Edgar Award Winning Author --- Even from the outset it promised to be an extraordinary assignment for Jimmy Flannery -- Chicago tough-guy and precinct captain of the 27th ward. Freezing winter temperatures had overloaded the generator at Lincoln Zoo and now Baby --- the city's favorite gorilla --- needs a place to stay. Flannery thinks he's found the perfect sanctuary, even though the Paradise Baths are better known as a social hot-spot for Chicago's gay community. But when two men are found beaten to death in the Paradise steam room, only Flannery believes that Baby is innocent. And soon he is forced to put his own life in danger to prove it . . .

Publisher's WeeklyIn the seventh entry in Campbell's splendid series featuring Chicago sewer inspector Jimmy Flannery (the Edgar-winning The Junkyard Dog ), the part-time detective is moved by incipient parenthood to rea c h at last for the committeeman's job in the 27th ward. As an established cog in the city's dying Democratic machine, he is obliged to respond when party head Ray Carrigan asks him to look into the strange death of his retired secretary. Goldie Hanrahan was not only a power broker within the party, she was also something of a hot number, whose entanglements included a whole list of old-time pols, not the least of whom was Flannery's father. The death is somehow tied to the birth of Goldie's illegitimate son some 40 years earlier, and Flannery soon begins uncovering secrets a lot of people would rather leave buried. As always Campbell's dialogue and ambience are perfect. Flannery and his familiar supporting cast are among the most consistently entertaining figures in the genre.

EDGAR AWARD WINNING AUTHOR It seemed like a tragic accident. The best murders always do . . . The Burlington Northern was speeding through Iowa when Passengers spotted six Indians riding alongside in pick-ups. Suddenly, they began firing pot-shots, a bullet pierced the dining car window---and millionaire Harold Chaney was dead. When railroad detective Jake Hatch met the train at Osceola, the Indians were already in custody. They'd confessed to getting drunk and riding out "to kill the Iron Horse," and that seemed to tie up the case. But Hatch was turning up loose ends. There was Chaney's brilliant, bitter business partner. A hotly contested takeover bid. Plus an emerald ring that led to two mistresses, a straying wife, and one very angry daughter. With so many fine suspects, Hatch needed hard evidence fast---before the Indians got railroaded into prison, and someone got away with murder!

Publisher's Weekly''The fifth Jimmy Flannery mystery should delight old readers and win new ones,'' said PW. This time out, sewer inspector Jimmy tracks rumors of a black Mass held at St. Pat's and becomes embroiled in Church and city politics, with the ever-present possibility--this is Chicago--of scandal. (Mar.) Library JournalSeries protagonist Jimmy Flannery lands in a neighborhood dilemma when Father Mulrooney is found dead amidst evidence of an apparent Black Mass in a Catholic church in South Chicago. St. Ulric's boys' school next door, Mulrooney's recently deceased cat Ignatius, and the church cemetery (sold to an oil company for a gas station site) provide sources of conjecture, politics, and drama before Flannery finds out what really happened. A tidy little set piece, featuring a grammatically fractured but warm-hearted narrator, lively characterization, and just a smidgen of humor. REK

It seems that Congressman Lundatos, who has spent the last year bucking a million ethics charges, wants to have a go at local office - this time with Jimmy Flannery as his running mate. Jimmy has a knack for finding things out, and that could be very useful to the Lion. For Jimmy, it's a shot at becoming alderman of the Fifth, the mayor's ward, and wielding more power than he has ever known. That is, if he wants to hitch up with the likes of Lundatos. Jimmy is mulling over the offer when an anonymous phone call urges him to go to a certain posh apartment in the glamorous Bridgeport district. Here, he's told, is the information he needs to make up his mind. What he finds is a very beautiful, very dead, very naked woman in a tub filled with six inches of water ... and not a drop of blood.

** "Robert Campbell is terrific" raves the Boston Globe.** Jimmy's feathers aren't easily ruffled, but when bullets start flying , the committeeman flies into action. Soon he's searching for a killer in the middle of a rough-and-tumble Windy City campaign. And entering a political dark alley that leads to a secret that could shatter Jimmy's world. Now the Edgar-winning author sends amateur sleuth Jimmy Flannery on his eleventh-and most baffling-case to date. This time the feisty committeeman of Chicago's notorious Twenty-seventh Ward lands smack in the middle of a political hotpot that nearly cooks his goose.... Nothing stops Leo Lundatos from getting what he wants---not even a call girl murder scandal and a stretch in the clink for fraud and abuse. Planning to rebuild his power base with a run for alderman, the once powerful congressman asks Jimmy Flannery to run for ward leader of the famous Eleventh: The Mayor's Ward. Jimmy's not so sure this step up the ladder is a good idea. Already new pals and old enemies are crawling out of the woodwork. And even before his family convinces him to go for it, he's got his hands full. A gaggle of militant right-wingers is up in arms to ban "offensive" books from the public schools. If they're outraged now, just wait till they get a load of Jimmy's potpourri campaign staff: Sada Spisselman, his aunt and a renowned socialist, is set to run the show; lipstick lesbian Janet Canarias, his closest ally, is to be chief strategist; and ex-cop Mabel Halstead will be his right-hand man. In fact, Mabel was a man before her sex change. The final ingredient is principal backer Maggie Lundatos, Leo's gorgeous, soon-to-be ex-wife, who's got a thirst for power and an eye for Jimmy. All this on a ticket in a largely Catholic ward.

Publisher's WeeklyFans of fictional Chicago pol Jimmy Flannery, who might have been disappointed with Campbell's Hip-Deep in Alligators, rejoice: the precinct captain/sewer inspector is back in fine form. A flock of out-of-town models (the ''turkey herd'') have been found dead in the last year, but Chicago's cops aren't interested. Flannery's alderman-friend Janet, a feminist activist he calls ''lipstick lesbian,'' wants Jimmy to investigate. Her interest becomes personal when her friend Joyce, a model, doesn't show up to move into her apartment. After Flannery discovers Joyce strangled in a neighbor's apartment, he probes deeper and eventually nails the not very surprising, but very creepy, killer. Along the way he meets a wonderfully mixed bag of outlandish characters (exterminator Willy Dink stands out), conducts a hilarious raid on an animal shelter and adopts a mongrel dog almost as charming as himself.

Publisher's WeeklyThe versatile inventor of the La-La Land and Jack Hatch series, Campbell here features his other hero, Jim Flannery of the Edgar-winning The Junkyard Dog. Living according to the Chicago Democratic principle, ''a favor for a favor,'' involves Jim in occasional charitable illegalities. After his political mentor, Chips Delvin, is committed to Larkspur Rest Home by a distant cousin, Jim is refused admittance and must sneak in. Finding Chips hallucinating and neglected, Jim asks another patient to report anything that could empower authorities to close down the ''rest'' home. But the patient is later found drowned in Larkspur's duck pond, a prelude to fearsome, as well as vastly amusing, events. In the end, having relied on another hallowed local custom, the ''get-back,'' Jim is satisfied that he has outwitted nasty conspirators .

The Edgar Award-winning author of Junkyard Dog is back with a new mystery featuring Chicago's most endearing sewer inspector, Jimmy Flannery. When a high-and-mighty police chief asks him to help investigate the mysterious death of a man who remains unidentified at the morgue, Jimmy runs up against some Chicago big boys--and an underworld warlord. Well, it finally happened. Old Chips Devlin made me committeeman for the Twenty-seventh ward. I'm the warlord now. What with the celebration and all, my diet's shot to hell. Which is why I was sweating it out at the Paradise Health Club with Shimmy Dugan and Princess Grace -- a black man of the gay persuasion which don't mean he ain't tough as a marine drill instructor when it comes to making you do the deep knee bends and duck waddles -- when Mr. P. Pig met his maker. Nobody knows his name. He's on a trial membership and renews weekly under the name P. Pig. All I know is he seems to take exercise very seriously and smiles a lot. For a man with an olive complexion, he had very blue eyes. But the man who smiles all the time ain't smiling now. He's lying on the floor like a beached baby whale -- dead. Why is his coroner file closed? Why have the cops suddenly shifted gears? Somebody with clout wants Mr. Porky's identity kept quiet. But how far are they willing to go to stop my snooping? Chip's old pal, the big boss Vito Vellitri, finally puts it to me point blank: "This is a family. You understand that there is law and then there's justice...." Yeah. And I got thirty pieces of silver and what I saw in a Pig's eye that won't let me stop until I dig up the truth.... Jimmy is up to the task in this hard-boiled yet light-hearted mystery tale

EDGAR and ANTHONY AWARD WINNING AUTHOR of The Junkyard Dog Jimmy Flannery, the new Democratic committeeman, never realized the extent of the political corruption in the city, but he quickly learns that no matter who does the dirty work, the Mafia, or "paid professionals," people who get in the way end up dead. Now Robert Campbell's Edgar Award-winning sleuth, a Chicago sewer inspector and Democratic committeeman for the Twenty-seventh ward returns at the top of his game...Thursday night's political science class is pulling in an unlikely crowd: the teacher's a slick lawyer who wears $400 shoes, and the worst student is a mob henchman who nods off as soon as the lecture begins. Not that Jimmy Flannery is one to judge. What's this idealistic sewer inspector, doing at night school anyway? He's getting an education in the finer points of the Chicago machine, where politics, patronage, and organized crime shake hands. Jimmy--a decent guy in a dishonest world--is familiar with his town's mangled grammar, its dirty contract deals, and the strange disappearances of those who become a liability. But night school is fast becoming a crash course in crime. First one classmate--the mob figure--dies in a suspicious mugging, then the teacher, attorney Frank Vollmer, drops out of sight after promising Jimmy he'll take on a pro bono case. Using his vast network of local connections both within and way outside the law, Jimmy weaves together a complicated picture that includes cheating spouses, suicide, and two disputed legacies. One involves a very well-off canine. The other, far more sinister, will determine who controls the city of Chicago. **

Library JournalIn a sewer beneath Chicago's streets, James Flannery of the city's Department of Sewers, Canals and Drains finds the body of a man. This is no ordinary dead man, as he has been bitten in two by a species of crocodilian. Next Flannery is asked to help a woman from Haiti who keeps 100 pigeons in her bathroom. Flannery (also in the paperback originals The Junkyard Dog and The 600 Pound Gorilla ) comes through once again. Low-key action, marvelous true-to-life characters, and a very neat story make this enjoyable reading. JV