The Fifth Floor - (Michael Kelly) by Michael Harvey (Paperback)

About the Book

Private detective Michael Kelly returns in a lightning-paced, intricately woven mystery that links a political cover up in contemporary Chicago to the great Chicago Fire of 1871.

Book Synopsis

Private detective Michael Kelly returns in a lightning-paced, intricately woven mystery. When Kelly is hired by an old girlfriend to tail her abusive husband, he expects trouble of a domestic rather than a historical nature. Life, however, is not so simple.

The trail leads to a dead body in an abandoned house on Chicago's North Side and then to places Kelly would rather not go: specifically, City Hall's fabled fifth floor, where the mayor is feeling the heat. Kelly becomes embroiled in a scam that stretches from current politics back to the night Chicago burned to the ground. Along the way, he finds himself framed for murder, before finally facing a killer bent on rewriting history.

Review Quotes

"The perfect Chicago detective story, complete with a loving tour of the city's funkier locales that'll make any displaced Chicagoan long for home." --Erik Larson, author of The Devil in the White City"Michael Harvey is a magnificent new voice."--John Grisham"Impressive.... A tangled, fascinating tale."--Chicago Tribune"A nifty retro-noir series."--The New York Times Book Review"Dazzlingly good." --ThePlain-Dealer"Another sophisticated caper.... Harvey brilliantly brings all the threads together and provides a satisfying conclusion." --The Missourian"Harvey's superb second thriller . . . Harvey's plot twists in all the right places, and his noir-inspired dialogue crackles without sounding showy. Marlowe and Spade would readily welcome Michael Kelly into their fold."--Publishers Weekly (starred review)"PI Michael Kelly digs into the history of the Great Chicago Fire for his second case in what's shaping up as a strong series. . . . Dry wit, delectable clues and tricky leads hallmark this trenchant tale of the Windy City."--Kirkus Reviews (starred review)Praise for The Chicago Way"The Chicago Way is a wonderful first novel. Michael Harvey has studied the masters and put his own unique touch on the crime novel. This book harkens the arrival of a major new voice."--Michael Connelly, author of the bestselling Harry Bosch novels"An intricate, fast-paced crime thriller."--Chicago Sun-Times"A smart, stylish debut. . . . The dialogue is snappy and crisp, and characters pop off the page. The plot flows along swimmingly with plenty of surprises."--The Boston Globe"A provocative novel that captures the grittiness of the Windy City and spins a murder mystery with a satisfying and out-of-left-field ending. . . . Wonderfully reminiscent of Raymond Chandler."--USA Today

About the Author

Michael Harvey is the creator, writer, and executive producer of the television series Cold Case Files, as well as an Academy Award-nominee for his documentary Eyewitness, and is a former investigative reporter for CBS. He earned a law degree at Duke and a masters in journalism from Northwestern. He also owns a bar in Chicago. He is the author of The Chicago Way.