Head Case

by Michael Wiley

Overview

Chicago private investigator Sam Kelson uncovers more than he bargained for when he investigates a series of suspicious deaths at the Clement Memorial Hospital. "My friend, this place is killing people." While in the hospital recuperating from a gunshot wound, Chicago PI Sam Kelson is approached by a nurse who's troubled by three recent deaths. No pattern, no connection - except that three patients died when they shouldn't have. Initially skeptical, Kelson starts asking questions - and the more he uncovers, the clearer it becomes that something isn't right. What exactly has been going on at Clement Memorial Hospital? Has someone been killing patients? If so, why? As Kelson digs deeper, he comes to realize that someone is determined to prevent him finding out the truth. Whatever it takes.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781448305001
Publisher:	Severn House
Publication date:	03/01/2021
Series:	A Sam Kelson mystery , #3
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	256
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Michael Wiley was brought up in Chicago, and now teaches literature at the University of North Florida in Jacksonville. As well as the Sam Kelson mystery series, he is the Shamus Award-winning author of the Chicago-based Joe Kozmarski PI series, the Daniel Turner and the Franky Dast series. His Franky Dast thriller, Monument Road, was nominated for the 2018 Shamus Best PI Novel award.

Editorial Reviews

’Outstanding … The whodunit plotline is enhanced by Wiley’s superior gift at integrating humor, mostly deriving from Kelson’s inability to keep himself from sharing blunt truths. The author’s ingenuity shows no sign of diminishing. Fans of the TV series Monk will be enthralled’ - Publishers Weekly Starred Review

’Wiley’s loopy detective continues to be the most interesting feature of his adventures’ - Kirkus Reviews

'The setup is red meat to crime-story lovers ... The case is resolved in a stunning climax that will leave readers paging back to take in those magical lines one more time' - Booklist

’Noir fiction doesn't get much darker ... Wiley is extremely good at creating an atmosphere of menacing dread ... New shocks occur all the way to the last page’ -Publishers Weekly Starred Review of Blue Avenue

’Like your noir pitch-black? So does Wiley’ - Kirkus Reviews on Monument Road

’Wiley keeps the twists coming’ - Publishers Weekly on Trouble in Mind

’Sam Kelson, the PI star of this thorny novel, takes the damaged-detective trope to a new level ... Sure to satisfy’ - Booklist on Trouble in Mind

’A violent mystery that introduces a singular character guided by his sometimes twisted thoughts. Readers of L L Bartlett's 'Jeff Resnick' mysteries may be intrigued’ - Library Journal on Trouble in Mind

’Wiley's quirky lead, who's unable to keep his thoughts to himself, will appeal to fans of oddball sleuths like Jonathan Lethem's Lionel Essrog’ - Publishers Weekly on Lucky Bones

’This darkly humorous PI novel offers nonstop, violent action, and is perfect for readers who enjoy Donald Westlake's quirky 'Dortmunder' characters’ - Library Journal on Lucky Bones

From the Publisher

Sam Kelson, the PI star of this thorny novel, takes the damaged-detective trope to a new level ... Sure to satisfy

Booklist on Trouble in Mind

Sam Kelson, the PI star of this thorny novel, takes the damaged-detective trope to a new level ... Sure to satisfy

null Booklist on Trouble in Mind

2020-12-26
Despite the bullet wound that got him bounced from the Chicago PD because his head was so messed up, private eye Sam Kelson keeps getting cases nearly as off-kilter as he is.

Taken to Clement Memorial Hospital after getting shot once again, this time by a car thief, Kelson logs just enough hours in the intensive care unit to befriend Jose Feliciano, an improbably named nurse who suspects foul play in the deaths of Patricia Ruddig, Josh Templeton, and Daryl Vaughn, who entered the unit at different times and circumstances but all left in dubious ways. Is Kelson willing to take a retainer from Jose, who’s urged on by his fiancee, Haitian nurse Wendy Thomas, to ask some awkward questions? Kelson, whose neurological disinhibition makes it ridiculously easy for him to ask awkward questions but impossible for him to lie when he’s asked questions himself, agrees to poke around, and in no time at all, his conversations with Clement orderly Caroline Difley and head custodian Aleksandar Kovacic get them both fired when someone rats them out to hospital security head Richard Jacobson, whose father, Dr. Jeremy Jacobson, just happens to be chief of that troubled ICU. It’s pretty obvious where this is going, but Wiley still has several tricks up his sleeve involving the spectacularly dysfunctional Jacobson family, an unlikely romance for Kelson, and a pile of corpses that mounts so high the ICU can’t contain them.

Through it all, Wiley’s loopy detective continues to be the most interesting feature of his adventures.

Kirkus Reviews