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Drover #1
Drover
Former Chicago sports reporter Jimmy Drover, fired for alleged gangland connections, is approached by mobster Tony Rolls to check out a betting pool that may be operating out of the Chicago Commodities Exchange and could threaten Rolls's own operation. The gangster arranges a poker game in which Drover fleeces Slim Dingo, the arch-enemy of Drover's lady-love, Nancy. Dingo retaliates by beating and raping Nancy, and stealing the money won from him. Nancy flees to Drover's Santa Cruz, Calif., home where his pal, bartender Black Kelly, nurses her back to health, while Drover looks for the mastermind behind the betting pool.
- GenresMystery
228 pages, Hardcover
First published May 1, 1991
13 people want to read
About the author
Bill Granger
41 books43 followersaka Joe Gash, Bill Griffith
Bill Granger, was a newspaperman turned novelist whose fiction alternated between international spy thrillers and police procedurals set on the gritty streets of Chicago.
Usually under his own name but sometimes under the pseudonym Joe Gash or Bill Griffiths, Mr. Granger wrote 25 novels, many of which evoked the rougher environs of Chicago and included colorful characters with names like Slim Dingo, Tony Rolls and Jesus X Mohammed.
Mr. Granger’s favorite, and perhaps best-known, book was “Public Murders” (1980), in which the city is in an uproar as a rapist-murderer strikes again and again. Public and political pressure exacts an emotional toll on the tough, foulmouthed detectives investigating the crimes. Public Murders won an Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America in 1981.
Two years before that, Mr. Granger’s first spy novel, The November Man,caused something of an international stir. It involved a plot to assassinate a relative of Queen Elizabeth by blowing up a boat. Later that year, Lord Louis Mountbatten, the queen’s cousin, was killed on his fishing boat when a bomb set by the Irish Republican Army exploded.
Mr. Granger always thought of himself as more of a reporter than an author. “I can’t think of a day without newspapering in it,” he said in a 2003 interview. In his nearly 40 years in journalism, he had reported for United Press International, The Chicago Sun-Times, The Chicago Tribune and The Chicago Daily Herald. He covered the sectarian violence in Northern Ireland and wrote a series based on interviews with a veteran who had witnessed the My Lai massacre during the Vietnam War.
Granger had a stroke in January 2000, and ended his writing career. From 2002 to his death he lived in the Manteno Veterans Home; the immediate cause of death was a heart attack, although he had suffered a series of strokes since the 1990s. He is survived by wife Lori and son Alec.
Read more: http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2012/0...
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name.
Bill Granger, was a newspaperman turned novelist whose fiction alternated between international spy thrillers and police procedurals set on the gritty streets of Chicago.
Usually under his own name but sometimes under the pseudonym Joe Gash or Bill Griffiths, Mr. Granger wrote 25 novels, many of which evoked the rougher environs of Chicago and included colorful characters with names like Slim Dingo, Tony Rolls and Jesus X Mohammed.
Mr. Granger’s favorite, and perhaps best-known, book was “Public Murders” (1980), in which the city is in an uproar as a rapist-murderer strikes again and again. Public and political pressure exacts an emotional toll on the tough, foulmouthed detectives investigating the crimes. Public Murders won an Edgar Award from the Mystery Writers of America in 1981.
Two years before that, Mr. Granger’s first spy novel, The November Man,caused something of an international stir. It involved a plot to assassinate a relative of Queen Elizabeth by blowing up a boat. Later that year, Lord Louis Mountbatten, the queen’s cousin, was killed on his fishing boat when a bomb set by the Irish Republican Army exploded.
Mr. Granger always thought of himself as more of a reporter than an author. “I can’t think of a day without newspapering in it,” he said in a 2003 interview. In his nearly 40 years in journalism, he had reported for United Press International, The Chicago Sun-Times, The Chicago Tribune and The Chicago Daily Herald. He covered the sectarian violence in Northern Ireland and wrote a series based on interviews with a veteran who had witnessed the My Lai massacre during the Vietnam War.
Granger had a stroke in January 2000, and ended his writing career. From 2002 to his death he lived in the Manteno Veterans Home; the immediate cause of death was a heart attack, although he had suffered a series of strokes since the 1990s. He is survived by wife Lori and son Alec.
Read more: http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2012/0...
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
August 18, 2024
Maybe there is something to be said for reading the novels in a mystery series out of order. My brother sent me both Drover and Drover and the Zebras, but somehow I bypassed the slicker cover of the first novel and took the second with me on a trip to the UK. Actually, I’m glad I did. I liked the Drover of Drover and the Zebras better than the protagonist of the original Drover. Oh, he is still the disgraced (through no fault of his own) sportswriter who now writes for an audience of one, Fox Vernon, the mathematical genius behind a Vegas sports book. He still has the Chicago background of growing up next to people affiliated with the Outfit. Yet, there is a mean streak that I didn’t detect in the second book.
Drover and the Zebras was about college basketball and an allegedly crooked referee (hence “zebras”) and was written either during and shortly after the few years in which DePaul was competitive. This one (Drover) has him investigating an illegal book out of the Chicago Board of Trade. Amazingly, it is an old acquaintance from the Outfit who originally calls his attention to the illegal book (unwelcome competition), but what keeps Drover investigating is his certainty that there is a huge fix going on. And, one can easily tell that this is a work of fiction, because the Chicago Bears are headed to the Super Bowl (next thing you know I’ll be reading a “Drover” novel where the White Sox are winning).
Complicating matters is, wouldn’t you know it, woman trouble. An old (and very unextinguished) flame has been victimized (and her ne’er-do-well husband committed suicide over it) by a shady and unscrupulous gambler. Drover has a chance to get revenge on the gambler. He does so, but the shady character proves to have unexpected friends and allies.
Of course, Drover has friends and allies, as well as frenemies (you can’t call those Outfit guys “friends” unless maybe you’re a “friend of mine” or “friend of ours”), but it’s a retired firefighter nicknamed “Black Kelly” who is the friend of consequence (and perhaps, at one point, consequences). One thing is for sure, in both of these novels, Kelly has Drover’s back. Does Drover have Kelly’s?
There are multiple mysteries in Drover and the protagonist is fallible enough that he doesn’t solve them all in a timely fashion. He makes mistakes, and those mistakes have costly consequences beyond lost gambling stakes. So, while it is bloodier than a Raymond Chandler novel and depicts more graphic violence than standard noir of the classic period, Chandler is the closest analogue I can come up with to Bill Granger’s style.
Drover and the Zebras was about college basketball and an allegedly crooked referee (hence “zebras”) and was written either during and shortly after the few years in which DePaul was competitive. This one (Drover) has him investigating an illegal book out of the Chicago Board of Trade. Amazingly, it is an old acquaintance from the Outfit who originally calls his attention to the illegal book (unwelcome competition), but what keeps Drover investigating is his certainty that there is a huge fix going on. And, one can easily tell that this is a work of fiction, because the Chicago Bears are headed to the Super Bowl (next thing you know I’ll be reading a “Drover” novel where the White Sox are winning).
Complicating matters is, wouldn’t you know it, woman trouble. An old (and very unextinguished) flame has been victimized (and her ne’er-do-well husband committed suicide over it) by a shady and unscrupulous gambler. Drover has a chance to get revenge on the gambler. He does so, but the shady character proves to have unexpected friends and allies.
Of course, Drover has friends and allies, as well as frenemies (you can’t call those Outfit guys “friends” unless maybe you’re a “friend of mine” or “friend of ours”), but it’s a retired firefighter nicknamed “Black Kelly” who is the friend of consequence (and perhaps, at one point, consequences). One thing is for sure, in both of these novels, Kelly has Drover’s back. Does Drover have Kelly’s?
There are multiple mysteries in Drover and the protagonist is fallible enough that he doesn’t solve them all in a timely fashion. He makes mistakes, and those mistakes have costly consequences beyond lost gambling stakes. So, while it is bloodier than a Raymond Chandler novel and depicts more graphic violence than standard noir of the classic period, Chandler is the closest analogue I can come up with to Bill Granger’s style.
December 29, 2024
Bill Granger was a Chicago writer of the 80s and early 90s who produced a series of spy novels set abroad in addition to a number of crime yarns firmly rooted in Chicago, where he grew up and worked as a reporter. This is the first of three books featuring Jimmy Drover, a former Chicago sports writer fired for having too many friends in the mob. He goes to work as an investigator for a Vegas handicapper, which puts him in a legal gray zone which is uncomfortable for a straight-shooting sports fan but perfect for the protagonist of a series of gambling-themed crime novels.
Two plot lines intersect in this one: a former girlfriend needs protection from the slimy hood who drove her husband to bankruptcy and suicide and now thinks he owns her, and one of Drover's mobster pals gets wind of a plot to make a killing by fixing an NFL game. Drover has to sort out both messes, going up against some nasty characters.
It's evocative of an ethically ambiguous landscape that has now vanished with the widespread legalization of gambling; it's also pretty vivid in its description of odious characters and their depredations. Not for the faint of heart; good stuff for fans of hard-boiled crime.
Two plot lines intersect in this one: a former girlfriend needs protection from the slimy hood who drove her husband to bankruptcy and suicide and now thinks he owns her, and one of Drover's mobster pals gets wind of a plot to make a killing by fixing an NFL game. Drover has to sort out both messes, going up against some nasty characters.
It's evocative of an ethically ambiguous landscape that has now vanished with the widespread legalization of gambling; it's also pretty vivid in its description of odious characters and their depredations. Not for the faint of heart; good stuff for fans of hard-boiled crime.
March 9, 2023
I picked up all three of the books in this series at a used bookstore, and was very interested to determine whether or not these books were as good as they appeared. So, thus far, I finished the first of the series- Drover.... and I'm starting on the next novel... tonight.
Drover is a former sportswriter who has been unfairly fired and blacklisted for being closely tied to mob figures. It isn't that he is or ever was crooked... He grew up with some mobsters and just isn't intimidated by them. His most important character trait is acting unintimidated by mobsters. They can posture and threaten, and he knows how to answer them. He knows the right phrases and often simply manipulates them.
A mobster acquaintance offers Drover a chance to get back at a mobster who hurt an old girlfriend-- but there are strings attached. The mobster believes a non-mob source is setting up a fixed NFL game and wants Drover to see if he can pick up any hints of such a plot. Of course, Drover has connections everywhere and those connections lead him to a a very cleverly fixed game.
Drover manages to halt the fix and survive in a very satisfying conclusion that wraps up several loose ends. Let's just say all the bad guys get a generous helping of just desserts.
If you are looking for action-- this ain't it. Drover throws exactly one punch in the whole book. There is a little other action-- but Drover isn't present. The focus is on how this guy puts the puzzle pieces together.
A fun read with some really cool gangster dialogue.
Drover is a former sportswriter who has been unfairly fired and blacklisted for being closely tied to mob figures. It isn't that he is or ever was crooked... He grew up with some mobsters and just isn't intimidated by them. His most important character trait is acting unintimidated by mobsters. They can posture and threaten, and he knows how to answer them. He knows the right phrases and often simply manipulates them.
A mobster acquaintance offers Drover a chance to get back at a mobster who hurt an old girlfriend-- but there are strings attached. The mobster believes a non-mob source is setting up a fixed NFL game and wants Drover to see if he can pick up any hints of such a plot. Of course, Drover has connections everywhere and those connections lead him to a a very cleverly fixed game.
Drover manages to halt the fix and survive in a very satisfying conclusion that wraps up several loose ends. Let's just say all the bad guys get a generous helping of just desserts.
If you are looking for action-- this ain't it. Drover throws exactly one punch in the whole book. There is a little other action-- but Drover isn't present. The focus is on how this guy puts the puzzle pieces together.
A fun read with some really cool gangster dialogue.
August 4, 2025
It took me a bit to get into this one. It deals with the futures exchange and sports betting, neither of which am I terribly familiar with. But once I got rolling, it was enjoyable read. There was a great deal of adult dialogue, not really graphic, but much talk about sexual activities. And I can't say that ANY of the characters were shining examples of moral integrity. The "good guys" were, however, good enough. Interestingly, at the end of the book there's an author's note in which he explains some of the betting slang. Possibly better included at the BEGINNING. All in all, certainly good enough to make me look forward to the next in the series. Really want the extra half star for this one.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews