Smoke-Filled Rooms:
A Smokey Dalton Novel

Kris Nelscott

On the run after the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., Private Investigator Smokey Dalton and Jimmy, the young boy he rescued, have settled under assumed names in Chicago. But history won’t leave him alone. His job in security at the Chicago Hilton places him in the center of the protests at the 1968 Democratic Convention. Worse, a killer works his South Side neighborhood, killing children. The Chicago Police Department doesn’t solve crimes in the South Side. Smokey can’t ignore the crimes, any more than he can ignore the tension building in the city that hot August. He has to take action, before he loses everything.

Chosen as one of the top ten mystery novels of the year by both Deadly Pleasures and Booklist, Smoke-Filled Rooms fulfills the promise of the award-winning Dangerous Road, and makes Smokey Dalton into one of the mystery field’s most memorable detectives.

Thin Walls: A Smokey Dalton Novel

Kris Nelscott

Smokey Dalton and Jimmy, the young boy he protects, have settled into a new life on Chicago’s South Side. But when Smokey gets hired to investigate the death of a black man in a local park, he realizes that the murder might not be an isolated case. The Chicago Police Department doesn’t really investigate black deaths, particularly near the South Side. Smokey thinks the case easy, until he digs deeper into the history of the area, a history that includes gangs, racism, and secrets so dark they threaten his very existence.

Chosen as one of the top ten mystery novels of the year by the Chicago Tribune, Thin Walls shows why Publisher’s Weekly gave it a starred review, and Booklist calls it “another fine entry in an outstanding series.”

War at Home:
A Smokey Dalton Novel

Kris Nelscott

The case starts out close to home: Daniel Kirkland never arrived at Yale for the spring semester. Daniel’s mother Grace, a friend of Smokey Dalton’s and his son Jimmy’s beloved teacher, sacrificed everything to get Daniel into one of the country’s most prestigious schools.

What at first seems like a missing persons case becomes something bigger, as Smokey delves into the heart of the anti-war movement. He goes from the storied halls of Yale University to the slums outside New Haven to Harlem as he searches for Daniel. All the while Smokey hears rumors he doesn’t like, from violent attacks to talk of bombs.

Gradually he realizes that he has stumbled into America’s second war of the decade: the war at home.

Days of Rage:
A Smokey Dalton Novel

Kris Nelscott

Chicago, 1969: The trial of eight protestors from the Democratic Convention the previous year has the whole world watching—and all of Chicagoland on edge. Smokey Dalton feels the pressure: more cops on the streets, more FBI in his neighborhood.

But when the landlord at one of Sturdy Investments’ South Side properties dies alone in his apartment, Smokey agrees to investigate He finds old human bones in the basement, along with hints of more. Smokey and his girlfriend, Sturdy’s CEO Laura Hathaway, worry that Laura’s father knew who used that basement and why.

Without involving law enforcement, they decide to hold a thorough investigation and discover secrets they never ever imagined, secrets that could threaten Smokey, Laura, Sturdy, and one of Chicago’s greatest institutions. Secrets worth killing for.

•Chosen as one of the top ten books of the year by Kirkus.
•Chosen as one of the best mystery novels of the year by Deadly Pleasures Magazine
•Winner, Spotted Owl Award for Best Mystery by a Northwest Writer.
•Shamus nomination for Best Private Eye Hardcover Novel.