Jitterbug
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- $7.99
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- $7.99
Publisher Description
Masquerading as a soldier, a serial killer savages wartime Detroit; it’s up to one detective and his ragtag team to stop him
As the United States enters World War II, Detroit converts its factories to an “arsenal of democracy,” fueling the American war machine. The city’s sons leave to join the fight, but one man does not follow. Declared too unstable for combat, he steals an Air Force corporal’s uniform. Using the uniform to inspire trust, he talks ration stamp-hoarders into letting him into their homes, where he slits their throats with a bayonet. The newspapers call him Kilroy. On his tail is police Lieutenant Maximilian Zagreb, whose task it is to keep order in a city whose police department has been stripped of everyone but pensioners and army-rejects. Chasing Kilroy will force him far outside the bounds of legal police procedure, but Zag doesn’t mind cracking skulls to get results. In wartime, a little bloodshed is inevitable. This ebook features an illustrated biography of Loren D. Estleman including rare photos from the author’s personal collection.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Writing with wit and carefully crafting a chilling suspense plot, Estleman (Journey of the Dead) delivers another spine-tingling crime novel set in Detroit. This time, however, unlike in his Amos Walker novels (Never Street, 1997, etc.), the action tales place during WWII. The heat is on Racket Squad leader Lieutenant Maximilian Zagreb and his three detectives (known collectively as The Four Horsemen for their unorthodox, brutal, mostly illegal methods) when someone starts killing people for hoarding ration coupons. Using some artful manipulation and some very unsubtle pressure, Zagreb leans on a couple of unlikely sources for help. Frankie "The Conductor" Orr, a local mob boss, and Dwight Littlejohn, a black riveter in an airplane factory, are unwilling participants in Zagreb's efforts to smoke out the killer dubbed Kilroy by the newspapers. As the cops twist arms and Kilroy's victims pile up, Detroit explodes in a bloody race riot that summer of 1943, making Zagreb think that Anzio might be safer. Terrific, tough characters, snappy dialogue, crackling action and some imaginative applications of the third degree, make this a triumph for Estleman.
