Chicago, 1947. Private investigator "Matt" McBride runs afoul of corrupt politicians, vicious mobsters  and a trigger-happy Texan femme fatale to prove that the "suicide" of his best friend was murder.  Matt's perilous journey to track down the killer nearly dead-ends in a motor home on a collision course with a cargo plane.


"Fun as it was to write THE GUMSHOE (Savant 2017), researching the story was quite challenging," says Rose. "Since I didn't have H. G. Wells' time machine to whisk me back to Chicago in 1947, I had to create my own. This involved many hours searching the internet and interviewing people who where in Chicago at that time. They gave me the low down regarding the corruption that contaminated City Hall and reminisced about the famous night clubs, like the long gone Chez Paree, and others that are still around today. Included in the book are The Green Mill, Al Capone's favorite jazz haunt, and the Pump Room, where syndicated columnist, Irv Kupcinet, held court for movie stars at table number one.

"The book's main character, private investigator Matt McBride, also has his origin in the past. It was Howard Duff's performance of Sam Spade on a popular radio program in the late nineteen-forties that inspired my creation of McBride. Unlike Dashiell Hammett's cynical and unscrupulous Spade in The Maltese Falcon, and Humphry Bogart's portrayal in the 1941 movie version, Duff's Spade—and my McBride—have compassionate hearts and a jocular sense of humor that blend with a knight errand's penchant for rescuing dames—or damsels if you will—in distress. Hop aboard the Richard Rose time machine and return with me to Chicago 1947. I think you'll find reading THE GUMSHOE (Savant 2017) as much fun as I had writing it."