilyn Stasio, The New York Times.
Raleigh’s Paul Whelan series brings to mind the late Ross McDonald’s Lew Archer novels…This series is a small treasure. It’s like finding a tasty little combo that can be enjoyed in a small club for a while but will certainly move on to bigger venues.
Wes Lukowsky, Booklist.
Replete with an engaging supporting cast, Raleigh’s latest tale demonstrates his knack for fashioning living, breathing characters out of his tough urban settings. The mystery fiction that Sara Paretsky fashions from Chicago’s South Side is full matched in Raleigh’s gritty North Side tales.
Publisher’s Weekly
One of the warmest and funniest novels I’ve ever read.
Irish News
An amazing book, a troika of laughter, love, and loss. There is wonderful and hilarious writing in this man’s book and if you escape without shaking with mirth or silently weeping, then check into the nearest morgue, for it’s dead you are.
Malachy McCourt.
The McCourt brothers can move over. The Chicago branch of the Irish mafia weighs in with a hilarious rendition of an Irish Catholic childhood circa 1955.
Booklist
A hymn to the love, nourishment, and the healing of a wonderful extended family.
Peter Sheridan, award-winning Irish playwright
Hilarious and tragic and very, very American – it’s as if both Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer had run off to join the circus.
Henry Kisor, Chicago Sun-Times.
Beguiling, wise, and wonderful.
Kirkus Reviews. (Starred review).
Full of remarkably engaging characters and fascinating circus lore. This warm, slyly humorous novel from the author of IN THE CASTLE OF THE FLYNNS is highly recommended for all reading tastes and all fiction collections. An absolute charmer.
Library Journal (Starred Review).
Raleigh’s tale of outsiders looking for a way in examines the resilience of the soul by way of a tour through the catastrophes of the twentieth century.
Sam Reaves, author of MEAN TOWN BLUES
Clever and surprising, a pleasure of a read.
Michael Allen Dymmoch, award-winning mystery writer
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