Criminal Element

By Hugh Holton

Not all police officers are bad and rarely does an officer join the force already corrupt. But, Chicago police Sergeant Joe Donegan has a plan. To him, the police badge is a license to steal, an easy way to get whatever he wants without consequence.Donegan knows where to strike and he knows which criminals will give under pressure. When Donegan walks into a northside tavern expecting his take, he gets more than he bargained for. City Councilman Skip Murphy is leaving the tavern with barmaid Sophie Novak. When Sophie disappears, Donegan volunteers his services to Murphy . . . for a price.Sophie's sister is nervous. She is the doctor of Police Commander Larry Cole, so when her sister vanishes, she asks him for help. It doesn't take long for Cole to figure out where Sophie was last seen, and with whom, but Murphy uses his political clout to stall the investigation.With the corrupt Donegan's help, Murphy seems unstoppable, as Cole discovers when Murphy's main political rival also vanishes. And Murphy is no longer happy with the relatively small potatoes of Chicago politics. He has bigger plans, and those plans involve Congress.Will Cole be able to stop Murphy and Donegan before it's too late? Does a Chicago police commander have the clout to bring down an American institution? It will take all of Commander Larry Cole's resources to stop Murphy and when secrets from his past are exposed, the ruthless Donegan may use them to threaten Cole's future.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0312877870
• ISBN13: 9780312877873
• Release Date: February 2002
• Publisher: Forge
• Length: 528 Pages
• Weight: 1.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.5" x 5.9" x 8.6"

Customer Reviews

Masterful detective novel

Well-balanced, fast-moving, excellently written story of the author's view of the Chicago underbelly. I enjoyed the book as the best of the year, possibly of the decade, on Chicago cops.

Exciting Chicago police procedural

Chicago Alderman Skip Murphy kills his bedroom partner bargirl Sophie Novak during a rough sex incident. Knowing his career is dead if his deadly dalliance surfaces, Skip needs to cover up the crime. He turns to Violent Crimes Unit Detective Joe Donegan, an individual who uses the badge to successfully perform illegal activities, to help clean up his problem. Not only does the corpse burn to ashes, but also witnesses who have seen Skip with Sophie are killed. Joe sees his new work as an upward mobility career move. Police Commander Larry Cole and his partner Sergeant Blackie Silvestri know the truth about Joe's revenue making actions, but struggle to find evidence to prove their case. Now they have a murder mystery that smells of Donegan, who slyly manages to keep one step ahead of his peers. Donegan steals this police procedural, as the veteran team (in books too) seems to fail to stop this master felon. The story line of CRIMINAL ELEMENT moves quickly forward though Larry and Blackie appear hopeless and even somewhat pathetic in their chase of Joe. Hugh Holton, who recently past away, provides fans of his Chicago police procedural series with a pleasurable entry though the villain owns the novel.Harriet Klausner