Dek Elstrom

Created by Jack Fredrickson

Wry, spry and “creatively unemployed,” Chicago’s VLODEK “DEK” ELSTROM is a hapless, soft-boiled private eye in a hard-boiled world, scrounging to pay the rent on his fixer-upper turret and feed his junk food habit. And he’s not suffering from an abundance of pride or ego.

So… whatever it takes. As long as it pays. No matter how weird…

Toss in some outlandish scenarios, a loopy supporting cast and some strong but wacky plotting, and then let Dek’s wise-cracking motormouth rev up to full-tilt boogie and you’ve got a Shell Scott for the new millennium. Publishers Weekly tags it a “delightfully eccentric detective series” and they’re pretty spot on for this one.

The first Dek Elstrom mystery, A Safe Place for Dying (2006), was nominated for the Shamus Award for Best First Novel, and it’s since been followed up by several novels (and counting). His short fiction has appeared in the acclaimed Chicago Blues and in Michael Connelly’s Burden of the Badge anthologies. He lives in Chicago.

THE EVIDENCE

• “Google, that collector of all lint…”
  — from Hunting Sweet Rosie

UNDER OATH

• “An investigator with a seductive one-two punch—a delectably smart mouth and a delightfully nimble brain.”
  — William Kent Krueger

NOVELS

• A Safe Place for Dying (2006) | Buy this book | Kindle it!
• Honestly Dearest, You’re Dead (2010) | Buy this book | Kindle it!
• Hunting Sweet Rosie (2012) | Buy this book | Kindle it!
• The Dead Caller From Chicago (2013) | Buy this book | Kindle it!
• The Confessor’s Club (20015) | Buy this book | Kindle it!
• Hidden Graves (2017) | Buy this book | Kindle it!
• Tagged for Murder (2018) | Buy this book | Kindle it!
• Kill Her Twice (2022) | Buy this book | Kindle it!

Report respectfully submitted by Kevin Burton Smith.