Created by Mitchell Bartoy
Motor City madness, retro-style. And slathered in noir.
When we first meet him in Mitchell Bartoy’s 2005novel The Devil’s Own Rag Doll, PETE CAUDILL is not a private eye. He’s a cop in world WWII-era Detroit.
But owing to the events in that impressive debut (I ain’t telling) he’s pretty much on his own by its sequel, The Devil’s Only Friend (2006), having quit the police department. Unemployed, beat down and at loose ends, Pete reluctantly lets a Black friend convince him to look into the murder of his sister, Felicia, whose mutilated body was discovered outside an car plant in Cleveland given over to war production.
Of course, in true P.I. tradition, Caudill is soon stepping on toes, receiving both a warning and a beating in short order. Naturally that doesn’t deter him and he discovers what seems like a connection between Felicia’s death and that of another woman found outside another of the company’s plants, this one in Indiana. With the Feds nosing around and family problems dogging him, the company’s president (who bears more than a little resemblance to Henry Ford) can’t risk a scandal, so he hires Caudill to investigate.
Bartoy’s unrelentingly grim take on the moral morass and ethical compromises of a war-time economy boded well for the new series; a historical take that fans of fellow Motown dicks Amos Walker and Ben Perkins should have appreciated. But unfortunately, the series ended with the second book.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
The author of the Pete Caudill Series, Mitchell Bartoy was born in Grosse Pointe, Michigan, and has lived his entire life in the Detroit area. A graduate of Wayne State University in Detroit, he has worked in various capacities for the United States Postal Service and as a college writing teacher. He lives in Troy, Michigan, with his wife and two children.
UNDER OATH
- “His Detroit is dominated by big money, its corrupt toadies, and the pall cast over everyone by the war. Caudill is a flawed man, both physically and emotionally, but he’s not ready to accept the moral morass into which his city has sunk and which its leaders justify with patriotism.”
— Wes Lukowsky (Booklist) - “The ultra-dark noir sometimes gets lost in its brooding, but Caudill keeps the pages turning.”
— Kirkus Reviews - “Set in Detroit in 1944, Bartoy’s gloomy, atmospheric successor to his hard-boiled debut, The Devil’s Own Rag Doll (2005)… provides a moving, frighteningly real view of WWII-era Detroit and its denizens.”
— Publishers Weekly
NOVELS
- The Devil’s Own Rag Doll (2005) | Buy this book | Kindle it!
- The Devil’s Only Friend (2006) | Buy this book | Kindle it!
FURTHER INVESTIGATION
- Don’t Forget the Motor City
Detroit Eyes & Other Michigan Miscreants
Respectfully submitted by Kevin Burton Smith.
This looks really interesting. Any idea why the author didn’t continue the series, or write anything else, it seems…
No idea. The books were from St. Martins, though—a notoriously hard marker. If sales weren’t as good as they’d hoped…