A Beer at a Bawdy House [Hardcover]

After their debut in A Ticket to Die For, the Chicago-based husband-and-wife team of Dugan, who's a lawyer, and Kirsten, who's a PI, are back for another case, and a corker it is. Bishop Peter Keegan has been receiving disturbing messages and strange phone calls from a stranger threatening to reveal a painfully embarrassing incident in the clergyman's past, one that could cost him his position if it were made public. The bishop suspects that the person behind this campaign of terror is none other than his half-brother, Walter Keegan, who's the acting chief of detectives of the Organized Crime Division in the CPD. Kirsten has reasons to be leery of working on a case involving Walter Keegan, for she blames him for the death of her father, a Chicago cop. But despite this ominous history, or perhaps because of it, Kirsten takes the case. The question is, what does anyone have to gain from harassing the bishop? What can he possibly have that someone wants? With the help of Dugan, Kirsten digs into the case, finding it even more convoluted than she expected. The trail seems to lead to an antigovernment extremist group with its own peculiar agenda, but just when everything seems cut-and-dried, up comes a stunning twist. Judging from this book and its predecessor, the Edgar-nominated author has created a second compelling and enjoyable series (he also writes the Malachy Foley mysteries), with well-drawn characters, serpentine plots and atmospheric settings. Agent, Jane Jordan Browne. (Jan.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

A Chicago bishop hires investigative husband-and-wife team Kirsten and Dugan to discover the identity of a possible blackmailer. Even the bishop's estranged brother, a police chief, comes under scrutiny. Exciting second volume in a a much-praised new series (A Ticket To Die For).
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Catholic bishop Peter Keegan fears his half brother Walter, a renegade Chicago cop, is following him. He hires Kirstin of the Wild Onion Detective Agency to protect him, but he is less than forthcoming about the nature of the threat. It may have something to do, Kirstin discovers, with the fact that the bishop was once chastised for frequenting a bawdy house. The case accelerates toward a conclusion when the half brother is seriously wounded by a would-be assassin while awaiting a meet with Peter. Walker is a Chicago attorney and former priest, so he shares an insider's knowledge of Chicago politics, priestly maneuverings, and streetwise cops. Kirstin and husband Dugan, a lawyer who helps out with his wife's investigations, are a Windy City Nick and Nora Charles, complete with civilized, witty banter that often centers around disparate tastes in food. The plot is clever, and the conclusion emotionally satisfying. This is the second entry in what promises to be a long-running, intelligent series. Wes Lukowsky

Whoever's blackmailing Peter Keegan, one of five auxiliary bishops in the Archdiocese of Chicago, seems to have missed a page in the manual, since there's no hint of an extortion demand. But if the motive is unclear, the menace is real enough, especially after Clayton Warfield, the detective the bishop hires to investigate, has his home invaded by arm-breaking thugs who look suspiciously like police cronies of Peter's black-sheep brother Walter. So on the recommendation of amiable shyster Larry Candle, he turns to Kirsten and Dugan, of Wild Onion, Limited (A Ticket to Die For, 1998). Nick and Nora Charles they're not, since this husband-and-wife detective team relies heavily on its distaff side, Kirsten, and employs counter-thugs like Cuffs McAuliffe to go punch-for-punch with brutes like Walter. But joined by Dugan, Kirsten digs not only into the youthful indiscretion (the eponymous beer) that's behind the blackmail, but at Keegan's present ecclesiastical worldfilled with saintly co-workers and charitable works, but nonetheless harboring the motive for malfeasance. Walker spins a stream of micro-mysteries (Why did Kirsten order too much Thai food? Why did she drive past her exit on into Indiana?) that confuse more than tantalize. Still, some solid deductive work by an appealing duo puts this Wild Onion adventure a cut above. -- Copyright ©2000, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

"..the Edgar-nominated author has created a second compelling and enjoyable series (he also write the Malachy Foley mysteries), with well-drawn characters, serpentine plots and atmospheric settings." Publishers Weekly