Schwegel Owns Chicago Crime

My review of Chicagoan Theresa Schwegel’s tense new Sloane Pearson novel, Last Known Address, was posted today in the Chicago Tribune. The piece begins:

Chicago is the crime fiction capital of the world. Just ask any of the great writers (Sean Chercover, Barbara D’Amato, Michael Allen Dymmoch, Kevin Guilfoile, Libby Hellmann, Sara Paretsky, Marcus Sakey and others) who gather regularly at a blog called The Outfit.

Theresa Schwegel isn’t a member of The Outfit, but the author (who won an Edgar for her first book, “Officer Down”) appears to have put her unique vision of Chicago on virtually every page of “Last Known Address.” The mention of such sites as Wrigleyville, Ukrainian Village, Humboldt Park and Garfield Park transports us to their locations.

It’s the 2300 block of West Erie that gives the book its ironic title. It’s the address of a vacant building, one of several where a very nasty serial rapist has been attacking his victims and forcing them to fight--knowing, of course, that he’ll win.

When a real estate agent whom Detective Sloane Pearson knows is attacked by this violent predator, Sloane finds herself taking a case that threatens her plans to leave her longtime lover. Sloane is new to the Sex Crimes Division but no stranger to being treated like an incompetent blond by her hardened male co-workers.

Read the full story here.