Family Affair — Kris Nelscott

Smokey Dalton gets a call from an old friend to help transport a battered woman and her young daughter from Madison, Wisconsin, to a shelter in Chicago. When Smokey and Marvella Walker show up at the drop site, they learn that the woman is both white and a racist. She refuses to leave with them. And that's only the beginning of their problems.

Chosen as one of the best mystery short stories of 2009, “Family Affair” shows why Booklist calls the Smokey Dalton books “a high-class crime series.”

“You don't need to be a fan of private-eye novels to admire Smokey: You just need a conscience.”

-- Kirkus Reviews starred review of Smoke-Filled Rooms

“Nelscott's hard-boiled style gives an added blast of energy to the captivating story, and because her characters are so nuanced and naturally complex, we don't know whom to trust.”
-- The Boston Globe on Stone Cribs

Kris Nelscott is an open pen name used by USA Today bestselling author Kristine Kathryn Rusch.
The first Smokey Dalton novel, A Dangerous Road, won the Herodotus Award for Best Historical Mystery and was short-listed for the Edgar Award for Best Novel; the second, Smoke-Filled Rooms, was a PNBA Book Award finalist; and the third, Thin Walls, was one of the Chicago Tribune's best mysteries of the year. Kirkus chose Days of Rage as one of the top ten mysteries of the year and it was also nominated for a Shamus award for The Best Private Eye Hardcover Novel of the Year.
Entertainment Weekly says her equals are Walter Mosley and Raymond Chandler. Booklist calls the Smokey Dalton books “a high-class crime series” and Salon says “Kris Nelscott can lay claim to the strongest series of detective novels now being written by an American author.”
For more information about Kris Nelscott, or author Kristine Kathryn Rusch's other works, please go to KrisNelscott.com or KristineKathrynRusch.com.