David J. Walker - All the Dead Fathers (2005)
Reviewed by David J. Montgomery
"Chicago" is said to mean "wild onion" in the Potawatomi language, and that translation provides the clever name of the detective agency Wild Onion, Ltd., at the center of David J. Walker's excellent series.
The latest adventure of P.I. Kirsten and her lawyer husband Dugan (the author gives them no last names) is All the Dead Fathers, a timely mystery with a plot focused on controversial contemporary events.
The story begins when a newspaper (coincidentally the Chicago Sun-Times) publishes a list of priests who have been accused of sex crimes. One of those priests is Kirsten's uncle.
When the priests on the list begin turning up dead, Kirsten offers her firm's services to protect the remaining men. Doing so causes her to face not only her revulsion towards these disgraced "men of God," but also her unresolved hostility towards the uncle she once loved and admired more than anyone.
Walker writes with a sure hand and a fine eye for character and plot. His story is both thought-provoking and entertaining, and features fine use of the Chicago area for its rich setting.
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