Walker, David J. Books

Half the Truth

David J. Walker

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Total reviews: 1 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

In his Edgar-nominated first mystery novel, Fixed in His Folly, former priest and lawyer Walker introduced us to Chicago private eye Malachy Foley -- a sensitive, jolly guy who rides a lovely old BMW motorcycle and has a part-time job playing jazz piano in a bar. For his second appearance, Foley takes on a serious touch of sadness: his relationship with the woman he loves -- his ex-wife -- seems to be rapidly falling apart. Meanwhile, another beautiful woman enlists Foley's help in finding her brother, a talented young basketball player being menaced for reasons nobody can understand. Mal's most interesting side is his vulnerability: "I remembered one night, coming home from a camping trip in the Rockies, driving just this side of panic through a raging, endless snowstorm across the state of Nebraska. I was alone, except for Seth Green and a friend of his, both sleeping peacefully in the backseat. I wanted to holler at them, 'Wake up, damn it! Help me see where I'm going! Be scared with me!' But they were eight years old, and I just kept driving."

A Ticket to Die for (Wild Onion Ltd. Mysteries)

David J. Walker

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Editorial Review:

A former priest and now a practicing lawyer in Chicago, David J. Walker obviously knows a thing or two about how people behave. That knowledge enlivened his books about a private eye called Mal Foley (Applaud the Hollow Ghost), and now adds pleasure and promise to the start of a new series. Kirsten and Dugan are a married couple who met at the police academy; she's now a law-school dropout working as a private investigator, while he's taken over his father's lucrative but depressing personal-injury law practice. "She knew Dugan enjoyed his self-crafted image as a slightly tarnished, run-of-the-mill lawyer who exhausted his store of courage by sparring with insurance adjusters on the telephone. A comfortable image, and maybe he was tempted to believe in it. But the fact was that Dugan never backed off from any real challenge."

That admiration is mutual, so Dugan lets himself be dragged along by Kirsten on a case involving a sleazy lawyer about to be disbarred, a mobbed-up adult bookstore called Cousin Freddy's, and a missing exotic dancer known as Rita Ranchero. Both lead characters have distinct and well-developed personalities that mesh and occasionally clash, just like real couples we all know. If Walker can avoid a certain tendency toward coyness, this could be the beginning of a long and interesting relationship. --Dick Adler

A Beer at a Bawdy House (Wild Onion Ltd. Mysteries)

David J. Walker

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Total reviews: 2 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

A wll designed mystery 5 out of 5 stars.
8 of 8 people found this review helpful.

Dealing with the devil means you must dance to his tune. However, when the individuals involved in the malevolent tango consists of a Chicago Bishop and his brother, the police department Organized Crime Division acting chief of detectives, one hardly suspects evil. Bishop Peter Keegan believes his half-brother Walter is nothing less than Satan personified. When Peter begins to receive blackmail threats involving an incident in his past as well as getting the sensation that someone is stalking him, the bishop feels Walter is involved.

Due to his sensitive position, Peter knows he cannot turn to the police. He has no idea what Walter wants, but figures his sibling will tell him when he is ready to do so. Instead of waiting and fretting, Peter hires Wild Onions, a private detective security firm to help him. The owners Kirsten and Dugan agree to take the Bishop on as a client even as they quickly understand that any dealing involving Walter is a struggle to survive.

A BEER AT A BAWDY HOUSE rotates the narration among three different players (Dugan, Kirsten, and Peter). The technique works very well as David J. Walker makes the three characters feel so genuine. Dugan and Kirsten will remind readers of "Hart to Hart." The flawed Bishop has insecurities that turn him into a human being. The mystery is well-designed and special.

Harriet Klausner

Editorial Review:

The first book in Walker's Wild Onion series, A Ticket to Die For, has collected rave reviews for its rich plotting, intense characters, and breathtaking suspense. Now in the second installment, the husband-and-wife investigative team is hired by Chicago Bishop Peter Keegan to look into disturbing messages he's received threatening to reveal a dark secret in his past. Kirsten and Dugan are quickly caught up in the whirlwind of danger surrounding the bishop and his estranged police chief brother, who may be more than a bystander in Peter's troubles. Once again, Edgar Award nominee Walker delivers a crafty tale of murder and intrigue in which even the innocent have secrets to hide and even the just can't be kept safe.

No Show of Remorse

David J. Walker

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Editorial Review:

Chicago private eye Mal Foley was a lawyer once. Then he disobeyed a court order requiring him to reveal a client's role in a shootout that left three people dead, one of them a cop, and his law license was revoked. Now years removed from that fateful day, Mal is filing a petition to get his license reinstated. It quickly becomes a problem, however, as Mal is expected to "express remorse for his misconduct" in order to satisfy the court, something he steadfastly refuses to do.

In fact, he would withdraw the petition -- if people would only stop trying to frighten him into doing just that. Anonymous notes turn into death threats, then into savage beatings, and finally into murder. It seems no one wants Mal's petition to lead to a hearing, where testimony might reveal what really led to the shooting so many years ago.

The person with the most to lose should the truth come out seems to be Jimmy Coletta, a second cop shot that night. Coletta survived, but has spent his life since in a wheelchair. Whatever part he played in the shootout, he seems a good man now, spending his life helping minority kids who have disabilities. Mal doesn't want to bring Jimmy down, but soon an innocent man's life depends on Mal pressing ahead with his petition, no matter who gets destroyed in the process. Set in Chicago, No Show of Remorse is a startling novel about crime, corruption, and their devastating consequences.

The End of Emerald Woods (Wild Onion Ltd. Mysteries)

David J. Walker

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Total reviews: 1 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

The characters make the story 4 out of 5 stars.
3 of 3 people found this review helpful.

Chicago's Wild Onion, Ltd. is an investigative and security firm consisting of a lawyer and a private detective. Duggan and Kirsten are also happily married to one another except when she feels the restraints of their matrimonial binds. Those feelings often lead her to do flaky things.

Kirsten accepts the case of twenty-four-year-old Eudora Ragsdale, mother of twins, accused of absconding with $2000 raised to save Emerald Woods from developers. The case seems almost trivial until someone tries to kill Kirsten and her spouse. Another individual follows Kirsten until he is found murdered. It appears as if an unknown assailant will kill to insure plans for Emerald Woods are carried out, leaving the Wild Onion team to uncover the identity of the murderer before they are added to the count.

Well-written environmental mysteries are somewhat rare, but THE END OF EMERALD WOODS is an excellent example of what the sub-genre offers. Edgar nominee David J. Walker creates a fine mystery in his latest Wild Onions installment. However, as usual it is the intriguing married couple conducting business that turns this novel into a winner.

Harriet Klausner

Editorial Review:

Chicago investigator and lawyer, wife and husband team Kirsten and Dugan are working together again to investigate what looks like a penny-ante problem: the theft of $2112.50, donations to the Committee to Rescue Emerald Woods, from the grassroots organization's treasurer. It seems like an open-and-shut case. But when it becomes clear that one group who might take offense by CREW's activities is a powerful Chicago land developer, and that the supposedly small-time theft of the money has been accompanied by some very serious threats, the case gets complicated-and deadly-in a hurry.

Edgar Award nominee David J. Walker's Wild Onion series-which includes A Ticket to Die For and A Beer at a Bawdy House-features two of the most appealing and creative series characters in mystery fiction today, and this cleverly drawn new installment is sure to be a success with longtime fans as well as those new to Walker's fine work.

All the Dead Fathers (Kirsten and Dugan)

David J. Walker

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Two years ago, Father Michael Nolan was sued by the family of a seventeen-year-old girl who had committed suicide years ago after confessing to having an affair with Father Nolan. The lawsuit was thrown out, but all of Michael's secrets came out, resulting in the end of his life as a priest and ruining his relationship with his niece, Kirsten. Michael and Kirsten, a private investigator and the lead character along with her lawyer husband, Dugan, a lawyer, of David J. Walker's acclaimed Wild Onion mystery series, were quite close, especially after Michael helped her out of a big jam when she was in college, and Kirsten is devastated by the revelations about her uncle.

She still feels obligated to him, though, after everything they've been through together, and when a list of priests who have been accused of abuse appears in the Chicago newspaper, she is sympathetic. Unlike Dugan, who defended him against the lawsuit but since then would rather have less than nothing to do with him. But Kirsten's sympathy turns to real fear when one of the priests on the list turns up dead, murdered and his body mutilated. Has the list in the newspaper ignited a killer, or is it someone seeking revenge for a more personal reason?

Before they can get anywhere on the first murder, another priest turns up dead. In this latest intricately constructed novel by the award-winning author of the Mal Foley mysteries, Kirsten and Dugan try to find a killer amid the rising danger.

Applaud the Hollow Ghost

David J. Walker

Amazon Price: $18.68 List Price: $23.95 Usually ships in 1 to 3 weeks By: St. Martin's Press Amazon Marketplace: 21 new & used starting at $0.01

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A talented author creates an entertaining tale 5 out of 5 stars.
1 of 2 people found this review helpful.

In the Chicago area, Lambert Fleming is arrested for allegedly molesting a little girl. Private Investigator Mal Foley remembers Lambert as the classmate who was thoroughly humiliated by his so-called friends, including Mal. Feeling guilty over that two decade old incident, Mal decides to prove Lambert is innocent.

Mal figures this will be a simple investigation that should not take up much of his time. Instead, to his shock, Mal finds the case to be extremely difficult and even somewhat dangerous as the alleged victim turns out to be related to extremely powerful mob families. Even when the girl's father tries to abort Mal's investigation, he continues to investigate what really happened to the little girl.

In his third appearance, hard boiled Mal Foley continues to be a very interesting sleuth whose acerbic and witty tongue constantly gets him in trouble. The Chicago area also comes to life (albeit through Mal's myopic eyes). This, in turn, leaves readers believing they are visiting the Windy City. Though the story line of APPLAUD THE HOLLOW GHOST includes some stretches, the novel remains a very entertaining mystery.

Harriet Klausner

Editorial Review:

In the third mystery of the series, Chicago P.I. Mal Foley investigates a nasty case of revenge and cover-up, when he tries to clear the name of a childhood classmate accused of assaulting a teenage girl. Mal knows the case is going to get messy, but just "how" messy he would never have guessed .

Fixed in His Folly

David J. Walker

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Editorial Review:

Chicago private investigator Mal Foley is hired by a would-be politician to find the son she gave up for adoption thirty years earlier, who turns out to be a Jesuit priest with a troubled past and troublesome enemies.