A Body in Belmont Harbor: A Paul Whelan Mystery [Paperback]

Michael Raleigh (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 17, 2000

A Body in Belmont Harbor is the second book in Michael Raleigh's widely praised Paul Whelan series. As this novel opens, the body of a small-time drug dealer is washed up in Belmont Harbor among the yachts of Chicago's wealthy, and a woman hires Paul Whelan to investigate the suicide of her husband, who once knew the drug dealer. Whelan's investigation takes him along Chicago's beautiful lakefront into the haunts of the well-heeled, and he soon finds that someone has begun stalking him.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Sleek plotting and an abundance of small diversions brighten Raleigh's second tour of Chicago's ethnically mixed Uptown area, which is guided by the tough-talking, loudly dressed shamus Paul Whelan. Two years separate the death of a struggling computer software specialist and the recent killing of a cheap bookie. But the latter was bookie to the businessman, the businessman's former partner has mysteriously moved on to bigger successes and the two men died at nearly the same location. The businessman's widow hires Whelan to investigate the partner, and soon the PI is trailing missing accountants and bald bruisers who cruise Rush Street's singles bars at night. While working in unofficial tandem with cop Al Bauman, whose attraction to violence is matched only by his thirst for booze, Whelan romances a pretty waitress and keeps a watchful eye out for a car of rednecks who seem intent on harassing the racially mixed couple who lives across the street. Raleigh, who delivered the goods in his debut novel, Death in Uptown , shows no signs of faltering.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Kirkus Reviews

Convinced that the killing of hoodlum wannabe Harry Palm on Chicago's waterfront is somehow connected to her husband's apparent suicide in the harbor two years earlier, wealthy, brittle Janice Fairs hires self-doubting ex-cop Paul Whelan (Death in Uptown, 1990) to take another look at the financial fortunes of High Pair, the software company that Phil Fairs had run together with slick Rich Vosic--whom Janice accuses of her husband's murder--until embezzling accountant George Brister took off, leaving the partners holding the bag. En route to a neat solution, Whelan finds time to protect a hooker from a conventioneering pharmacist, break up a cross-burning on his neighbor's lawn, mix it up in a bar brawl with his loose-cannon police buddy Al Bauman, make cautious time with a smiling waitress, and get under Vosic's skin but good. A shaggy, satisfying valentine to Chicago's seedy uptown. -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 292 pages
• Publisher: iUniverse (May 17, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 059509340X
• ISBN-13: 978-0595093403
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.6 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,777,706 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Writing this in hopes someone is looking, January 30, 2006

By 

Chei Mi Lane "Chei Mi Rose" (Saint Louis, MO United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: A Body in Belmont Harbor: A Paul Whelan Mystery (Paperback)

This was my first Raleigh book, which I bought as a remainder. Some of his other books were already past their first printing by then. I was so fascinated with the style and flavor that I bought and read all of them. He really nails down the food chain with his chomping dectective, besides describing the neighborhoods in Chi-Town.
I don't understand how he did not get involved with Mystery Guild, as they have a full line of authors, great to mediocre. While I was reading his, I noted that S. J. Rozan had some of her mysteries published through MG.
I really wish Raleigh would go back to writing Wheelan novels. he does it well.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This Chicago mystery writer is a great discovery, January 13, 2006

By 

M. C. Crammer (Decatur, GA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: A Body in Belmont Harbor: A Paul Whelan Mystery (Paperback)

I lived in CHicago for many years and love the city, so I was pleased to discover this mystery series written with a love for Chicago and a sense of place. Raleigh described the city so perfectly I felt I was back there. In fact, you could make an argument that the central character in the film is not the private investigator, Paul Whelan, but the city, particularly the lakefront area (Lincoln Park, Belmont Harbor, and Uptown).

The story begins on a dark Chicago night with a man -- a small time drug dealer -- being murdered at Belmont Harbor. Then the author cuts to Paul Whelan, private investigator/former Chicago cop living and working in Uptown, being asked by a north suburban woman of means to investigate her husband's apparent suicide 2 years previously. The woman says she thinks her husband's partner killed him or had him killed. Paul thinks that the body found in Belmont Harbor may have something to do with her husband and his business partner, so he starts poking around. There's an active investigation going on into the murder of the drug dealer, so the police aren't too happy. But Paul has a sort-of friendship with the police detective, so they share information in various Chicago restaurants.

This mystery is written in "noir" style: Paul Whelan is tough but kind (buys doughnuts for people who are broke, gets involved when someone is being hassled). I couldn't put it down, even though I was not the least surprised by the turn of events in the book (but I read a lot of mysteries and that's an advantage). I intend to read more in the series.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Intriguing murder mystery thriller, April 7, 2002

By 

Theodore Simon (Minneapolis, MN) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Body in Belmont Harbor: A Paul Whelan Mystery (Paperback)

This being his follow up book to "Death in Uptown." Raleigh doesn't fail to disappoint his fans. The story moves along very well. As your read the book you can picture everything in your mind perfectly as he describes the worlds and characters in the book very well.
I would definitely recommend this book if you've read "Death in Uptown"