Homicide 69 [Hardcover]

Sam Reaves (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 22, 2006

It's the summer of 1969, and veteran Chicago homicide detective Mike Dooley is investigating the brutal torture-murder of a young woman. The victim is a former Playboy bunny and mobster’s girlfriend. Dooley suspects this is more than a sex killing, which leads him into the deep waters of mob intrigue and political corruption.

The Night Watch is a gripping novel about a man, his family and his times. As Dooley, whose own youth was sacrificed in the Pacific in World War II, scans the news for hopeful portents regarding his son Kevin, a Marine in the thick of the fighting in Vietnam, he sees the world changing before his eyes. The moon landing, Woodstock, the Manson murders, and riots in the streets provide a backdrop for the personal and professional crises precipitated by Dooley’s stubborn refusal to give up on a crime nobody but him wants solved.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

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.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

About the Author

Sam Reaves is the author of the Cooper MacLeish Mystery series, which includes such titles as Fear WIll Do It and Bury It Deep. Under the name of Dominic Martell, he also wrote the noir thriller Lying Crying Dying. He lives in Evanston, Illinois.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 480 pages
• Publisher: Carroll & Graf (November 22, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786718129
• ISBN-13: 978-0786718122
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.9 x 1.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,270,580 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Sam Reaves has written seven Chicago-based crime novels, including the Cooper MacLeish series, the Dooley series and the stand-alone Mean Town Blues. As Dominic Martell he has penned a European-based suspense trilogy. Reaves has traveled widely in Europe and the Middle East but has lived in the Chicago area most of his life. He has worked as a teacher and a translator.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Great Hardboiled Chicago Mystery, March 12, 2007

By 

john binder (River Forest, IL United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Homicide 69 (Hardcover)

Sam Reaves creates some interesting characters and has a good eye for Chicago and police work in this novel. More so, he has a great feel for the Outfit (the Mob in Chicago) and its conventions and intertwines the underworld nicely with the upperworld (if the labels can truly be applied here) of the police department in Chicago.

At 480 pages it's long, but don't think of it as 3 hours in church rather than the standard one, think of it as a 5 pound box of your favorite chocolates rather than just a one pound box. The characters will draw you in and make you stick around for the ending -- which is worth it.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Much, much more than murder..., April 3, 2007

By 

Robert W. Smith - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Homicide 69 (Hardcover)

I finished Homicide 69 on Saturday afternoon on break with the family in Florida. I can say very candidly it is the first book ever to dominate my vacation. I was at a complete loss all day Sunday, wishing there had been another hundred pages. It far exceeded its billing and reviews---far. Part history, part social anthropology and part first rate detective yarn, I found H69 to be much more complex and nuanced than anything in the genre I've ever read. The way Reaves handles Dooley's personal evolution against the backdrop of a changing and troubled society is nothing short of masterful. As a reader who came of age in this place and time, I am still fascinated by Dooley's conflicted sense of integrity, sort of a "practical integrity" with distinct institutional limits. It had to be precisely the way an honest Chicago cop in those days could justify himself within an essentially corrupt system. As a criminal defense lawyer, I've rooted against homicide cops for 28 years, but I was "Dooley's boy" to the last emotion charged page.

Reaves' research is maticulous, uncompromising and compelling. If there is a downside at all, it would be that only readers with a parochial perspective could appreciate the extent of it. Using his hard-earned insight into the '60s Chicago underworld, inside City Hall and outside of it, Reaves pulls the reader back in time and drops him into a living, three-dimentional extravaganza of thrills and emotions.

But, in the end, great characters make great books, no matter the genre. Homicide 69 was truly a great book because Michael Dooley will be with me for a long time to come. I want more.

Bob Smith

[...]

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A classic detective novel well written, August 29, 2007

By 

Armchair Interviews (Minneapolis, MN) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Homicide 69 (Hardcover)

Get ready for a gripping detective story written in the spirit of the classic detective novel. Homicide 69 is a great read from cover to cover, and you aren't going to want to put it down.

Set in the gritty time of 1969 Chicago, Homicide 69 follows the path of veteran Detective Mike Dooley as he doggedly follows a case he just can't let go. The homicide of a young woman seems to be an open and shut case when a seedy character confesses to his involvement. However, Dooley knows something isn't right. He follows his instincts into a world with beautiful women, mobsters, crooked cops, and the FBI. He is determined, against all odds (and orders from above) to find out who really killed the young woman and bring them to justice.

The story goes far beyond just the investigation, which is a large part of the intrigue of the novel. Dooley has a strained family situation, with an unsatisfied wife, teenage daughter, a son struggling with his identity and another son in Vietnam. He must balance being a part of all of their lives while following a case that is capturing all of his thoughts and most of his time. In addition to his family, Dooley has a partner, bosses, and a very special witness to keep happy. His struggle to balance all of the challenges in his life adds a subtle element of drama to the story.

The novel brilliantly incorporates many of the historical events into the story. It is very interesting to get a picture of how events like the moon landing affected day-to-day life in 1969.

Homicide 69 is an interesting and very exciting read. The characters are well developed and you will come to care deeply about their well-being. While the novel doesn't leave any loose ends, it definitely leaves you wanting Mr. Reaves to write some more.

Armchair Interviews says: An outstanding 5-star read!