The Maxwell Street Blues — Michael Raleigh

A PI combs the seedy Chicago streets to untangle a web of old feuds that may have turned fatal: “This series is a small treasure” (Booklist).
 
Chicago private eye Paul Whelan is hired by an elderly jazz musician to find a missing street hustler named Sam Burwell. As Whelan delves into Burwell's past, in the world of sidewalk vendors and corner musicians, he uncovers old enmities and love affairs, but his search for Burwell comes up empty. That is, until Burwell is found murdered -- and Whelan is swept up into a whirlwind of old feuds, dark pasts, unlikely romances . . . and a killer hiding in plain sight.
 
“There is method as well as charm in the congenial manner of Mr. Raleigh's detective, who manages to conduct a very thorough investigation by winning over grumpy bartenders, crabby waitresses and wary old men on benches. He likes these people -- and that's good enough reason to like him.” -- Marilyn Stasio, The New York Times
 
“The smells and the sounds are evocative: the greasy food that Whelan thrives on, the dank workingman's bars and the ever-present rattle of the el overhead . . . Raleigh presents a genuine good guy in the luckless Whelan and offers a knockout supporting cast.” -- Publishers Weekly