Rookie private eye Cass Raines was a proud member of the Chicago police force until she got shot, courtesy of an excitable, less-than-competent fellow officer. Now she runs a one-woman investigation agency on the South Side, struggling to keep herself above water. Mind you, she owns an apartment building, a neat little three-flat in Hyde Park bequeathed to her by her grandparents, so she’s not exactly sleeping in a cardboard box—yet.
At least she won’t get shot at again. Well, maybe...
In this, the hard-charging sequel to last year’s acclaimed debut, Broken Places, the “lean, leggy and caramel colored” PI is celebrating the conclusion to a particularly difficult process serving with pancakes at Deek’s, a hole-in-the-wall diner she can “practically spit on” from her office, when she’s approached by twitchy, geeky Jung Byson, perennial university student and delivery boy. Seems young Jung wants to hire Cass to look into the death of his good buddy Tim.
The body of Tim Ayers, the estranged son of a powerful Chicago family, was found floating in Lake Michigan miles from his yacht, full of booze and and pills. Supposedly bipolar and terminally ill, the cops don’t need much convincing to quickly peg the death a suicide. Initially, Cass isn’t interested in the case—and Jung’s exasperating behavior (he tries to break into a police station to gather “evidence”) doesn’t help. But after speaking with a police friend, Cass realizes there just might be something to Jung’s suspicions after all.
There’s a nice working-class vibe to Borrowed Time, and the author has a definite flair for characterization. She serves up an entertaining, vivid reminder of what we love about the shamus game in the first place: the street-level gaze, the sardonic running commentary, gobs of local color, characters nailed in a pithy wisecrack or two, and a grand tour of society (warts and all) from dives like Deek’s up to the rarefied stomping grounds of “our betters.” And a determined hero tough enough to get the job done.
Sometimes you don’t need to reinvent the wheel, you just need one that rolls. And Clark rolls this baby all the way home to a satisfying, action-packed conclusion.
