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Smokey Dalton #7
Street Justice: A Smokey Dalton Novel
In the first week of the new decade, an emergency phone call shatters Chicago Private Detective Smokey Dalton’s hopes for a good 1970. His adopted son Jimmy and Jimmy’s best friend and cousin Keith Grimshaw need help.
Smokey arrives at a South Side hotel across from the boys’ school in time to clean up a horrible mess, one the boys mostly solve on their own. But the boys’ heroic actions echo across all of Chicago. Smokey finds himself standing alone against street gangs, the mob, and the Democratic Machine.
If he fights this battle and fails, he stands to lose not only Jimmy and their future together, but also his life.
“Easy comparisons can be made to Dave Robicheaux, Spenser, and Easy Rawlins, but Smokey is his own man. Women want to be near him and cook his dinner as he settles his nerves with three fingers of Scotch. A great read for fans of detectives guarding an inner city’s grimy streets.”
—Library Journal
“Dalton’s hard won small victory vividly illustrates a turbulent period of our recent cultural history.”
—Publisher’s Weekly
“... a gripping read that drags us deeper into [Smokey] Dalton’s uneasy world.”
—Entertainment Weekly on War at Home
Acclaim for
the Smokey Dalton Series
• Edgar Award nomination
• Shamus nomination for Best Private Eye Hardcover Novel
• Winner of two Spotted Owl Awards for Best Mystery by a Northwest Writer
• Oregon Book Award Nomination
Kris Nelscott is an open pen name used by USA Today bestselling author Kristine Kathryn Rusch.
The first Smokey Dalton novel, A Dangerous Road, won the Herodotus Award for Best Historical Mystery and was short-listed for the Edgar Award for Best Novel; the second, Smoke-Filled Rooms, was a PNBA Book Award finalist; and the third, Thin Walls, was one of the Chicago Tribune’s best mysteries of the year. Kirkus chose Days of Rage as one of the top ten mysteries of the year and it was also nominated for a Shamus award for The Best Private Eye Hardcover Novel of the Year.
Entertainment Weekly says her equals are Walter Mosley and Raymond Chandler. Booklist calls the Smokey Dalton books “a high-class crime series” and Salon says “Kris Nelscott can lay claim to the strongest series of detective novels now being written by an American author.”
For more information about Kris Nelscott, or author Kristine Kathryn Rusch’s other works, please go to KrisNelscott.com or KristineKathrynRusch.com.
Smokey arrives at a South Side hotel across from the boys’ school in time to clean up a horrible mess, one the boys mostly solve on their own. But the boys’ heroic actions echo across all of Chicago. Smokey finds himself standing alone against street gangs, the mob, and the Democratic Machine.
If he fights this battle and fails, he stands to lose not only Jimmy and their future together, but also his life.
“Easy comparisons can be made to Dave Robicheaux, Spenser, and Easy Rawlins, but Smokey is his own man. Women want to be near him and cook his dinner as he settles his nerves with three fingers of Scotch. A great read for fans of detectives guarding an inner city’s grimy streets.”
—Library Journal
“Dalton’s hard won small victory vividly illustrates a turbulent period of our recent cultural history.”
—Publisher’s Weekly
“... a gripping read that drags us deeper into [Smokey] Dalton’s uneasy world.”
—Entertainment Weekly on War at Home
Acclaim for
the Smokey Dalton Series
• Edgar Award nomination
• Shamus nomination for Best Private Eye Hardcover Novel
• Winner of two Spotted Owl Awards for Best Mystery by a Northwest Writer
• Oregon Book Award Nomination
Kris Nelscott is an open pen name used by USA Today bestselling author Kristine Kathryn Rusch.
The first Smokey Dalton novel, A Dangerous Road, won the Herodotus Award for Best Historical Mystery and was short-listed for the Edgar Award for Best Novel; the second, Smoke-Filled Rooms, was a PNBA Book Award finalist; and the third, Thin Walls, was one of the Chicago Tribune’s best mysteries of the year. Kirkus chose Days of Rage as one of the top ten mysteries of the year and it was also nominated for a Shamus award for The Best Private Eye Hardcover Novel of the Year.
Entertainment Weekly says her equals are Walter Mosley and Raymond Chandler. Booklist calls the Smokey Dalton books “a high-class crime series” and Salon says “Kris Nelscott can lay claim to the strongest series of detective novels now being written by an American author.”
For more information about Kris Nelscott, or author Kristine Kathryn Rusch’s other works, please go to KrisNelscott.com or KristineKathrynRusch.com.
334 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 2013
26 people are currently reading
64 people want to read
About the author
Kris Nelscott
33 books39 followersKristine Kathryn Rusch is an award-winning mystery, romance, science fiction, and fantasy writer. She has written many novels under various names, including Kristine Grayson for romance, and Kris Nelscott for mystery. Her novels have made the bestseller lists--even in London--and have been published in 14 countries and 13 different languages.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
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July 22, 2018Last of this series (so far published). It's far grittier than the books I usually read these days, but rewarding for the wealth of historical detail. Good to see Jimmy grow a bit as well.
Read
April 14, 2014Street Justice, by Kris Nelscott a-minus, Narrated by Mirron Willis, Produced by Audible Inc., downloaded from audible.com.
This is the seventh in the Smokey Dalton series. Smokey and his adopted, for all practical purposes, son, Jimmy, are still in Chicago, and still finding cases to solve in south Chicago involving gangs and the mob that the police and the mayor’s office won’t touch in the late 1970’s because of the historic corruption in city government going on at that time. In this one, Franklin and Althea’s oldest daughter, Lacey, who is trying out wearing provocative clothing in junior high, becomes targeted by a pimp. She keeps her meetings with him secret until the day he kidnaps her, takes her to a hotel next to the school used for “grooming” new girls, and beats and rapes her. Jimmy and her brother, Keith, find her. They call Smokey Dalton who gets her to a hospital for treatment. He also “takes care” of the pimp. But he and Mabella and her women friends want the Starlight Hotel to be closed down permanently. They organize a daring raid with Smokey and Jack, the policeman, in the lead, and they get the girls out and “take care of the hotel once and for all. Now, there won’t be a place to take girls right by the school, but of course it won’t stop the recruitment of young girls from occurring. Also, Lacey has much to live through and get over, and Franklin can’t accept that it wasn’t the way Lacey dressed that was at fault for her being raped. So I think, I hope, there will be more of these books.
This is the seventh in the Smokey Dalton series. Smokey and his adopted, for all practical purposes, son, Jimmy, are still in Chicago, and still finding cases to solve in south Chicago involving gangs and the mob that the police and the mayor’s office won’t touch in the late 1970’s because of the historic corruption in city government going on at that time. In this one, Franklin and Althea’s oldest daughter, Lacey, who is trying out wearing provocative clothing in junior high, becomes targeted by a pimp. She keeps her meetings with him secret until the day he kidnaps her, takes her to a hotel next to the school used for “grooming” new girls, and beats and rapes her. Jimmy and her brother, Keith, find her. They call Smokey Dalton who gets her to a hospital for treatment. He also “takes care” of the pimp. But he and Mabella and her women friends want the Starlight Hotel to be closed down permanently. They organize a daring raid with Smokey and Jack, the policeman, in the lead, and they get the girls out and “take care of the hotel once and for all. Now, there won’t be a place to take girls right by the school, but of course it won’t stop the recruitment of young girls from occurring. Also, Lacey has much to live through and get over, and Franklin can’t accept that it wasn’t the way Lacey dressed that was at fault for her being raped. So I think, I hope, there will be more of these books.
November 7, 2018
I want more Smokey Dalton
This appears to be the last of the series and I want it to continue. It's hard to believe that this was the way things were in Chicago but I've also read enough non-fiction to know that, although this series is fiction, the basic facts about life in Chicago, the ganfs, crime and corruption, are based on truth. Well-written but maybe not as wwll-edited as the previous books. I waa disappointed that aa much care had nor been taken with this book, i.e. missing words in sentences and problems with sentence structure. Thanks for an excellent series. I feel like I'm leacing an old friend behind and did Jim get to go to Yale?
This appears to be the last of the series and I want it to continue. It's hard to believe that this was the way things were in Chicago but I've also read enough non-fiction to know that, although this series is fiction, the basic facts about life in Chicago, the ganfs, crime and corruption, are based on truth. Well-written but maybe not as wwll-edited as the previous books. I waa disappointed that aa much care had nor been taken with this book, i.e. missing words in sentences and problems with sentence structure. Thanks for an excellent series. I feel like I'm leacing an old friend behind and did Jim get to go to Yale?
September 9, 2020
Another great story-part historical fiction, part detective story. As the story line has progressed from the first novel, they have been getting grittier. This story tackles rape, prostitution and corruption. Smokey has been called in to tackle a problem that Jimmy has discovered. He has to learn how to handle the crisis with compassion and eliminate the problem. He finds unlikely allies in a group of hardcore women turned that way by circumstance and history. Jimmy takes a more prominent role in this novel, and is growing to be a lot like Smokey, much to Smokey's regret.
May 15, 2019
Another great Smokey Dalton novel. Young girls are being kidnapped and sold into slavery, one of which is Smokey's niece. Jimmy and his cousin manage to save the niece and call on Smokey to help them get her out of the place she is being held hostage. Smokey is determined to stop this hotel from enslaving any more young women.
Highly recommend this series.
Highly recommend this series.
February 17, 2019
The stories just keep getting better
I have learned some black history, I never learned about. In this whole series. More people should learn this. The author just keeps getting better
I have learned some black history, I never learned about. In this whole series. More people should learn this. The author just keeps getting better
March 9, 2021
The Smokey Dalton books are all consistently solid reads.
August 30, 2014
In the early cruel winter months of 1970 Smokey Dalton is struggling re-stabilize his life after the gut wrenching events of Days of Rage: A Smokey Dalton Novel. He receives a frantic phone call from his son's friend, Keith Grimshaw. Keith's 13-year-old sister, Lacey, has been lured to the Starlite Hotel and attacked. Smokey hurries to the Starlight and finds that his son Jimmy has rescued Lacey from a rapist. He rushes the injured and traumatized girl to hospital.
When Dalton tracks down the rapist, he discovers that Lacey is not the only victim. The Outfit, a mob-based group with political connections has been preying on girls from Lacey's school and brutally forcing them into prostitution. Smokey tries to get help from official channels but soon finds that the police have been bought off and other options are blocked. Then, just when things are starting to look hopeless, he finds unlikely allies. Street justice will be required to stop this evil, and Smokey Dalton and his allies are just the ones to administer it.
I love this series. Smokey Dalton is a real hero.
Update: I just listened to the excellently done audio version (August, 2014). It was even better the second time around.
When Dalton tracks down the rapist, he discovers that Lacey is not the only victim. The Outfit, a mob-based group with political connections has been preying on girls from Lacey's school and brutally forcing them into prostitution. Smokey tries to get help from official channels but soon finds that the police have been bought off and other options are blocked. Then, just when things are starting to look hopeless, he finds unlikely allies. Street justice will be required to stop this evil, and Smokey Dalton and his allies are just the ones to administer it.
I love this series. Smokey Dalton is a real hero.
Update: I just listened to the excellently done audio version (August, 2014). It was even better the second time around.
January 4, 2015
I love Smokey Dalton!!!
August 4, 2016
Good read. #7 in a series.
June 28, 2016
Exceptionally good.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews