Tough-guy detective stories have always been a hit-and-miss proposition for me. I tend to either love them or be left totally cold by them, and – much as I wish I could – I’ve never been able to predict, in advance, which ones are going to fall into which category. Every new author or series is an experiment: a complete shot in the dark. It’s led me to some very pleasant surprises—Lee Child’s Killing Floor, Don Winslow’s California Fire and Life—but left a trail of unfinished “meh” books I couldn’t make myself care about.

Big City, Bad Blood is one of the latter. It’s got a lot going for it: sharply drawn Chicago locations, deftly drawn supporting characters, and competent renditions of classic private-eye set pieces. Meetings with a local mob boss, conversations with a reporter-friend, and a brief, brutal encounter with two hired goons on a dark sidewalk are all done in the best old-school PI tradition. You could imagine them happening (with slight adjustments for language and period detail) to Sam Spade in 1930s San Francisco, Philip Marlowe in 1940s LA, or Mike Hammer in 1950s New York. Yet, for all that, it utterly failed to grab—much less hold—my attention . I lasted 4-5 chapters, and set it aside.

The problem, I think, may be that carefully rendered “old-school” feel. Tough-guy characters like Travis McGee, Elvis Cole or Spenser translate the spirit of the mid-century PIs to the times and places in which their stories are set. Ray Dudgeon feels like an attempt to translate a whole character, intact, out of the forties and into the 21st century. Big City, Bad Blood is clearly set in the present, but Ray and his exploits feel awkward and out-of-place there, like a black-and-white clipping from a 1946 issue of Life pasted, incongruously, into a richly colored color photo of today. ( )

Chicago PI that takes on the outfit. Good characters throughout. Chicago in a primary role. The MC left made uneasy at times with his decisions.
I will read the next book in the series and hope the MC figures himself out. ( )

I'd been eyeing this one for a while. Somehow though all the reviews that referenced Elvis Cole and such left me wanting to avoid the book. Eventually I took the plunge though and don't regret it at all. It's a good debut novel. PI Dudgen is an interesting character and the case involving rival fractions of the "Outfit" is interesting. My one caveat is that frequently the quality of the writing will slip. You are going along, captured in the story and BAM! A passage so wooden that its like you ran into a wall. Fortunately Chercover seems to recover quickly and you are soon lost in the story again. I look forward to watching his writing improve over future episodes. ( )

A decent little detective/noire/mafia book. Some violence, some suspense, perhaps a bit too much politicizing, but oh well, you can't have everything.

Ray Dudgeon is an interesting character. You like him and want him to make out okay, even though you suspect he won't in the long run.

Story has a bit of mob history and some anti-government sentiment, and a basic premise that the world is corrupt. If you like that sort of stuff and don't mind a resolution that is just slightly short of miraculous, you'll like this book. It is enjoyable and quick. ( )

somewhere in between Elvis Cole and Spencer, Ray Dudgeon fills the hard-boiled PI role for Chicago and the 'Outfit'. I enjoyed the setting and as always I enjoy a "good good guy beats the bad guy at his own game" story. Recommended! ( )