Robert W. Walker City for Ransom

City for Ransom

Robert W. Walker

Avon, Jan 2006, $6.99

ISBN: 0060739959

Though the Haymarket Riots of a few years ago still haunt him, in 1893 Chicago, Police Inspector Alastair Ransom has become renowned for his use of modern police methods, including some he has invented to solve crimes. The cop is currently looking into the third garroting homicide in three weeks. However, his superior Chief Kohler dumps crime scene phrenologist Dr. James Phineas Tewes on Alastair, who rejects the young man as a charlatan, and besides fears the media circus of having a magnetism conman accompany their inquiries.

However, Alastair gives James his do, as the lad refuses to back off though he is treated as a nuisance by the cop; Alastair's junior partner Griffin Drimmer is nicer to the eager youngster. As the sleuth diligently works the case to stop a serial killer from murdering again, James observes his methods trying to learn the new science of criminology from the master.

CITY FOR RANSOM is a terrific late nineteenth century police procedural that uses the investigation to provide insight into life in Chicago during the Gay 90's. Key elements make the who-done-it intriguing, but what comes alive from these components are insights into a bygone era, such as the early days of the science of criminology, the role of women during an investigation, and looking back at an earlier relatively recent (in terms of the setting) real tragedy. With a strong cast, especially Ransom and Phineas-Tewses, and a neat twist involving the latter; Robert W. Walker is at his lofty best with this terrific historical mystery.

Harriet Klausner