Peerless Detective — Michael Raleigh

In 1970s Chicago, a young man searches for the woman he lost -- and finds a mystery: “Clever and surprising, a pleasure of a read” (Michael Allen Dymmoch, award-winning author of the Caleb & Thinnes novels).
 
Home from military service, Billy Fox leaves Michigan and gets on a Greyhound to Chicago, hoping to find his ex-girlfriend, Rita -- now another man's wife. Chicago isn't a town that takes kindly to strangers, and Billy finds himself barely scraping by, working odd jobs and living in squalor among ex-cons and men that the city hasn't spit out just yet.
 
Then a chance encounter lands him a job with Harry Strummer, the streetwise owner of the Peerless Detective Agency. At Harry's oddball agency, Billy hones his skills, learning how to stake out a mark, find a bug, and spot a tail. His life begins to change in ways he didn't expect -- but as he continues to search for Rita, an even bigger mystery comes along, one that puts both men in the crosshairs.