Smoke-Filled Rooms [Hardcover]

Kris Nelscott (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 16, 2001

August, 1968, Chicago: After fleeing Memphis along with Jimmy, a ten-year-old boy who witnessed the murder of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and who is now posing as his son, Smokey Dalton has landed in Chicago, hoping that he and Jimmy can put the past behind them and start a new life.They spent the summer looking over their shoulders, but finally feel like they have escaped; Smokey is looking for a place for them to live and a way to set up shop helping people solve problems-a sort of unlicensed p.i. business-like he did in Memphis.But as the city gears up for the 1968 Democratic National Convention, Smokey begins to fear that their secret has been revealed.There are strangers in the neighborhood, and Smokey can't shake the feeling he's being watched.Even when a young neighbor boy goes missing, Smokey can't foresee the true nature of the violence and chaos about to enter their lives just as the racial tension builds and the city reaches its own breaking point.With the Edgar Award-nominated A Dangerous Road, Kris Nelscott launched an atmospheric series of p.i. novels set during one of the most turbulent times of our recent past. Now, Nelscott's gripping account of the days leading up to the convention reveal a country in transition and a detective poised to play a central role in events of lasting significance for him, and his nation. AUTHORBIO: Kris Nelscott lives on the Oregon coast, where she's working on the next Smokey Dalton novel.The first Smokey Dalton novel, A Dangerous Road, was shortlisted for the Edgar Award for Best Novel in 2000.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Smokey Dalton is a man on the run, and he's got something to hide. In her second Dalton novel, author Kris Nelscott takes these invitations to cliché and instead crafts a refreshingly straightforward thriller that moves adroitly through the sweltering heat and simmering racial tension of the summer of 1968, when the Democratic National Convention came to Chicago.

In A Dangerous Road, PI Smokey became the unwitting protector of a 10-year-old boy who had witnessed Martin Luther King's murder--and who knows that James Earl Ray was the fall guy for a government-mandated assassination. Now, several months later, Smokey and Jimmy have taken refuge with friends in Chicago. Just as he's letting go of the reflex to look over his shoulder, Smokey hears that neighbors have seen someone watching him. But when he tries to find out who the stranger is, he gets sidetracked by a plea to find a missing 14-year-old boy who has disappeared without a trace. When the body of another neighborhood child appears on Smokey's doorstep, bearing the traces of torture administered by a pro, the investigator knows that the shadows of Memphis have lengthened and darkened--and that they may stretch all the way back to his own military past. To save Jimmy from their pursuers, Smokey will have to swallow both personal and professional pride, forming uneasy alliances with Laura, an ex-almost-lover, and with the Chicago police.

Nelscott is interested in delineating the ordinary rather than the extraordinary: the novel's plot is well-articulated and suspenseful, but even more rewarding are its glimpses into the social constraints and preconceptions that surround Smokey (whose rusted Impala and skin color combine to form "a neon sign advertising trouble"). This is a solid follow-up effort that should have fans looking forward to a third appearance. --Kelly Flynn

From Publishers Weekly

The second novel about black PI Smokey Dalton safely works formula situations the sensitive detective, the child-in-peril against the backdrop of rioting during the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago. In the first book in the series, A Dangerous Road (2000), a 10-year-old became the only witness to the real killer at the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., with Smokey his sole protector. Now, months later, they're in hiding, though Smokey's idea of concealment consists of working security at the high-profile Conrad Hilton Hotel, as well as taking on a missing-child case in their neighborhood when he knows a shadowy figure is watching his every move. Nelscott, the penname adopted by science fiction writer Kristine Kathryn Rusch for these mysteries, has selected a powerful historical era, but almost wastes it by indulging in genre clich‚s. She even pulls in the archenemy from the past and the inevitable tagline, "This had become personal." Evident haste leads to occasional funny moments, such as the doofus lines meant to invoke suspense when Smokey goes to rent an apartment: "The faint odors of stale sweat and perfume filled the hallway. Someone had been here before us." The building is inhabited, Smokey. Fans of modern PI novels may enjoy this one, but it makes a very poor substitute for authentic black crime writing from that turbulent era, much of which is available in reprint. (Aug. 20)Forecast: Given the Edgar nomination of A Dangerous Road and strong general interest in this historical period, this second Smokey Dalton novel should generate some sales, but poor reviews and weak word of mouth will put a lid on the book's prospects. The author also writes romances under the name Kristine Grayson.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 336 pages
• Publisher: Minotaur Books; 1st edition (August 16, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312262655
• ISBN-13: 978-0312262655
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.6 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,904,209 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fine novel, great character, exciting period, August 25, 2001

By 

booksforabuck "BooksForABuck" (Long Beach, CA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Smoke-Filled Rooms (Hardcover)

Smokey Dalton has fled Memphis with Jimmy, 10-year-old witness of the Martin Luther King assassination. The man Jimmy saw kill King was not the man the police arrested and Smokey knows that Jimmy's life is in danger. Unfortunately for both, Smokey chooses Chicago as his hiding place. The 1968 Democratic National Convenction in Chicago makes that city a dangerous place for a man on the run. If someone has spotted Smokey and Jimmy, they are in danger and Smokey knows he must get to the bottom of it. Yet what can he do against the forces of the FBI and Chicago police? Author Kris Nelscott does a fine job with Smokey's complex character, the feeling of a city careening toward its date with destiny, and the complex relationships between white and black. Smokey's ambivalent feelings toward Laura, an anglo woman whom he must ask for help, stand in microcosm for the entire world he lives in. Nelscott has written a novel that uses the big historical events (and conspiracy theories) of a critical period of U.S. history, but this story is intensely personal. Smokey and Jimmy are what matter, not some amorphous ideal. Perhaps this is why this novel works. Highly Recommended. BooksForABuck.com I appreciate your 'helpful' vote.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars While Waiting For Easy..., November 7, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Smoke-Filled Rooms (Hardcover)

While waiting for the return of Walter Mosley's Easy Rawlins and the ultimate fate of Mouse, I've been looking for some stand ins and found more than I was looking for with Kris Nelscott's "A Dangerous Road" and the introduction of Smokey Dalton, a getting-along private detective in Memphis in 1968 who describes his profession as "doing odd jobs", and the jobs are, indeed, odd.

This book is more than the sum of its parts: Nelscott's writing takes the book far beyond the typical detective mystery;the plots turn in upon themselves and, even when the mystery of Laura Hathaway is solved, the subplots draw the reader on in pursuit of other mysteries and to surprises that could not have been imagined earlier;and the characters are drawn so finely that they are all familiar,sympathetic or dispicable but known from personal experience. Each character, no matter how minor, has a well-defined human face that is recognizable. This is a book that entertains, educates, reminisces, and touches the heart in ways that one will only understand at the last page. Nelscott's Dalton is a childhood friend of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., but Nelscott manages to treat that relationship as, remarkably, incidental to Dalton's own tragedy filled life and the mysteries he is trying to unravel about his client, himself, and the child alter ego he is trying to protect, thereby avoiding what might have been a predictable plot of a detective trying to change history.

The pain of waiting for Easy has been eased considerably by Nelscott in her first book. Bring on "Smoke Filled Rooms", Dalton's second outing. I can hardly wait for Smokey's return even though I suspect that his heart will, again, be more broken than healed at the end. And Dalton is a character one can only hope the best for while knowing the best is unlikely to happen to him. Perhaps the best Dalton can hope for is survival. I gave this debut novel five stars. I wish I could give it more.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Nelscott brings nice insight to Black History, February 14, 2002

By 

Richard T "dick-stah" (Morristown, New Jersey USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Smoke-Filled Rooms (Hardcover)

This book picks up where "A Dangerous Road" left off, and continues the excellence! Nelscott brings unique perspectives of the Black experience during the turbulent 60's. She does it while weaving a tale of mystery, intrigue and double dealing. This is the start of, I hope, a series of Smokey Dalton novels. Maybe Nelscott could have Smokey meet Tamara Hayle in Newark, N.J.