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Michael Kelly #5
The Governor's Wife
In the latest installment in Michael Harvey's beloved Michael Kelly series, Chicago's favorite Ovid-reading, gun-toting private investigator takes on Illinois' first family in a blistering thriller that charts the border where ambition ends and evil begins.
It's been two years since disgraced Illinois governor Ray Perry disappeared from a federal courthouse in Chicago moments after being sentenced to thirty-eight years in prison on corruption charges. P.I. Michael Kelly is sitting in his office when he gets an anonymous email offering to pay him nearly a quarter million dollars if he will find Perry, no questions asked. Kelly's investigation begins with the woman Ray Perry left behind--his wife, Marie. Ostracized by her former friends and hounded by the feds, Marie tells Kelly she has no idea where her husband is. Like everyone else, Kelly doesn't believe her. As he hunts for her husband, Kelly begins to unwind Marie Perry's past. What he finds is a woman who turns out to be even more intriguing than her husband, with her own deeply complicated reasons for standing by him. Everyone in Chicago has secrets, including the governor's wife. Some of them she shared with her husband. Some of them she kept to herself. And some of them could get Michael Kelly killed.
The Governor's Wife is a gimlet-eyed look at the intersection of the political and the personal, at the perils of trusting even those closest to us and the collateral damage of our highest aspirations. Stylish, knock-out suspense from a modern master.
It's been two years since disgraced Illinois governor Ray Perry disappeared from a federal courthouse in Chicago moments after being sentenced to thirty-eight years in prison on corruption charges. P.I. Michael Kelly is sitting in his office when he gets an anonymous email offering to pay him nearly a quarter million dollars if he will find Perry, no questions asked. Kelly's investigation begins with the woman Ray Perry left behind--his wife, Marie. Ostracized by her former friends and hounded by the feds, Marie tells Kelly she has no idea where her husband is. Like everyone else, Kelly doesn't believe her. As he hunts for her husband, Kelly begins to unwind Marie Perry's past. What he finds is a woman who turns out to be even more intriguing than her husband, with her own deeply complicated reasons for standing by him. Everyone in Chicago has secrets, including the governor's wife. Some of them she shared with her husband. Some of them she kept to herself. And some of them could get Michael Kelly killed.
The Governor's Wife is a gimlet-eyed look at the intersection of the political and the personal, at the perils of trusting even those closest to us and the collateral damage of our highest aspirations. Stylish, knock-out suspense from a modern master.
256 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2015
145 people are currently reading
915 people want to read
About the author
Michael Harvey
9 books392 followersMichael is the best-selling author of seven crime novels, The Chicago Way, The Fifth Floor, The Third Rail, We All Fall Down, The Innocence Game, The Governor’s Wife and Brighton, scheduled for release in June of 2016. Film rights to Brighton, a stand-alone thriller set in Michael’s hometown of Boston, were recently optioned by Graham King, producer of The Departed and The Town.
Michael is also an investigative reporter, documentary producer and co-creator, producer and executive producer of A&E’s groundbreaking forensic series, Cold Case Files.
Michael’s investigative journalism and documentary work has won multiple news Emmys and CableACE awards, numerous national and international film festival awards, a CINE Golden Eagle, two Prime-Time Emmy nominations, as well as an Academy Award nomination. Michael was also selected by the Chicago Tribune as Chicagoan of the Year in Literature for 2011.
Michael holds a bachelors degree, magna cum laude with honors, in classical languages from Holy Cross College, a law degree with honors from Duke University and a masters degree in journalism from Northwestern University. Michael is currently an adjunct professor at Northwestern’s Medill School of Journalism.
Michael was born in Boston and lives in Chicago.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 159 reviews
September 26, 2025
I couldn’t put this down.
I didn’t skip to the end.
I was that absorbed in the story.
This is my first foray into the series (this being #5) about Private Investigator Michael Kelly.
Now, I am ready to read the first in the series to get a sense of back story…not that it was needed for this novel. I am just curious.
One of the strengths of this novel is that Harvey is adept at surprising the reader. (And I am not an easy person to surprise!)
If you’re a veteran reader of detective fiction, you may anticipate some of the twists and turns of the plot, but it’s extraordinarily unlikely that you’ll figure them all out.
Of course, what’s clear from the start is that this novel is all about corruption in Chicago.
I’ll leave it at that, since I don’t want to spoil the story for you.
I didn’t skip to the end.
I was that absorbed in the story.
This is my first foray into the series (this being #5) about Private Investigator Michael Kelly.
Now, I am ready to read the first in the series to get a sense of back story…not that it was needed for this novel. I am just curious.
One of the strengths of this novel is that Harvey is adept at surprising the reader. (And I am not an easy person to surprise!)
If you’re a veteran reader of detective fiction, you may anticipate some of the twists and turns of the plot, but it’s extraordinarily unlikely that you’ll figure them all out.
Of course, what’s clear from the start is that this novel is all about corruption in Chicago.
I’ll leave it at that, since I don’t want to spoil the story for you.
February 6, 2017
“So you help her. Make up something. Tell her whatever she needs to hear…That’s what I want. Nothing more. Nothing less.”
“And why would I help you?”
“It’s Chicago, Kelly. That’s what we do.”
Michael Harvey knows Chicago. He lives there. His P.I., Michael Kelly, is not so far from Harvey that he doesn’t throw in a Roman mythology reference or Thucydides reference (Harvey was magna cum laude in classical languages) in almost every book. The Governor’s wife is well into the Kelly saga. Kelly is bright, tough and not very good at his own relationships (but very good at figuring out things and tracking down people). In this book, he is induced by a very high fee to not inquire too much into where it came from. But, to focus all his energies on locating ex-Governor Ray Perry who made a daring escape on the day he was sentenced to 30 years in Joliet State Penitentiary. You want to know more about Kelly? Maybe this piece of dialogue will help.
“Can I ask you something?”
“Is it about the case?”
“It’s about your gun. I noticed you carry one.”
“Mostly for show.”
“But you’ve used it? I mean actually fired it?”
“I have.”
“Does that bother you?”
“Shooting at another human being should bother anyone. If it doesn’t, you’ve got a serious problem.”
“Yet you choose to do it for a living?”
“I chose to be a cop. Then a private investigator. Like I said, the gun’s a very small part of it…”
“So you really don’t know where you’re going?”
“I start out by asking questions, watch how people react, and decide what to do from there.”
“You must piss off a lot of people.”
I grinned. “We’re back to the gun again.”
If you are like me, and enjoy banter, Chicago politics and a plot that could easily find its way to the silver screen, you will take a chance on this book. It’s a modern version of the best of the gritty P.I. novels of the Forties and Fifties….the real stuff.
“And why would I help you?”
“It’s Chicago, Kelly. That’s what we do.”
Michael Harvey knows Chicago. He lives there. His P.I., Michael Kelly, is not so far from Harvey that he doesn’t throw in a Roman mythology reference or Thucydides reference (Harvey was magna cum laude in classical languages) in almost every book. The Governor’s wife is well into the Kelly saga. Kelly is bright, tough and not very good at his own relationships (but very good at figuring out things and tracking down people). In this book, he is induced by a very high fee to not inquire too much into where it came from. But, to focus all his energies on locating ex-Governor Ray Perry who made a daring escape on the day he was sentenced to 30 years in Joliet State Penitentiary. You want to know more about Kelly? Maybe this piece of dialogue will help.
“Can I ask you something?”
“Is it about the case?”
“It’s about your gun. I noticed you carry one.”
“Mostly for show.”
“But you’ve used it? I mean actually fired it?”
“I have.”
“Does that bother you?”
“Shooting at another human being should bother anyone. If it doesn’t, you’ve got a serious problem.”
“Yet you choose to do it for a living?”
“I chose to be a cop. Then a private investigator. Like I said, the gun’s a very small part of it…”
“So you really don’t know where you’re going?”
“I start out by asking questions, watch how people react, and decide what to do from there.”
“You must piss off a lot of people.”
I grinned. “We’re back to the gun again.”
If you are like me, and enjoy banter, Chicago politics and a plot that could easily find its way to the silver screen, you will take a chance on this book. It’s a modern version of the best of the gritty P.I. novels of the Forties and Fifties….the real stuff.
September 26, 2025
Май това е най-слабата история от тези в серията за Майкъл Кели.
Той трябва да открие изчезналия бивш губернатор на Илиноис, осъден на десетилетия затвор за рекет и злоупотреби. Естествено, за това той трябва да разръчка с голямата тояга кошера на осите. Но този път те се оказват твърде много и твърде могъщи.
Романът е кратичък и някак не ми седи хомогенно, самата история криволичи и не е много логична, ма карай - чете се бързо. :)
Той трябва да открие изчезналия бивш губернатор на Илиноис, осъден на десетилетия затвор за рекет и злоупотреби. Естествено, за това той трябва да разръчка с голямата тояга кошера на осите. Но този път те се оказват твърде много и твърде могъщи.
Романът е кратичък и някак не ми седи хомогенно, самата история криволичи и не е много логична, ма карай - чете се бързо. :)
June 12, 2015
"I wondered where ambition ended and evil began, and if anyone had ever charted that border (p. 230)."
Michael Harvey's five novels about Michael Kelley, Chicago-based private eye, are centered on charting that border. The power apparatuses of places other than Chicago live on that same border, but Chicago is a perfect city for such an examination because it is collectively so aware of the temptations of power. Harvey is hired by an anonymous client and for a large sum of money to find Ray Perry, the Illinois governor who was convicted of bribery and other money-related political crimes only to disappear while on his way out of the courthouse. (Illinois has two former governors serving prison time right now, but no one else has escaped punishment.) How Kelly figures out how Perry got away is interesting in itself, but he has been hired to find out more than that. Is Perry alive and where has he gone?
Then there's the business of $60 million in ill-gotten money that disappeared along with the ex-governor. Add in the motives of Perry's wife, former girlfriend, and father-in-law (a big-time political fixer), plus the fates of others who either helped him escape or got too close to proving the source of the missing money, and it becomes clear that Kelly is at a bigger risk than even his usual high-risk status.
Kelly is a classic noir p.i. He has the requisite bottle in his desk drawer, gun on his hip, cynical outlook, smart mouth, and broken heart. He is a loner ("It wasn't like I had a lot of friends. Some of that came by design. The rest just came naturally [p. 28].) The books are throwbacks in terms of attitude and secondary characters, though they live in the present in terms of social media, electronic banking, and the internet. But they are more than the sum of the requisite noir parts because Kelly has some depth to him. When he quotes Euripides, he means it, and he surrounds himself with bits of classical learning (some of it in Greek). It's not just an affectation because a tragic viewpoint lives at the heart of Harvey's books, especially this one. Life is dangerous enough for even tough guys, but Kelly goes out of his way to protect several innocents in this book. A running sequence in a pediatric ward in a hospital is moving, and tells us a great deal about Kelly. Maybe I rate the book a star higher than I should because of my south-side Chicago childhood, but it is a minor classic of a dying breed.
Michael Harvey's five novels about Michael Kelley, Chicago-based private eye, are centered on charting that border. The power apparatuses of places other than Chicago live on that same border, but Chicago is a perfect city for such an examination because it is collectively so aware of the temptations of power. Harvey is hired by an anonymous client and for a large sum of money to find Ray Perry, the Illinois governor who was convicted of bribery and other money-related political crimes only to disappear while on his way out of the courthouse. (Illinois has two former governors serving prison time right now, but no one else has escaped punishment.) How Kelly figures out how Perry got away is interesting in itself, but he has been hired to find out more than that. Is Perry alive and where has he gone?
Then there's the business of $60 million in ill-gotten money that disappeared along with the ex-governor. Add in the motives of Perry's wife, former girlfriend, and father-in-law (a big-time political fixer), plus the fates of others who either helped him escape or got too close to proving the source of the missing money, and it becomes clear that Kelly is at a bigger risk than even his usual high-risk status.
Kelly is a classic noir p.i. He has the requisite bottle in his desk drawer, gun on his hip, cynical outlook, smart mouth, and broken heart. He is a loner ("It wasn't like I had a lot of friends. Some of that came by design. The rest just came naturally [p. 28].) The books are throwbacks in terms of attitude and secondary characters, though they live in the present in terms of social media, electronic banking, and the internet. But they are more than the sum of the requisite noir parts because Kelly has some depth to him. When he quotes Euripides, he means it, and he surrounds himself with bits of classical learning (some of it in Greek). It's not just an affectation because a tragic viewpoint lives at the heart of Harvey's books, especially this one. Life is dangerous enough for even tough guys, but Kelly goes out of his way to protect several innocents in this book. A running sequence in a pediatric ward in a hospital is moving, and tells us a great deal about Kelly. Maybe I rate the book a star higher than I should because of my south-side Chicago childhood, but it is a minor classic of a dying breed.
April 6, 2017
You yearn for hard-boiled crime fiction that’s set in today’s reality? Read on.
Marilyn Stasio covers books on crime for the New York Times Book Review. Though I sometimes disagree with her judgment, I’ve found interesting leads in her column from time to time. The most recent of these was The Governor’s Wife by Michael Harvey, the fifth of his novels featuring Chicago private eye Mike Kelly.
To describe Harvey’s writing, I can’t possibly do anything better than Jon Foro did in his mini-review for Amazon.com of Harvey’s first novel: “Michael Harvey’s gritty debut, The Chicago Way, rips the classic crime novels of Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett from their 30s origins and slams them like a brass fist into the teeth of modern-day Chicago.”
Kelly, a former cop, is a lone wolf P.I. with a network of specialists on tap to lend a hand in his investigations, including, of course, a detective still active on the Chicago P.D. Kelly is used to scrounging for cases to pay the bills, so he is, to put it mildly, surprised when he receives an anonymous email asking him to locate a missing person — and receive $100,000 up front and another $100,000 after he finds the man.
The missing person is Ray Perry, the latest in a long line of Illinois Governors who have run afoul of the justice system. Two years ago, Perry was convicted and sentenced to thirty years in the pen for outdoing himself in extorting money from the system. (At least some judges, even in Chicago, take a dim view of flagrant corruption.) The problem — and the reason Kelly has been hired to locate him — is that Perry disappeared from the courthouse immediately after being sentenced and hasn’t been seen in the two years since.
Interesting set-up, no? One of the strengths of this novel is that Harvey is adept at surprising the reader. If you’re a veteran reader of detective fiction, you may anticipate some of the twists and turns of the plot, but it’s extraordinarily unlikely that you’ll figure them all out. Of course, what’s clear from the start is that this novel is all about corruption in Chicago. I’ll leave it at that, since I don’t want to spoil the story for you.
Marilyn Stasio covers books on crime for the New York Times Book Review. Though I sometimes disagree with her judgment, I’ve found interesting leads in her column from time to time. The most recent of these was The Governor’s Wife by Michael Harvey, the fifth of his novels featuring Chicago private eye Mike Kelly.
To describe Harvey’s writing, I can’t possibly do anything better than Jon Foro did in his mini-review for Amazon.com of Harvey’s first novel: “Michael Harvey’s gritty debut, The Chicago Way, rips the classic crime novels of Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett from their 30s origins and slams them like a brass fist into the teeth of modern-day Chicago.”
Kelly, a former cop, is a lone wolf P.I. with a network of specialists on tap to lend a hand in his investigations, including, of course, a detective still active on the Chicago P.D. Kelly is used to scrounging for cases to pay the bills, so he is, to put it mildly, surprised when he receives an anonymous email asking him to locate a missing person — and receive $100,000 up front and another $100,000 after he finds the man.
The missing person is Ray Perry, the latest in a long line of Illinois Governors who have run afoul of the justice system. Two years ago, Perry was convicted and sentenced to thirty years in the pen for outdoing himself in extorting money from the system. (At least some judges, even in Chicago, take a dim view of flagrant corruption.) The problem — and the reason Kelly has been hired to locate him — is that Perry disappeared from the courthouse immediately after being sentenced and hasn’t been seen in the two years since.
Interesting set-up, no? One of the strengths of this novel is that Harvey is adept at surprising the reader. If you’re a veteran reader of detective fiction, you may anticipate some of the twists and turns of the plot, but it’s extraordinarily unlikely that you’ll figure them all out. Of course, what’s clear from the start is that this novel is all about corruption in Chicago. I’ll leave it at that, since I don’t want to spoil the story for you.
February 8, 2024
Not the greatest book, but it was mediocre for me and I couldn't get into it as much. The story in general was good and so were the twists ans turns, but I felt like it was one of those "word counts" kind of books where some moments were either too wordy in description, or had unnecessary things described that wasn't as relevant to the story.
Overall, you're either going to like this or you're not, and unfortunately I didn't like it as much which is surprising cause it sounded really good. Plus I didn't feel connected to the characters as much and they were all one dimension for me personally. 🤷♀️
Overall, you're either going to like this or you're not, and unfortunately I didn't like it as much which is surprising cause it sounded really good. Plus I didn't feel connected to the characters as much and they were all one dimension for me personally. 🤷♀️
January 14, 2019
Enjoyable, fast read. Set in Chicago with lots of twists and nefarious, scheming characters who are rotten to the core.
July 15, 2015
Another series I always listen to. This is number 5 in Michael Kelly's Chicago-based PI series, and it's probably the most complex yet. The wisecracking Kelly, whose office is filled with Greek and Latin classics, receives a job by anonymous email: $200,000 to find ex-Illinois governor Perry who disappeared immediately after being sentenced to a long jail term. Who hired Kelly? And who's trying to kill him? Like all Kelly's cases, this builds in intensity, but there's gritty violence and danger throughout. The plot, involving corruption (in Chicago???) is filled with twists--both in his investigation but also in Kelly's actions and characters. Harvey's books capture the classic noir tone of Spillane, et al--colorful language, cadenced speech, clever/smart dialog. And the tone is dark, gritty, and suspenseful. Harvey knows Chicago and gives an interesting glimpse of the city and suburbs. One complaint with the otherwise excellently narrated audiobook: The Chicago street Devon is pronounced Devonne, not like the English county. Harvey may be from Chicago but narrator Hoye isn't.
May 7, 2015
“The Governor’s Wife” is charming in part because it has such a retro feel though it’s set in current day Chicago, IL. If cell phones and computer research and use weren’t included in the plot it would easily be possible to imagine that the action takes place in the ‘30’s or ‘40’s. Michael Kelly is an ex-cop turned PI and it’s impossible not to equate his worldview with Chandler’s Philip Marlowe. He’s pessimistic. Kelly is more erudite with his love of ancient Greek literature and how it informs him about his cases but is environment and the corruption he finds in the big city are similar to what Marlowe encounters. Sadly it’s all believable.
Uncovering the characters’ motivations is the key to the plot and the psychological underpinnings lead to a surprisingly satisfying conclusion. I’m not sure how Harvey did this in less than 250 pages but he did and he did it well though darkly.
Thank you to the publisher for providing an ARC.
Uncovering the characters’ motivations is the key to the plot and the psychological underpinnings lead to a surprisingly satisfying conclusion. I’m not sure how Harvey did this in less than 250 pages but he did and he did it well though darkly.
Thank you to the publisher for providing an ARC.
June 22, 2016
This book had a closed room kind of a start which was awesome. But then, the author went places I couldn't follow.
June 20, 2017
The Governor’s Wife is not about Patti Blagojevich and her imprisoned, former governor husband, Rod Blagojevich. The former governor is still in jail at this writing while the crooked politician in the novel disappeared from the courthouse immediately after sentencing (before the actual narrative in the novel begins). And while Patti is the daughter of a political power-broker in Chicago, her father is not the ruthless Machiavellian character “Bones” estranged from his daughter, Marie Perry (eponymous governor’s wife) in the novel.
Protagonist Michael Kelly gets involved when an anonymous patron hires him by wiring $100K into his account. The case? He must find missing governor Raymond Perry, an individual Kelly assumes is dead. This isn’t necessarily so, but I don’t want to spoil anything. Naturally, narrator and Private Investigator Michael Kelly suspects Marie. Investigators always suspect the spouse. The spousal angle is also escalated by the existence of an affair between the fictional governor and an aide (certainly nothing of which I am aware in real life, but typical poetic license).
Of course, Kelly will suspect Marie. He is attempting to recover from a significant breakup (He was involved with a federal judge in an earlier novel). That he wasn’t doing well at recovering is well expressed in one of my favorite lines in the book. “Now there was nothing left but hurt. And hope.
That was the thing that got you in the end. The hope.” (p. 30) So, there is sexual tension throughout the novel and it even involves a confrontation with Marie in which she bets Kelly that he will have sex with the former aide before he solves the overall mystery (p. 64). That probably didn’t help Kelly’s earlier “…uncomfortable feeling that Marie Perry drank a couple of pints of blood for dinner every night and crawled into a coffin when she needed some shut-eye.” (p. 28)
Indeed, there is more than one mystery in The Governor’s Wife. The case seems simplistic, but there are lots of interesting knots to untie along the way. In fact, some of them are more interesting and more human than the main plot. And, along the way, there are some great lines. Some are quoted such as the famous line from Tacitus’ The Annals, “The more corrupt the state, the more numerous its laws.” (p. 36). Extremely appropriate to Chicago itself was the quotation from Nelson Algren’s (Chicago: City on the Make) where he writes of appreciating the city as being “…like loving a woman with a broken nose…” (p. 29).
My favorite (besides the earlier description of Marie Perry) was the description of her assistant at one of the non-profits who smiled, “…that zombie/acolyte smile you used to only see at an Oprah taping.” (p. 24) I also liked the description where Kelly is tailing a suspect taking a circuitous route. “I wasn’t much for playing the lottery. As we drove, however, I felt like I was holding a ticket and waiting for the Ping-Pong balls to drop.” (p. 178)
Reading Michael Harvey isn’t a lottery. The ping-pong balls don’t have to drop in order for readers to be winners.
Protagonist Michael Kelly gets involved when an anonymous patron hires him by wiring $100K into his account. The case? He must find missing governor Raymond Perry, an individual Kelly assumes is dead. This isn’t necessarily so, but I don’t want to spoil anything. Naturally, narrator and Private Investigator Michael Kelly suspects Marie. Investigators always suspect the spouse. The spousal angle is also escalated by the existence of an affair between the fictional governor and an aide (certainly nothing of which I am aware in real life, but typical poetic license).
Of course, Kelly will suspect Marie. He is attempting to recover from a significant breakup (He was involved with a federal judge in an earlier novel). That he wasn’t doing well at recovering is well expressed in one of my favorite lines in the book. “Now there was nothing left but hurt. And hope.
That was the thing that got you in the end. The hope.” (p. 30) So, there is sexual tension throughout the novel and it even involves a confrontation with Marie in which she bets Kelly that he will have sex with the former aide before he solves the overall mystery (p. 64). That probably didn’t help Kelly’s earlier “…uncomfortable feeling that Marie Perry drank a couple of pints of blood for dinner every night and crawled into a coffin when she needed some shut-eye.” (p. 28)
Indeed, there is more than one mystery in The Governor’s Wife. The case seems simplistic, but there are lots of interesting knots to untie along the way. In fact, some of them are more interesting and more human than the main plot. And, along the way, there are some great lines. Some are quoted such as the famous line from Tacitus’ The Annals, “The more corrupt the state, the more numerous its laws.” (p. 36). Extremely appropriate to Chicago itself was the quotation from Nelson Algren’s (Chicago: City on the Make) where he writes of appreciating the city as being “…like loving a woman with a broken nose…” (p. 29).
My favorite (besides the earlier description of Marie Perry) was the description of her assistant at one of the non-profits who smiled, “…that zombie/acolyte smile you used to only see at an Oprah taping.” (p. 24) I also liked the description where Kelly is tailing a suspect taking a circuitous route. “I wasn’t much for playing the lottery. As we drove, however, I felt like I was holding a ticket and waiting for the Ping-Pong balls to drop.” (p. 178)
Reading Michael Harvey isn’t a lottery. The ping-pong balls don’t have to drop in order for readers to be winners.
February 13, 2022
was entertaining but the ending was pretty obvious
November 12, 2020
Plenty of characters to keep you guessing who did it and what's happening.
January 24, 2016
Book five, of the "Michael Kelly" series, starts off with an anonymous client wiring a large amount of money to Kelly, to have him look into the strange case of a convicted former governor, who disappeared from the Federal building, on the day he was convicted, and sentenced to 30 years in prison. Kelly eschews the money, but his curiosity gets him into the case, which gets him deeper, and deeper, into the cesspool of corruption that is the reputation of Chicago/Illinois politics. The story moves fast, and furiously, with danger abounding for Kelly, and many other characters. Harvey is an expert at suspenseful detective stories, and I hope he keeps the Kelly series going for a long, long time.
June 29, 2016
This was an engaging story of corruption and maybe even some redemption in Chicago politics and business. Ex-cop PI Michael Kelly is co-opted by an anonymous client to locate Raymond Perry, the disgraced former Governor of Illinois who was facing 30 years in prison for corruption.
He disappeared from his sentencing hearing never to be heard from again. As Kelly investigates he uncovers a network of corruption that extends into the highest echelons of power, and the people concerned are out to get him and get back the money that the governor embezzled. Kelly isn't sure where the governor's wife stands on all this. The situation quickly becomes fraught with danger. High stakes indeed - are his detective skills up to the task? Another excellent instalment in the Michael Kelly series.
He disappeared from his sentencing hearing never to be heard from again. As Kelly investigates he uncovers a network of corruption that extends into the highest echelons of power, and the people concerned are out to get him and get back the money that the governor embezzled. Kelly isn't sure where the governor's wife stands on all this. The situation quickly becomes fraught with danger. High stakes indeed - are his detective skills up to the task? Another excellent instalment in the Michael Kelly series.
July 8, 2015
(3 1/2) Thanks to Marilyn Stasio of the N.Y. Times book review I am really on a roll. This is one of the best P.I. books I have read. Smart, fast moving, interesting as hell with all kinds of subtle twists and turns. Michael Kelly is a wonderful protagonist and the Chicago backdrop is great. I gather this is one of a series but it is my first and it is just terrific. The side stories all run so neatly together that everything flows beautifully. my only complaint would be that I wish it had been a little longer. I will certainly check out the next one. Rock on!
September 21, 2015
I read the fourth book in the series first, now I'm going back to the beginning. Chicago private eye, lots of corruption. Entertaining! Nice to have a series again. Binge reading is even better than binge watching because you can do it outside and in doctors offices or at your desk when your husband thinks you're working.
September 26, 2015
3.5 stars
This is the first time I've come across Michael Harvey so didn't realise there were other books featuring PI Michael Kelly. Not a very long story but it packs plenty of action and a nice read. Would definitely read more by this author.
This is the first time I've come across Michael Harvey so didn't realise there were other books featuring PI Michael Kelly. Not a very long story but it packs plenty of action and a nice read. Would definitely read more by this author.
October 19, 2015
This wasn't bad. It just wasn't good. I read the first 200 pages, got busy at work, and by the time the weekend rolled around I couldn't remember the plot or care to try to. This may say more about me than about the book, but I tend to make time for books worth making time for.
June 19, 2016
I enjoy these Chicago mysteries. Harvey writes a good, succinct story without all the extraneous stuff many mystery writers throw in. I look forward to his next... Highly recommend the whole series.
January 11, 2024
An old time PI story with modern twists AND turns.... The style of the storytelling had me feeling like I was watching a black and white private detective movie with the former cop with the heart of gold fighting to save the underdog. But who is the underdog? The secrets and connections among people abound. The good guy and the villains are multi-layered and depend on the perspective. As the layers of "The Onion" are peeled away in this enthralling mystery set in Chicago, the reader is kept guessing until the end!
The characters are perfect for this story. They came alive as human with good and bad aspects to their characters and histories that gave you little peeps into the psychology of their actions. I found this not only interesting but important to my enjoyment. It gave me the ability to care what happened with certain characters that could have been portrayed as "just a villain" but that would have resulted in a much flatter less interesting story than what we have here. I found the ending to be satisfying but not unnaturally neat and tidy.
This was my first book by Michael Harvey. While I am a fan of mysteries/thrillers, I have found myself reading fewer of them as an adult. I think that is partly because I don't like to leave my book feeling absolutely horrified by the depths of depravity the criminal was able to go to in the story. This in NOT a Hallmark mystery. The seamy underbelly of political influence and crime are shown yet I left the story with a satisfied feeling that good can come out on top, an individual can make a difference, and can change the course of events.
Perhaps all I really need to say is I am looking for my next Michael Harvey book. I believe I am going for The Innocence Game next...
The characters are perfect for this story. They came alive as human with good and bad aspects to their characters and histories that gave you little peeps into the psychology of their actions. I found this not only interesting but important to my enjoyment. It gave me the ability to care what happened with certain characters that could have been portrayed as "just a villain" but that would have resulted in a much flatter less interesting story than what we have here. I found the ending to be satisfying but not unnaturally neat and tidy.
This was my first book by Michael Harvey. While I am a fan of mysteries/thrillers, I have found myself reading fewer of them as an adult. I think that is partly because I don't like to leave my book feeling absolutely horrified by the depths of depravity the criminal was able to go to in the story. This in NOT a Hallmark mystery. The seamy underbelly of political influence and crime are shown yet I left the story with a satisfied feeling that good can come out on top, an individual can make a difference, and can change the course of events.
Perhaps all I really need to say is I am looking for my next Michael Harvey book. I believe I am going for The Innocence Game next...
July 11, 2018
Places where power and political influence seem to rule become corruption’s playground ultimately and inevitably. We live in a time that is inhabited by some of the most corrupt politicians of the world. Besides having persuasive talent, verbal ambition, valuable contacts and a lot of money are all it takes in order to master the art of bribery (no, I don’t know this from personal experience lol). Michael Harvey’s novel The Governor’s Wife shows us what the temptation of power can do to someone, especially a politician…or their spouse.
Moments after being sentenced to thirty-eight years in prison on corruption charges, Illinois governor Ray Perry disappears from a federal courthouse in Chicago. Two years later, PI Michael Kelly receives an anonymous email offering him close to $250,000 if he can find Perry, no questions asked. Kelly’s investigation starts with Marie Perry, the ostracized wife of Ray Perry. Marie claims she doesn’t know where her husband is but Kelly discovers that there is a lot more than meets the eye when it comes to Marie.
The premise of The Governor’s Wife is superb, but there are some fundamental issues that disrupt an otherwise potentially great mystery. The action is a tad slow moving and at times too coincidental. Harvey creates a vivid cast of characters, as well as brings the neighborhoods, ethnic communities and politics of Chicago to the forefront. You won’t dislike this novel, but you also won’t love it.
Moments after being sentenced to thirty-eight years in prison on corruption charges, Illinois governor Ray Perry disappears from a federal courthouse in Chicago. Two years later, PI Michael Kelly receives an anonymous email offering him close to $250,000 if he can find Perry, no questions asked. Kelly’s investigation starts with Marie Perry, the ostracized wife of Ray Perry. Marie claims she doesn’t know where her husband is but Kelly discovers that there is a lot more than meets the eye when it comes to Marie.
The premise of The Governor’s Wife is superb, but there are some fundamental issues that disrupt an otherwise potentially great mystery. The action is a tad slow moving and at times too coincidental. Harvey creates a vivid cast of characters, as well as brings the neighborhoods, ethnic communities and politics of Chicago to the forefront. You won’t dislike this novel, but you also won’t love it.
January 15, 2019
What great fun to stumble upon this!
Took a flyer at a used book sale because it was a detective story set in Chicago, written by a local Chicagoan. Didn’t even realize this was #5 in the series (always seem to find out stuff like that later, after checking Goodreads).
This is a noir thriller updated to present day Chicago (or almost present day). Lots of hard-boiled dialogue:
“I walked back upstairs and considered the door to Eddie’s apartment. Then I planted a size ten just under the lock.”
Yes, it’s written in the first person, just like 50’s Film Noir.
“She knew who to woo and who to avoid. More important, she wasn’t afraid to stick a knife in someone’s back if she had to. And in Chicago, you always had to.”
Reading the book jacket, at first I was afraid it was going to be a little too much “ripped from the headlines” kinda stuff, but it wasn’t. This was fun: disappearing people, dames, murders, stakeouts, double-crosses. There’s even an homage to one of my all-time favorite Chicago films, The Sting. Not sure if it was intentional or not, but I kinda think it was, and I appreciated the twist.
Took a flyer at a used book sale because it was a detective story set in Chicago, written by a local Chicagoan. Didn’t even realize this was #5 in the series (always seem to find out stuff like that later, after checking Goodreads).
This is a noir thriller updated to present day Chicago (or almost present day). Lots of hard-boiled dialogue:
“I walked back upstairs and considered the door to Eddie’s apartment. Then I planted a size ten just under the lock.”
Yes, it’s written in the first person, just like 50’s Film Noir.
“She knew who to woo and who to avoid. More important, she wasn’t afraid to stick a knife in someone’s back if she had to. And in Chicago, you always had to.”
Reading the book jacket, at first I was afraid it was going to be a little too much “ripped from the headlines” kinda stuff, but it wasn’t. This was fun: disappearing people, dames, murders, stakeouts, double-crosses. There’s even an homage to one of my all-time favorite Chicago films, The Sting. Not sure if it was intentional or not, but I kinda think it was, and I appreciated the twist.
November 1, 2016
Another great tale of former Chicago cop turned private eye, Michael Kelly. In his books, Michael Harvey always seems to combine thrilling action with original and inventive plots which give the reader pause to think about matters even more serious than solving a murder case. This book is no exception. I have to admit to a personal interest in one of the plot lines, which reveals a devastating medical condition found in children; that's the sort of left field plot line that Harvey can throw at you. Writers such as Stephen King and John Grisham are big fans of the Michael Kelly series and any self respecting mystery/thriller reader should be too. As another Good Reads reviewer has pointed out, although Harvey's books are set in the present day, there's an old-fashioned noir feel to these stories and I think they're all the better for that. Kelly is a 21st Century private eye willing to walk down those "mean streets" - just like Philip Marlowe did. Recommended.
March 26, 2019
Book 5 of 5 in the Michael Kelly private investigator series by Michael Harvey. This tale steps out from Chicago for just a bit as it has a focus on the governor of Illinois - albeit a Chicago-born fella himself. Once again he brings in many Chicago-area locations and even brings in the suburbs - always faithful to the actual geography.
This tale has more layers than his previous efforts, and the book flows that way. While this is the shortest in number of pages of the five books, it feels adequately fleshed out. The mayhem is nicely described and keeps one turning the pages. The author once again ties in many scenes to commonplace/contemporary Chicago locations. I enjoyed the five book series ... and I hope Harvey comes up with a sixth. Three stars, buts still worth the read. (less)
This tale has more layers than his previous efforts, and the book flows that way. While this is the shortest in number of pages of the five books, it feels adequately fleshed out. The mayhem is nicely described and keeps one turning the pages. The author once again ties in many scenes to commonplace/contemporary Chicago locations. I enjoyed the five book series ... and I hope Harvey comes up with a sixth. Three stars, buts still worth the read. (less)
July 16, 2018
I picked this book up off a shelf in the library, unrecommended. Never read a book by Michael Harvey and I was not familiar with the Michael Kelly series. Not bad. A bit like the Spenser series by Robert Parker though Spenser had a quicker wit about him. The yarn was pretty interesting but evolved into a more complicated and to me less necessary ending. Some decent twist and turns and a few surprises as the story played out.
Kelly is hired online by an anonymous client to find a missing Illinois governor who escaped jail and from pursuers after he absconded with some millions of dollars.
Kelly focuses on the Governor's Wife who has some explaining to do of her own...
Kelly is hired online by an anonymous client to find a missing Illinois governor who escaped jail and from pursuers after he absconded with some millions of dollars.
Kelly focuses on the Governor's Wife who has some explaining to do of her own...
November 25, 2018
Our hero, Michael Kelly, is a private eye hired to find a missing state governor. He's a tough operator but is a little too nice in this book. My favorite Michael Kelly books are The Chicago Way and The Third Rail. This book also takes place in Chicago - and, if you know the city the locales will be interesting. It's a strong story about murder and politics (or is that the same thing?). Kelly has a moral streak in him that I find a little at odds with his role as a tough private eye - he is a bit too caring in this book. A nice trait to have, I'm sure, but not, in my opinion, for a tough P.I. The story is complex and the reader will find it entertaining. This is a very good book!
July 5, 2017
Chicago cop turned P.I. Michael Kelly is hired by an unknown client to find a disgraced former governor. As Kelly probes, the corruption becomes thicker, the secrets larger, and the danger greater. Can he find the governor - and live to tell the tale?
I'm not usually enamored of "P.I. noir", but I found Kelly so engaging that I may have to give the rest of this series a second look. The book also had an enjoyable retro vibe, despite being set in present day Chicago. And it had enough twists to keep the reader guessing. This one is a definite recommend.
I'm not usually enamored of "P.I. noir", but I found Kelly so engaging that I may have to give the rest of this series a second look. The book also had an enjoyable retro vibe, despite being set in present day Chicago. And it had enough twists to keep the reader guessing. This one is a definite recommend.
June 3, 2021
A fast read, thriller based in Chicago. PI Michael Kelly is now paid a lot of money to trace the disgraced governor who had disappeared from the federal court just after a sentence of 35 years in prison for corruption.
As Kelly looks at the leads he finds a Nexus between construction companies, politicians, corrupt intermediaries all skimming off money from the contracts.
The missing governors wife is a complex person who is revealed gradually throughout the book..
Well written, easy to read with enough intrigue to hold the interest.
As Kelly looks at the leads he finds a Nexus between construction companies, politicians, corrupt intermediaries all skimming off money from the contracts.
The missing governors wife is a complex person who is revealed gradually throughout the book..
Well written, easy to read with enough intrigue to hold the interest.
March 30, 2022
I seldom read books that are written from a PI's point of view, but this one grabbed me with the idea that somebody would wire the PI money without having any assurance he would work for them, just set the tone.
It is a good book, very little sex, but many many bodies in various stages of leaving this world.
Written about life in the political machine in Chicago, it sort of furthers old suspicions and urban myths about the town, but who knows whether they are true or not?
Makes for an interesting background, anyway.
I will be buying more of the author's work.
It is a good book, very little sex, but many many bodies in various stages of leaving this world.
Written about life in the political machine in Chicago, it sort of furthers old suspicions and urban myths about the town, but who knows whether they are true or not?
Makes for an interesting background, anyway.
I will be buying more of the author's work.
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