A BAD NIGHT'S SLEEP

The bent cops are straight, the straight cops are crooked, and ex-cop Joe Kozmarski (The Bad Kitty Lounge, 2010, etc.) must somehow figure out which is which, and who and when, in order to stay alive.

Private eye Joe is minding his own business, which happens at the moment to be a stakeout assignment on behalf of one of Chicago’s more prominent property developers. Slippery thieves are battening on a variety of items vital to property development, and the long-suffering Southshore Corporation has finally hired Joe to catch them in the act. He doesn’t relish the gig, but his languishing bank account does. The November night is cold, and his beloved Skylark’s heater, on full blast, has commenced a serious attack on his attention span when suddenly Southshore’s installation experiences an explosion of cops, including among their number the very crooks Joe’s being paid to catch. For reasons that make perfect sense to him—unfortunately a minority view—he shoots one of them, rendering himself persona non grata to all the others. Now practically everyone in the Windy City has the leverage to make Joe do a variety of things he desperately doesn’t want to do. Fast, furious and fun. Readers who like them hard-boiled will love this 22-minute egg.