Tagged for Murder by Jack Fredrickson

First Sentence:  Only Keller, of the gamy Argus-Observer, thought to write that the man found dead on top of the railcar, the end of that February, had died in a leap year.

      

The body of a man in an expensive suit but whose teeth and body indicate someone who has been living on the street is found in a railroad siding on top of a boxcar.  PI Dek Elstrom is hired by a realtor to take photos, ones that the police have already taken, and paid twice as much as they originally agreed.  As people disappear, including the realtor, a tagger becomes important, a building destroyed, and Dek ends up needing the resources of his friend Leo’s large freezer.  Dek also has to stay alive and out of jail.

      

What an effective description of the problems of violence in Chicago, and in most large cities—“Chicago’s once-mighty gangs crumbled, devolving into smaller and smaller groups, until at last they fragmented into block-based, murderous little boys’ clubs, having nothing much to do except shoot at each other.”

      

In contrast to that is Dek’s relationship with Amanda, his wealthy ex-wife with benefits. She’s not there just for romance.  She is a character with a purpose who contributes to the plot.  Leo Brumsky, his girlfriend, and his mother with her septuagenarian friends do provide a note of lightness, but Leo is not a character to be underestimated.  

Additionally, Fredrickson has created for Dek an interesting, and unusual assortment of additional supporting characters.  It is so important to have characters who grow and develop, and Fredrickson has done that with his characters.  All the characters series readers have come to know are here, along with their eccentricities.  Some are not the type one necessarily brings home for holiday dinners, although they might make those occasions much more interesting, but they are certainly useful and add colour to the plot.   

      

That there is the introduction of suspense and danger which comes seemingly out of nowhere is highly effective for that very reason.  Even though the body count rises, the violence is done off page and, therefore, not graphic to the reader.  Fredrickson builds the story well.  The question of who Dek can trust is effective and leaves one guessing along with Dek.  One doesn’t know where the plot is going, but one is definitely going along for the ride.

      

Fredrickson writes dialogue well, and it’s often tinged with humor—“’I’m at the eastern edge of your marvelous little town, at a place called The Hamburger.  They don’t have hamburgers on the menu.  It’s a fried fish place.’  The place changes hands rapidly, but every new owner keeps the sigh to save costs.  There’s little enthusiasm for fine dining in Rivertown.’  ‘Come by.  I’ll buy you a fish’ he said.  ‘Don’t order until I get there.’  ‘Fish sounds good,’ he said.  ‘There’s concern they snag the slowest of them from the Willahock.’  ‘How slow?’  Some just floating on their sides.’”

      
“Tagged for Murder” has suspense, misdirection, twists, humor, and a plot to which one must pay attention.  This is a more serious book than those which precede it. It is, perhaps, the best in the series so far.

TAGGED FOR MURDER (PI-Dek Elstrom-Chicago Area, IL-Contemp) – VG+

      Fredrickson, Jack – 9^th in series

      Severn House – May 2018