The Devil's Only Friend

by Mitchell Bartoy

It is the fall of 1943, and the city of Detroit is doing its best to recover from the explosive race riots that marked the recent summer. The police are working overtime to protect the auto plants and... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0312340893
• ISBN13: 9780312340896
• Release Date: October 2006
• Publisher: Minotaur Books
• Length: 243 Pages
• Weight: 0.95 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.8" x 8.6"

Customer Reviews

dark 1940s urban Noir

In 1944 Detroit, racial riots have shaken the Motor City. Thus when "Negro" Jonah Walker visits his friend former police officer cop Pete Caudill in the latter's all white neighborhood he risks his life from the neighbors. Still Jonah needs to know who killed his younger sister Felicia and Pete's the man to learn the truth. Besides being an ex-cop, one-eyed Pete last year proved a Negro had been wrongly accused of a homicide (see THE DEVIL'S OWN RAGDOLL). Since the corpse was found in the Cleveland based auto manufacturing plant owned by intimidating Jasper Lloyd, Pete starts with the business mogul, whom he knows from shared events. Pete is stunned when he sees how frail Jasper has become and friendly offering his assistance because the elderly man retains the reputation of a barracuda. However, Jasper's secretary wants Pete to leave the man alone while Whitcomb, the heir to the mogul's empire is nasty and threatening towards Pete. The ex cop soon knows his inquiries is disturbing someone when he is beaten badly even as a second female murder occurs. Though new neighbor family man Ray Federle seems an unlikely investigative partner, fans will fully enjoy Pete's WWII Motown investigation. The story line is as much a historical, especially the deep look at race relations only sixty years ago and so dysfunctional, as it is a mystery. The cast is solid though Pete is the core of this dark 1940s urban Noir. Harriet Klausner