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

Description

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 alaw-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

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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

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Customer Reviews

Walker is in fine fettle, an unputdownable mystery
In Chicago, Dugan is the lawyer and Kirsten is the private investigator in this married team. Kirsten asks Dugan to assist on a case in which she needs to speak with Lynn Bulasik, a witness to a conversation between ambulance chasing attorney Larry Candle and one of his clients. Kirsten takes her spouse to Cousin Freddy's, an adult store that caters to a mature audience wanting to buy assorted adult media and novelty items. However, when they enter the store, they find Lynn dead, courtesy of a broken neck.

After spending several hours with the Chicago police, Kirsten and Dugan leave. He wonders out loud why the big city cops are interested when the hit took place in the suburbs? Kirsten calmly explains to Dugan that the killing is mob-related, which means that the married couple could be marked for death next. The pair struggles to stay out of harms way even as Kirsten continues to help her client, the shyster Larry. More people are killed, making it even more dangerous for the dynamic duo.

David J. Walker, author of the Mal Foley series, writes a new Chicago-based mystery, starring two lovable characters that will garner reader attention. TICKET TO DIE FOR has an engrossing who-done-it that will pique reader interest and the cast of characters add depth and Midwest color to the novel. However, it is the witty dialogue between the unusual married couple that turn this into a terrific tale that will bring fans back for more books in a series that has the making of a long friendship.

Harriet Klausner

1998-10-28 | Helpful Votes: 2 | Rating: 5

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Biography - Walker, David J.: An article from: Contemporary Authors

Description

This digital document, covering the life and work of David J. Walker, is an entry from Contemporary Authors, a reference volume published by Thompson Gale. The length of the entry is 1628 words. The page length listed above is based on a typical 300-word page. Although the exact content of each entry from this volume can vary, typical entries include the following information:

• Place and date of birth and death (if deceased)
• Family members
• Education
• Professional associations and honors
• Employment
• Writings, including books and periodicals
• A description of the author's work
• References to further readings about the author

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Half the Truth

Description

Someone is after a talented but troubled college athlete named Jason Cooper, and Chicago P.I. Mal Foley must figure out who before his estranged wife and Jason's sister are killed.

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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."

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Customer Reviews

Imagine Bill Murray as a p.i.

Certain novels have that quality of sliding off the top of the head after being read. Expertly written and plotted, they have nothing more on their mind than entertaining you.

"Half the Truth" is just such a book. Chicago private detective Malachy Foley is a '90s kind of p.i.: hard-boiled but sensitive. He's got a knack for finding trouble, a desire to help and an ex-wife he would like to win back.

In this follow-up to David Walker's Edgar-nominated debut "Fixed in His Folly," Foley must find a college basketball player who went missing shortly after his roommate was drowned while apparently attempting to cross Lake Michigan in his sports car. As his search takes him from downtown Chicago to a Wisconsin military school, Foley encounters several pacifist-challenged men who have the same idea, and the case turns threatening when his client and ex-wife are kidnaped and held for ransom.

"Half the Truth" is a cat-and-mouse game with high stakes, punctuated by tense encounters that threaten to explode at any time. Sometimes, they do.

Walker's sequel was fun to read. Foley's strong desire to see justice done -- a trait common in mystery p.i.'s -- is tempered with unconventional ways of attracting attention from those who don't want to see him, whether tearing up one thug's fake parking ticket or doing exercises in a lawyer's high-toned reception room. If Bill Murray could adopt Foley's mournful demeanor, he'd fit this Second City p.i.'s M.O. to a tee.

2000-08-31 (Hershey, PA USA) | Helpful Votes: 0 | Rating: 5

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Fun Along the Way: Memoirs of Dave Walker

Description

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

Description

Chicago bishop Peter Keegan is everything a man of the cloth should be--a loyal son to his ailing mother and an upstanding member of the local community. But when a blackmailer threatens to reveal a dark secret hiding somewhere in his past, he quickly turns for help to Wild Onion, Ltd., the sharp partnership made up of lawyer-and-private-investigator, husband-and-wife Dugan and Kirsten.

Peter's problems begin with only a few disturbing messages but escalate into a whirlwind of real danger. Kirsten and Dugan try to uncover the identity and the motive of Peter's anonymous tormentor, tracing the trouble back to one dark night in the bishop's otherwise ordinary life, and then even further back. But trying to get to the bottom of this increasingly sinister plot, protect Peter, and deal with the interference of Peter's estranged brother, Chief of Police Walter Keegan, with whom Kirsten already has a difficult relationship, may prove to be too much.

Following A Ticket to Die For, the acclaimed debut of this new series, Edgar finalist David J. Walker delivers another crafty tale of murder and intrigue in which even the innocent have secrets to hide and even the just aren't always safe.

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Customer Reviews

Chicago, Cops, a Priest, P.I.s and a Mystery, It's all Here
Nine years ago Peter Keegan stopped off at a topless bar for a drink, a fight broke out, he was arrested. An inconvenience, but not a big deal for most single guys, but Peter was a priest, is now a bishop and somebody is threatening to expose the incident. It would damage his career with the Church were it to come out, but why would anybody do such a thing? What could they possibly gain? Peter suspects his estranged half-brother, the acting chief of detectives of the Organized Crime Division in the Chicago Police Department.

He turns to Kirsten and Dugan for help. They are a husband-and-wife team-he's a lawyer, she's a PI-and together they run Wild Onion, Ltd., located in Chicago's Loop. Ex cop Kirsten is supposedly in charge of the agency, but she gets plenty of help, a lot of it unwanted, from Dugan, who can't stop worrying about her.

Right from the get go Kirsten has reservations about the case as she blames Peter's brother, Walter, the acting chief, for ending her father's career in the department, but they take the case and try their level best to unmask the bishop's tormentor, tracing Peter's problems back to a dark night in his past. Plus there are other forces at work here, like an anti government group, the enmity between the brothers and then, of course, there is a super twisty ending you'd never expect.

In more ways than one I was reminded of the old Thin Man series as I read though this delightful mystery. I don't know why, but I thought I'd be able to read for a bit, do my early morning chores, go downtown, make a bank deposit, have lunch with friends, then maybe read a little before I went to bed. But it didn't work out that way. The chores got put off till another day, the bank deposit got postponed till tomorrow and I missed lunch (didn't really want to go anyway), but fortunately I finished before dinner, because I was famished.

Reviewed by Vesta Irene

2003-12-04 (the Pacific Northwest) | Helpful Votes: 3 | Rating: 5

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A wll designed mystery
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

1999-12-31 | Helpful Votes: 8 | Rating: 5

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Half the Truth: A Malachy Foley Mystery

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