Overview
Chicago's magnificent White City will soon be fading into memory. As the grand Exposition of 1893 reaches its final day, the metropolis is rocked by the public assassination of its popular mayor. In the chaos that ensues, another murder—the savage slaughter of a Pinkerton agent posing as a prostitute in a seedy slum alleyway—goes virtually unnoticed . . . except by police inspector Alastair Ransom.
An avenging angel haunted by the ghosts and mistakes of his past, Ransom called the slain detective, Nell Hartigan, "friend"—and his unorthodox inquiries into her murder are pointing him toward a fiend who's targeting the city's most unremarkable and disposable citizens. But in a great urban slaughterhouse, where foul corruption festers in every dark corner, Ransom will find himself accused of the one crime he did not commit . . . and facing the final judgment of the hangman's noose.
Editorials
Library Journal
Inspector Alastair Ransom's time at the 1893 Chicago World's Fair is tarnished when the mayor and his Pinkerton colleague are murdered in the third series title. Walker lives in West Virginia.
As reviewer Michele Leber pointed out in last year's roundup "Nordic Crime" (Mystery, LJ4/1/06, p. 70), U.S. publishers have tapped into a rich mother lode of compelling crime fiction from Scandinavia. Now come three offerings from the lands of the midnight sun. Strangely, all of them are set during the winter holidays, which puts the "blue" back into "Blue Christmas."-Ed.
—David Doerrer