One of the great things about the Jimmy Flannery series is how
Flannery narrates the stories in a down-home, folksy vernacular. The
stories harken back to a time when we lived in actual neighborhoods
and knew each other. Flannery works in the Chicago sewers but he is
better known around town for doing favors Chicago-style as a cog in
the old machine politics of a different era.

In this eighth novel in the series, there are no 600 pound gorillas, no
alligators, and no crazy goats. Flannery has grown up a little. He now
has a wife and a baby on the way. And he needs to get used to now
having Chips Delvin's job as the warlord of the 27th.

Not a traditional mystery by any means. And none of that shoot em
up, chase em down action. There's a mystery to be sure and Flannery
figures it out by poking his nose where it don't belong and having
conversations with folks. The magic of the storytelling here is not so
much in narrating action scenes as it is establishing a certain world of
neighborhoods and people doing favors. ( )