Michael Harvey: The Governor’s Wife, Bloomsbury paperback, 9781408863978,

As most of you might have guessed by now, I love mysteries, suspense and thriller novels, always on the lookout for new authors. When studying Bloomsbury’s list of new publications, I discovered they had picked up Michael Harvey from Vintage in the US.  Never having read one of the Michael Kelly Investigation series, I chose “The Governor’s Wife” as my next entertainment. 

Michael Harvey’s clipped, short, descriptive sentences remind me a little of Raymond Chandler.  The other comparison coming to mind, particularly since it is set in Chicago, is that this is the male version of VI Warshawski, Sara Paretsky’s female investigator at large. Michael Kelly has a similar attitude; he gets his nose smashed up and his hands dirty because he cannot walk out of an open investigation even if it would be much better for his physical and psychological well- being.

When Michael Kelly receives an anonymous email offering him a 100.000 $ retainer into a set up account to find Raymond Perry, the former Chicago governor, with a follow up payment of  100.000 $ once he discovers his whereabouts, he only hesitates for a moment before he hits the reply button accepting the contract. Two years before Raymond Perry disappeared into thin air from a high security federal courthouse, leaving no trace after having been sentenced to thirty-eight years in prison of wire fraud and racketeering.

The last person to see him was his wife Marie, everyone is sure she knows how her husband disappeared and where he currently is. It makes perfect sense for Michael to pay the former governor’s wife a visit.  He is ill prepared for the charismatic person he encounters.  Secrets and surprises surface once he starts digging and his friend Vince Rodriguez from the Chicago PD and Andrew Wallace, an architecture student at the courthouse, ends up bailing him out of some very unpleasant developments.  

The plot is excellent, the characters are well crafted and I kept happily turning the pages of this very satisfying new discovery for me.  I look forward to reading the next Michael Kelly mystery.