A Flannery Trilogy, Volume 1

Rating:
Summary: Jimmy Flannery Forever!
Review: It's great to see Campbell's Jimmy Flannery series collected in anthology volumes. This series is a sleeper -- and about as far away from the "hard-boiled" style of the author's other thrillers as can be. Flannery is a gentle, likable sewer-worker (remember Art Carney's Ed Norton?) whose street smarts come from his progress through Chicago ward politics. In a way, the books are more "Runyonesque" reveries centering on a recurring cast of characters in and around Jimmy's life than gripping, intricate mysteries -- solving the murder becomes almost a counterpoint to the real story going on. But they're oddly appealing, even irresistible -- even to jaded readers (like me) who generally eschew cozy little suspense novels chock full of "heart." Since many of the Flannery books are out of print (The 600-lb. Gorilla is especially scarce), this volume is welcome. Campbell is such a good writer that he turns even trifles like these titles into something well worth reading; I hope this first Flannery trilogy garners him -- both author and protagonist -- the readers he deserves.

Rating:
Summary: What a Series!
Review: The Jimmy Flannery books are among the best written today, and these are the first 3 and are rather hard to find. The writing is flawless with Flannery speaking. The Chicago dialect is perfect and the reader learns a lot of the politics of the area. Excellent!

Rating:
Summary: What a Series!
Review: The Jimmy Flannery books are among the best written today, and these are the first 3 and are rather hard to find. The writing is flawless with Flannery speaking. The Chicago dialect is perfect and the reader learns a lot of the politics of the area. Excellent!