WOLF POINT

A slick Chicago private eye probes the city’s sleazy political scene to uncover the truth surrounding a suspicious suicide.

It takes a lot to get smooth shamus Ashe Cayne off the golf course, but the intriguing case of Walter Griffin fills the bill. Two years after the death of the influential populist politician was ruled a suicide, unkind gossip still swirls around the event. Griffin’s widow, Viola, is convinced that someone in the mayor’s office “ordered the hit,” and his children, Katrina and Walter Jr., press Cayne to investigate. Suspicions that “the Russians” were behind his death prompt Cayne’s trip to the Ukrainian Village on the Near West Side. While she adored her husband and admired his hardscrabble rise from poor beginnings, Viola also knows he may have been involved in something less than legal. Cayne's second case unfolds like a traditional whodunit, with a series of colorful suspects interviewed before the laid-back Cayne begins to put the pieces together with the help of Mechanic, his rugged sidekick. The supporting cast ranges all the way from police commander Rory Burke, retired alderman Delroy Thomas, and teachers union chief Shawna Simpson to shady car wash owner Cephus Redmond, thuggish Antoine Nelson, his flashy girlfriend Brittany Farrington, and prolific petty criminal Pernell Watson. Smith’s love of Chicago is palpable in his rich depictions of its diversity, vitality, and unique pockets. (He also displays a rare talent for variegated character names.) The discovery of pampered mistress Sophia Caballé and her connection with mayoral aide Amy Donnegan gives traction to the investigation.

A brisk and twisty whodunit with a motley cast that includes the city of big shoulders.