Bury It Deep

Cooper MacLeish #3

by Sam Reaves

Accompanying a friend to a midnight rendezvous with a nervous informant, Chicago cabbie and sometime investigator Cooper MacLeish finds the contact's dead body instead, and uncovers a scandalous conspiracy involving dirty politics and the mob. Reprint.

Genres: Fiction

272 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1993

About the author

Aka Dominic Martell.

Sam Reaves has written ten novels, most set in Chicago, and co-authored the true crime memoir Mob Cop. Under the name Dominic Martell he writes a European-based suspense series featuring Pascual Rose, and ex-terrorist trying to go straight. Reaves has traveled widely in Europe and the Middle East but has lived in the Chicago area most of his life. He has worked as a teacher and a translator.

Reviews

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

At first I didn't like this so much. A couple chapters into it, I decided it was OK. Beyond that, I liked it quite a bit.

The book has two protagonists: Cooper MacLeish, a tough guy in a relationship and a midlife crisis, and Mel Moreland, a seemingly washed-up journalist for an unnamed Chicago newspaper. (My guess, it's the Sun-Times, but it doesn't matter.) Mel asks his pal Cooper to come with him to meet a client. The journalist has received a death-threat and is in need of company. Cooper stumbles on a dead body in a warehouse, which leads to a trail of political corruption and more murder.

Moreland spends the rest of the book pursuing the big story that will put him on the front page. Cooper spends time contemplating just where the hell his life is going. Occasionally they meet to compare notes, to find more bodies, and to figure out how they're going to avoid being killed.

This is one of Sam Reaves's earlier works, and one can see how he has honed his style over the years. This one has some rough spots (Sometimes the dialogue between Moreland and Cooper is just a little too Spenseresque.), but it also has a lot going for it. I liked the notion of the two middle-aged guys, each with a lot of disappointment from life but scrabbling to snatch something worthwhile before it's too late. The setting of a Chicago winter, all ice, unsure footing, and stark cold, is deftly used to set the tone. Plus, the characters are well-drawn, the relationships are believable, and Reaves has a knack for describing a scene.

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

Clever and smart, but not cute, with strong a 1940'ish film noir feel. One could easily imagine Bogey in the main roles with Peter Lorre, of course, as the murderer with a limp. Reaves' writing is erudite, the banter witty, with the end-game triple plot twist that's almost too pretzely at the end. (Remember, even Dashiell Hammett didn't know who killed one of his victims in "The Maltese Falcon".) And a sweet wrap-up at the end. This book is even better, I suspect, if you know something of Chicago politics.

[Matt Phillips · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great crime novel that follows a dogged reporter and an ex-cabbie as they unravel a mystery involving politics, teamsters, and a brutal killer. Damn good stuff.