cover image Homicide 69

Homicide 69

Sam Reaves, . . Carroll & Graf, $26.95 (569pp) ISBN 978-0-78671-812-2

Set in 1969, Reaves's new crime novel opens impressively, as world-weary Chicago detective Mike Dooley seeks the man responsible for the savage, sadistic murder of Sally Kotowski, a mobster's ex-girlfriend. Despite a quick official wrapup of the investigation, Dooley remains skeptical that the guilty party has been punished, and he defies warnings from both sides of the law by continuing to turn over stones in pursuit of the real killer. Distracted by his worries over his eldest son, who's stationed in Vietnam, Dooley recklessly risks his family life by a prolonged flirtation with an attractive friend of the dead woman. That subplot and the author's penchant for starting each chapter with a litany of headline events of the day detract from the gritty beginning, while the disappointing resolution has more to do with the motive for Kotowski's being silenced than her actual killer. Reaves (Fear Will Do It ) is also the author of Lying Crying Dying under the pseudonym Dominic Martell. (Jan.)