Jitterbug (Detroit Crime Series #6) [Hardcover]

Loren D. Estleman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1998

A Tough Town In A Tough Time -- Detroit during World War II was where the United States' furious effort to out-manufacture the Germans and Japanese occurred. Industry imported workers to replace men gone to war -- Southern whites and blacks working side by side fo the first time. Detroit had it all: rationing, the black-market, the Mafia, fortunes to be made, a new kind of jazz for seething summer nights -- it was a powder keg.

Through this tense, troubled world cuts a killer, a self-appointed soldier savaging ordinary people, the elderly and the defenseless. Lieutenant Zagreb's most important job is to keep the city from exploding, then to catch a mad killer with a cop roster of 4Fs and near-retirees. And finally, he must save his own soul. He cannot succeed at all three.

Wartime Detroit is dazzingly recreated in Loren Estleman's latest tour de force crime novel. Great auto manufacturers labor mightily; blacks struggle for an economic toehold; whites strive for decent lives in the chaos. The climax, during America's nastiest race riots, is unforgettable.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

One of the most interesting new trends in crime fiction is the regional historical thriller, and nobody does it better than Loren D. Estleman, whose books about Detroit's past--Aces and Eights, Billy Gashade, City of Widows, Edsel, Red Highway, Stamping Ground, Stress--turn that city's muscular and often bloody heritage into absorbing fiction.

In Jitterbug, Estelman shows us Detroit during World War II, where Lieutenant Maximillian "Zag" Zagreb heads up a team of overage misfits at the police department's racket squad. A particularly nasty killer called Kilroy appears to be targeting and then slicing up hoarders of ration coupons, and Lieutenant Zagreb's investigators are the thin red line deployed to stop him. They use some extremely unorthodox tactics and find themselves in the midst of a race riot, but Kilroy continues to elude them and fight his private war against profiteers. The heavy is a masterful creation, a believable psychopath who wears a stolen Army Air Force uniform and has made up a heroic career to cover his rejection by military psychiatrists. "On those rare occasions when he did not stand outside himself," Estelman writes, "he could hear the thump of the mortars and chomping of the heavy machine guns behind their sandbags on the hills." --Dick Adler

From Publishers Weekly

Writing with wit and carefully crafting a chilling suspense plot, Estleman (Journey of the Dead) delivers another spine-tingling crime novel set in Detroit. This time, however, unlike in his Amos Walker novels (Never Street, 1997, etc.), the action tales place during WWII. The heat is on Racket Squad leader Lieutenant Maximilian Zagreb and his three detectives (known collectively as The Four Horsemen for their unorthodox, brutal, mostly illegal methods) when someone starts killing people for hoarding ration coupons. Using some artful manipulation and some very unsubtle pressure, Zagreb leans on a couple of unlikely sources for help. Frankie "The Conductor" Orr, a local mob boss, and Dwight Littlejohn, a black riveter in an airplane factory, are unwilling participants in Zagreb's efforts to smoke out the killer dubbed Kilroy by the newspapers. As the cops twist arms and Kilroy's victims pile up, Detroit explodes in a bloody race riot that summer of 1943, making Zagreb think that Anzio might be safer. Terrific, tough characters, snappy dialogue, crackling action and some imaginative applications of the third degree, make this a triumph for Estleman.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 303 pages
• Publisher: Forge; First Edition edition (October 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312863608
• ISBN-13: 978-0312863609
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.6 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,757,174 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Since the appearance of his first novel in 1976, Loren D. Estleman has written more than 65 books and hundreds of short stories and articles. Alone (Dec 2009, Forge Books) is the second in a new series about L.A. film detective Valentino, and features Greta Garbo.

To kick off the new decade, Estleman's The Book of Murdock (eighth in the U.S. Deputy Marshal Page Murdock series) will appear in March and, to celebrate the 30 year anniversary of Private Detective Amos Walker, The Left-Handed Dollar will publish in December. It's the 20th novel in the award-winning series.

An authority on both criminal history and the American West, Estleman has been called the most critically acclaimed author of his generation. He has been nominated for the National Book Award and the Mystery Writers of America Edgar Allan Poe Award.

He has received seventeen national writing awards: four Shamuses from the Private Eye Writers of America, five Spurs from the Western Writers of America, two American Mystery Awards from Mystery Scene Magazine, two Outstanding Mystery Writer of the Year awards from Popular Fiction Monthly, two Stirrup Awards for outstanding articles in the Western Writers of America magazine, The Roundup, and three Western Heritage Awards from the National Cowboy Hall of Fame. In 1987, the Michigan Foundation of the Arts presented him with its award for literature. In 1997, the Michigan Library Association named him the recipient of the Michigan Author's Award. In 2007, Nicotine Kiss was named a Notable Book by the Library of Michigan.

Estleman graduated from Eastern Michigan University in 1974 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English Literature and Journalism. On April 27, 2002, EMU presented him with an honorary doctorate in letters. He left the job market in 1980 to write full time. He lives in Michigan and is married to writer Deborah Morgan. For more information, please visit his website: www.lorenestleman.com

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Cynicism and cynical characters abound., March 12, 2000

By 

Steven R. Kissel - See all my reviews

This review is from: Jitterbug (Detroit Crime Series #6) (Paperback)

It's the 1940's, the country's at war, most of the young healthy men of Detroit have left to fight, and there is a serial killer loose in the city. Enter four jaw busting, foul mouthed middle aged cops, teamed to find the killer. (These guys are definitely not the Untouchables)

The serial killer is not the main character and the reader knows who he is from the beginning so there is little mystery. The investigation is a vehicle for meeting the characters and presenting 1940's Detroit, a city of corruption and bigotry. The book is populated with sarcastic and cynical characters and description is usually sarcastic and cynical. Historical characters, such as Henry Ford and FDR, are portrayed unsympathetically. In contrast to the rough characterizations, though, are the compassionate portrayal of the two young black men, Dwight and Earl.

I found this a book that held my attention all the way through. The characters seemed real, although, for the most part, unlikable and the story successfully casts a rather somber mood.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very good, October 23, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Jitterbug (Detroit Crime Series #6) (Hardcover)

During World War II, Detroit becomes a Mecca for manufacturing weapons and aircraft for the war. Many southern blacks flock to the city as employment is readily available. However, the number of inductees for the war leaves the city's police force in jeopardy. Experience is lacking and the number of cops are at a critical low. Lieutenant Maximillian "Zag" Zagreb and his three experienced detectives lead a law enforcement team made up of 4-F rejects sprinkled with reemployed annuitant officers, who had previously retired.

The cops are already overworked when a patriotic serial killer emerges. The "Kilroy Killer" is slaying anyone who allegedly is hoarding ration stamps. As the police struggle to retain order and uncover the identity of a dangerous mass murderer, race riots rock the city in the summer of 43. Even as the police cope with the rioting, they continue to seek out the identity of a demented patriot before more lives are lost.

JITTERBUG is one of the best historical police procedurals this reviewer has ever read. The story line is gritty as it combines fact with fiction to paint a rarely seen picture of the home front during the big war. The characters are all brilliantly developed and their motives, even that of the deranged killer, is understandable. Loren D. Estleman demonstrates why he is an award winning author, who deserves new accolades for a fantastic novel that will leave readers dancing in the streets.

Harriet Klausner

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The memories abound, March 30, 2005

By 

David A. Spearman (Harbor Beach, Michigan United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Jitterbug (Detroit Crime Series #6) (Paperback)

Having grown up in Detroit during the fifties I can vouch for all written in the Novel. Dad worked in the Auto Shops and many of his stories were repeated by the Author. I remember as a teenager the next generation of the Detectives in this story. They were the Big Four. A black unmarked Buick with two giant Detectives and two a little smaller uniformed officers that never smiled. We still respected the law in those days. They made sure of it. The novel was teriffic with plenty of known landmarks and memories including streetcars. I highly recommend reading it.