They Tell Me You Are Wicked

Chicago in the seventies, Duncan Cochrane is an ambitious businessman making a run to be the next governor of Illinois, but six weeks before the election, his daughter is murdered. The police draw a blank and he realises his only hope of seeing the case solved is to return to the race on a law and order ticket.

David Hagarty peppers this first in a planned trio of novels with period details from punk to President Carter making the television address on the environment that angered the then all powerful automotive lobby and wrecked his career. This builds into a compelling picture of the windy city when it was still in thrall to the mob and its own unique political machine.

‘Times though are changing’, to quote Bob Dylan, as the American dream is starting to look more like a fantasy, and concerns about crime and corruption are on the rise. The stage is set for the arrival of a candidate determined to fight back against the 'bad guys' in the name of an embattled citizenry.

This novel, after a slightly slow start, builds into a portrait of a principled man making a Faustian bargain between personal pain and political ambition; idealism and opportunism. How the consequences of this pact play out for Cochrane and his family will be the substance of the next two instalments.

The revelation regarding the murder made at the end of this book and its potential reverberations down the next three decades; as dark and dangerous secrets have to be kept, promise great things from a promising new writer.