|
Thomas J. Keevers, a former homicide detective with
the Chicago Police Department and now trial lawyer is the author of three books in the P.I. Mike Duncavan Mystery Series:
What the Hyena Knows, Music Across the Wall and The Chainsaw Ballet.
Booklist Music Across The Wall
said, “In this solid mystery debut, Chicago's streets and neighborhoods are described by one who knows them well--Keevers
is a former homicide detective with the Chicago Police Department. His flawed hero, Mike Duncavan, has been rejected by almost
everyone: two ex-wives, the police department, and the Chicago Bar Association. About all that's left is PI work and staring
at girls walking under his downtown office window. With his hot temper and fondness for Stolie on
the rocks, Duncavan is a disaster waiting to happen--and you don't have to wait too long. While investigating
the death of a Polish immigrant murdered in an abandoned building in the notorious Cabrini-Green housing project, Duncavan
stumbles into a deeper mystery involving the occult.”
One
reader of Music Across The Wall said, “In Chicago, Private Investigator Mike Duncavan
blames himself for the failures of his life as he recognizes that he made colossal mistakes. He cheated on his first wife
who finally divorced him though she believes that she will always be married to him. He should never have married his second
wife, who also divorced him. The Chicago Police Department fired him and now he is barred from practicing law. Financially
he is a wreck. Emotionally, he wants his first wife back.
Septuagenarian attorney Artemus Shumway hires Mike to investigate the murder of
Tadeusz Bartodzice, a Polish father of six, in a building where a working class Eastern European immigrant had no reason to
be five years ago. Robbery was ruled out because his money and credit cards were left behind. On the day before civil suits
can expire, the Bartodzice family sued the building's owner Moses Watson for wrongful death. The legal twist is that Mike
has only fifteen days to learn why Tadeusz was where he was and any other related matter.
MUSIC ACROSS THE WALL is a superb private
investigative tale with powerful insight into the Illinois civil legal system. The story line moves at a rapid pace except
when Mike mentally kicks himself for his errors. Mike is a great protagonist, though he seems to be a more knowledgeable lawyer
than the plot's other attorneys. His inquiries are fun to follow and the case makes for a delightful thriller that readers
will value and want more novels starring Iron Mike making the rounds of Chicago.”
According
to the book description of What The Hyena Knows, “You might think that P.I. Mike Duncavan,
disgraced ex-cop and disbarred lawyer, would have little pride left - but pride was one of the deadly sins that brought him
down in the first place. So when his friend, criminal lawyer Stanley Janda, asks Mike for help in defending an accused child
killer, he has some serious qualms. Janda's client, Justin Ambertoe, a gay freelance photographer, was seen loitering
near the scene of the crime, an abandoned building in a Chicago ghetto, about the time the little boy was murdered. Out of
loyalty to his friend, Mike takes the case, but as the investigation proceeds, the State's evidence against Ambertoe mounts,
and so do Mike's own doubts about his client. Maybe Ambertoe really is the killer. But if pride has been Mike's downfall,
persistence is his strength. Doggedly following a few feeble leads, he eventually uncovers a scheme so bizarre, so diabolical,
that no one - not the police, not the prosecutor, not even his own ex-partner - will believe him. The sweep of Mike's
investigation takes him through Chicago's seedy back streets, to a west Texas game ranch where African animals are bred
for "hunting," to a South African village where witchcraft flourishes and ritual sacrifice is routine. In a deadly
cat-and-mouse game, Mike becomes as much quarry as hunter, and wonders whether the forces he's battling might even be
supernatural. A Chicago native, Thomas J. Keevers is a trial lawyer and former homicide detective with the Chicago Police
Department.”
One reader of What The Hyena Knows
said, “He was a Chicago cop who was fired after he was shot by the husband of the woman he was sleeping with. He became
a lawyer who was disbarred by the Illinois legal board when he attacked a judge and an opponent for calling him a liar. When
he continued to womanize his wife finally left him. Mike Duncavan is trying to regain what his pride cost him starting with
his professional life and he hopes one day his first spouse. He works as a legal investigator taking whatever crumbs lawyers
sends his way.
Attorney Stanley Janda,
a former cop who met Mike in night school, hires him to find evidence that will exonerate his client photographer Justin Ambertoe,
accused of abducting five year old Reggie Brookin. Mike wonders why a gay white man would be in the ghetto even to take pictures
of abandoned property. As he interviews the neighbors, he realizes that Stanley's client is hiding something and may be
lying beyond the omission, but for some reason believes the man is innocent. When he learns about the African David Akiby,
he begins finding loose strings that tie together including seeing a hyena in the park to the Mesquite Bend Ranch in Texas,
but the min question remains unanswered: why the kidnapping and probable murder of a child?
If it was not for Mike's uncanny
skills to recognize animals this sleuth tale would be a typical sub-genre tale of a rising superstar falling down to the lowest
rung and trying to make it back. In Many ways Mike is a flawed Shakespearean tragic figure whose flaws lead to his downfall.
The who-done-it is fun to follow though the ties between Chicago, Texas, and Africa seem nebulous at best but his ex explains
his abilities so that the link seems plausible. Fans of interesting private investigative tale will want to learn WHAT THE
HYENA KNOWS.”
|
