Chicago Blues is a collection of 21 short stories set in Chicago. I read about this book in the blog, The Outfit. The Outfit is a collective of seven Chicago crime authors all of whom have stories. All of the authors are listed at the bottom of this review.

In her introduction, Libby Hellman the editor and a contributor, writes about the blues theme of this book:

[with the Blues] "you’re listening to people tell you about the lover who did them wrong, trouble on the job, dreams that will never come true. In that sense, the Blues are the Noir of music. You know you’re on a journey to a bitter end, but you don’t want to stop."

“Chicago is the perfect backdrop to blend the noir of the Blues with the noir of crime fiction.”

“Some of the twenty-one dark, edgy stories in Chicago Blues are about people who sing the blues. Some are about people who have the blues, and some are about people who wear the Blues. “

The stories are first rate. It isn’t practical here to describe all of them, but the lead story, Blue Note by Stuart M. Kaminsky, is in the running for an Edgar in the Best Short Story category. It is a poignant story about Blues music and a son doing what is needed to help his mother. Really excellent writing.

Another story, The Non Compos Mentis Blues by Sean Chercover, is one of the reasons I purchased a copy of Chicago Blues. Chercover wrote the novel Big City, Bad Blood featuring newspaper reporter turned P.I., Ray Dudgeon. It is a terrific read of you like contemporary hardboiled detectives. Sean was a private investigator and he begins this story with an investigator’s surveillance report. The report isn’t action packed – no foot chases, car chases, gun fights, and martial arts action – but I enjoyed reading it. I’ve read a lot of stories where the P.I. hands the client his or her report and I’ve wondered what was in the report, how it was written. I like stories that give me a look into the working of a profession. I think it is a good set-up to the story.

A story collection like this is, in addition to providing a good read, is also a good discovery tool. You are exposed to authors you might not otherwise have read. My “look for” list has grown considerably from the short author descriptions that precede each story.

If you have a personal library of crime books, this is a worthy addition. If you don’t, ask your public library to add it to the collection if they haven’t already. Tell them a librarian recommended it.

The authors are:Stuart M. Kaminsky, Kevin Guilfoile*, Libby Fischer Hellman*, Jack Fredrickson, Sara Paretsky*, Kris Nelscott, JA Konrath, Sean Chercover*, Max Allan Collins, Michael black, Steven B. Mandel, David J. Walker, Michael Allen Dymmoch*, Sam Reaves, D.C. Brod, Mary V. Welk, Sam Hill, Marcus Sakey*, Ronald Levitsky, Brian Pinkerton, Barbara D’Amato*.* indicates a member of The Outfit