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Jimmy Flannery #8
In a Pig's Eye: A Jimmy Flannery Mystery
Even after his election as Committeeman for the twenty-seventh ward, Chicago's favorite investigator, Jimmy Flannery, returns to the street to solve the suspicious death of his friend from aerobics class, Mr. P. Pig
- GenresMystery
304 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1991
About the author
Robert Wright Campbell
34 books15 followersA screenwriter who turned to writing novels. Many of his earlier books were published as by R. Wright Campbell but later works were credited to Robert W. Campbell or simply Robert Campbell. He also published one book as F.G. Clinton. For more, see his obituary in the Los Angeles Times.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
January 9, 2020
One of the great things about the Jimmy Flannery series is how Flannery narrates the stories in a down-home, folksy vernacular. The stories harken back to a time when we lived in actual neighborhoods and knew each other. Flannery works in the Chicago sewers but he is better known around town for doing favors Chicago-style as a cog in the old machine politics of a different era.
In this eighth novel in the series, there are no 600 pound gorillas, no alligators, and no crazy goats. Flannery has grown up a little. He now has a wife and a baby on the way. And he needs to get used to now
having Chips Delvin's job as the warlord of the 27th.
Not a traditional mystery by any means. And none of that shoot em up, chase em down action. There's a mystery to be sure and Flannery figures it out by poking his nose where it don't belong and having
conversations with folks. The magic of the storytelling here is not so much in narrating action scenes as it is establishing a certain world of
neighborhoods and people doing favors.
In this eighth novel in the series, there are no 600 pound gorillas, no alligators, and no crazy goats. Flannery has grown up a little. He now has a wife and a baby on the way. And he needs to get used to now
having Chips Delvin's job as the warlord of the 27th.
Not a traditional mystery by any means. And none of that shoot em up, chase em down action. There's a mystery to be sure and Flannery figures it out by poking his nose where it don't belong and having
conversations with folks. The magic of the storytelling here is not so much in narrating action scenes as it is establishing a certain world of
neighborhoods and people doing favors.
April 8, 2019
In a time before both Amazon and GoodReads reviews became omnipresent, a person would pick something off the shelf because it interested them. They didn’t cross consult a third party to see if it would be worth their time, they just grabbed it and hoped for the best.
I confess that I sometimes miss living in the stone age. I took a chance on this one after seeing it for $3 in the discount section at my favorite bookstore: The Mysterious in lower Manhattan. Rarely do I get good cell service in The Mysterious, so I don’t even recall if I cross-referenced this with GoodReads. I just looked at it and said, “Hey, we got mystery, politics, Chicago, and it only costs three Georges. Let’s give it a shot.”
And I’m glad I did. This isn’t a hidden gem but it’s a fun tale told by a competent author that doesn’t overstay its welcome. The book functions less as a mystery and more about the culture and horse trading of favors in Chicago, as told through the perspective of a committeeman. The man, a kind but unremarkable sort named Jimmy Flannery, loves Chicago and is willing to change along with the changing times (this is set in the late-80s so post-Daley I, whom Flannery recalls with great fondness).
The writing style is nothing like James Ellroy and yet it reminded me a little of Ellroy in that most encounters in this book are expository and transactional. This is both a good thing and a bad thing in the book’s favor. On the one hand, it was enjoyable to see Flannery navigate through these neighborhoods, dispensing favors and being an enquiring mind. On the other hand, many of the characters come off as little more than composites and despite the dead body, the stakes never really feel big.
Also, this book is definitely 80s woke in ways endearing and laughable. Campbell is a little too proud of himself for writing a character who is a black gay gym instructor named “Princess.” But I also appreciated its surprisingly refreshing view on women’s reproductive rights and how women of color in particular get shafted by society. Flannery is not a “this city is changing around me, I don’t recognize it” type. He’s an every man doing an every man’s job. Investigating a murder just seems to be another political errand.
Anyway, huzzah to random finds. I don’t have a burning need to pour through the series, however, if I saw another Flannery book on the discount rack, I would likely pick it up.
I confess that I sometimes miss living in the stone age. I took a chance on this one after seeing it for $3 in the discount section at my favorite bookstore: The Mysterious in lower Manhattan. Rarely do I get good cell service in The Mysterious, so I don’t even recall if I cross-referenced this with GoodReads. I just looked at it and said, “Hey, we got mystery, politics, Chicago, and it only costs three Georges. Let’s give it a shot.”
And I’m glad I did. This isn’t a hidden gem but it’s a fun tale told by a competent author that doesn’t overstay its welcome. The book functions less as a mystery and more about the culture and horse trading of favors in Chicago, as told through the perspective of a committeeman. The man, a kind but unremarkable sort named Jimmy Flannery, loves Chicago and is willing to change along with the changing times (this is set in the late-80s so post-Daley I, whom Flannery recalls with great fondness).
The writing style is nothing like James Ellroy and yet it reminded me a little of Ellroy in that most encounters in this book are expository and transactional. This is both a good thing and a bad thing in the book’s favor. On the one hand, it was enjoyable to see Flannery navigate through these neighborhoods, dispensing favors and being an enquiring mind. On the other hand, many of the characters come off as little more than composites and despite the dead body, the stakes never really feel big.
Also, this book is definitely 80s woke in ways endearing and laughable. Campbell is a little too proud of himself for writing a character who is a black gay gym instructor named “Princess.” But I also appreciated its surprisingly refreshing view on women’s reproductive rights and how women of color in particular get shafted by society. Flannery is not a “this city is changing around me, I don’t recognize it” type. He’s an every man doing an every man’s job. Investigating a murder just seems to be another political errand.
Anyway, huzzah to random finds. I don’t have a burning need to pour through the series, however, if I saw another Flannery book on the discount rack, I would likely pick it up.
September 17, 2019
Typical serio-comic warm hearted Jimmy Flannery mystery. Campbell has a great ear for dialogue and a lot of sympathy for the "old neighborhood" lifestyle where people interact face to face and enjoy the benefits and suffer the consequences of intimate human involvement.
The plot of this story alternates between Jimmy investigating a death no one else seems much interested in and Jimmy fulfilling his role as a political favor doer and favor getter. The Jimmy Flannery series is mostly about what people can accomplish when they take an active (doing, as opposed to soapbox posing) interest in helping others. Along the way, in this one, Jimmy will ensure that an apparent injustice to an individual will not go uninvestigated. The investigation is fraught with both short-term risks and long term consequences as the complex relationships he builds with both friends and foes often have both an immediate impact and a long term effect on Jimmy's ability to "set a situation right".
Although much of the book involves Jimmy's social relationships and attendant consequences, Campbell maintains the suspense of the mystery element throughout and the justice achieved in the end is consistent with the other thematic elements of the book; I never felt that social sub-plots were padding for the mystery or that the mystery was mutually exclusive from its social context and could have been written more effectively as a short story.
The plot of this story alternates between Jimmy investigating a death no one else seems much interested in and Jimmy fulfilling his role as a political favor doer and favor getter. The Jimmy Flannery series is mostly about what people can accomplish when they take an active (doing, as opposed to soapbox posing) interest in helping others. Along the way, in this one, Jimmy will ensure that an apparent injustice to an individual will not go uninvestigated. The investigation is fraught with both short-term risks and long term consequences as the complex relationships he builds with both friends and foes often have both an immediate impact and a long term effect on Jimmy's ability to "set a situation right".
Although much of the book involves Jimmy's social relationships and attendant consequences, Campbell maintains the suspense of the mystery element throughout and the justice achieved in the end is consistent with the other thematic elements of the book; I never felt that social sub-plots were padding for the mystery or that the mystery was mutually exclusive from its social context and could have been written more effectively as a short story.
July 31, 2017
"How's it goin'?"..
"Up and down and 'round and 'round. You?"
"Sixes and sevens" p 102.
"just keep putting one foot in front of the other" p 130.
"like Scarlet O'Hara .. I'll think about it tomorrow" p 131.
"you might bend the rules, steal a base, or come in through a back window if you can't get what you're after any other way, but I'd bet my life that you'd never break a promise or your word if you could help it" p 188.
"Somebody said that a man with bad grammar wasn't necessarily stupid, but a man without vocabulary couldn't appreciate anything subtler than a smack in the kisser" p 188.
Narrator hero Jimmy may heavily "ain't" and garble grammar, but his vocabulary is extensive, and he sure can solve mysteries. Is Theobald Tramontina really the Black Hand? Jimmy's personal life, including his very pregnant wife Mary, shows how caring and kind to all he is, letting her hold pre-natal classes for pregnant poor teens in their 8th floor walkup or his borrowed ward office, and their friends being other-gender folk.
"Up and down and 'round and 'round. You?"
"Sixes and sevens" p 102.
"just keep putting one foot in front of the other" p 130.
"like Scarlet O'Hara .. I'll think about it tomorrow" p 131.
"you might bend the rules, steal a base, or come in through a back window if you can't get what you're after any other way, but I'd bet my life that you'd never break a promise or your word if you could help it" p 188.
"Somebody said that a man with bad grammar wasn't necessarily stupid, but a man without vocabulary couldn't appreciate anything subtler than a smack in the kisser" p 188.
Narrator hero Jimmy may heavily "ain't" and garble grammar, but his vocabulary is extensive, and he sure can solve mysteries. Is Theobald Tramontina really the Black Hand? Jimmy's personal life, including his very pregnant wife Mary, shows how caring and kind to all he is, letting her hold pre-natal classes for pregnant poor teens in their 8th floor walkup or his borrowed ward office, and their friends being other-gender folk.
January 12, 2019
I intend to focus a bit more of my 2019 book reading away from the endless library shelves and closer to my overstocked home shelves. Though I'm reading this series because it was time to clear off a book from home. However, if you do the math, reading 10 books from the library to clear 1 book off my shelf points to the idea that maybe I should be limiting the series that I start right now.
Anyway, Jimmy's back and nosey as always. He's picking up some new tricks and character ticks as he starts to attend some night school classes.* Though perhaps I should let Jimmy take us all to school:
This goes on with another part of the conversation that deserves a highlight: "I can't help you unless you tell me what it is you want," he says. // "You're my kind of man," I says. "No fooling around. Get right to the point." // "So do it and never mind the marmalade." // "Marmalade?" // "Most people just spread a little butter but you're all sweetness and light, ain't you? You got to go the extra mile. So you went the extra mile and I feel all gooey. So what is it?" // This man has had a bad night or the wife had a fight with him this morning or his dog peed in his shoe. Something.
*Oops...night school happens in book 9. Book 8 is an exercise class. Eh...I like my little review transition, so I'm leaving the error with this correction.
Anyway, Jimmy's back and nosey as always. He's picking up some new tricks and character ticks as he starts to attend some night school classes.* Though perhaps I should let Jimmy take us all to school:
The next day I go down to the police property room at the Twelfth District station. There's a new man behind the counter. A Hispanic. I know better than to ask where the other cop--the one I know--is, because if you do that instead of acting like you're really happy to be having the chance to make a new acquaintance, then you take something away from the person in front of you. It's always better to ask for what you want and let them tell you they can't help you and then you ask them to help you get to the right place or person, which means they end up giving you a hand after all. Which makes them feel good. Which means they got your marker. Which means they'll remember you the next time you bump into one another.
This goes on with another part of the conversation that deserves a highlight: "I can't help you unless you tell me what it is you want," he says. // "You're my kind of man," I says. "No fooling around. Get right to the point." // "So do it and never mind the marmalade." // "Marmalade?" // "Most people just spread a little butter but you're all sweetness and light, ain't you? You got to go the extra mile. So you went the extra mile and I feel all gooey. So what is it?" // This man has had a bad night or the wife had a fight with him this morning or his dog peed in his shoe. Something.
*Oops...night school happens in book 9. Book 8 is an exercise class. Eh...I like my little review transition, so I'm leaving the error with this correction.
December 11, 2018
All Jimmy Flannery books have the same basic plot. Jimmy finds a dead body and starts looking into it even though he is not a cop but a local Chicago politician. Along the way he gets favors from people, does favors for people on his way to a satisfactory conclusion. Campbell has a great ear for dialogue and gets the Chicago vibe perfectly. These books are all loads of fun.
March 3, 2024
I haven't read a Jimmy Flannery mystery in years. I'm happy that I decided to give this series another spin. Campbell's dialogue and his pitch perfect characterizations made this series a winner all of those years ago and it's still better than 99% of what writers are putting out today.
June 8, 2011
pleasant Jimmy tale
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews