Peerless Detective

Book excerpt: In 1970s Chicago, a young man searches for the woman he lost—and finds a mystery: “Clever and surprising, a pleasure of a read” (Michael Allen Dymmoch, award-winning author of the Caleb & Thinnes novels). Home from military service, Billy Fox leaves Michigan and gets on a Greyhound to Chicago, hoping to find his ex-girlfriend, Rita—now another man’s wife. Chicago isn’t a town that takes kindly to strangers, and Billy finds himself barely scraping by, working odd jobs and living in squalor among ex-cons and men that the city hasn’t spit out just yet. Then a chance encounter lands him a job with Harry Strummer, the streetwise owner of the Peerless Detective Agency. At Harry’s oddball agency, Billy hones his skills, learning how to stake out a mark, find a bug, and spot a tail. His life begins to change in ways he didn’t expect—but as he continues to search for Rita, an even bigger mystery comes along, one that puts both men in the crosshairs.