From Publishers Weekly
Edgar nominee Walker is up to his usual good-humored form in his third Wild Onion mystery (after A Beer at a Bawdy House). John Michael Hurley, an unscrupulous commercial real estate developer, wants to turn pristine Emerald Woods, in Miracle City south of Chicago, into a megamall. Eudora Ragsdale, a former public housing resident in Chicago, joins with others in Miracle City to form CREW (Committee to Rescue Emerald Woods). As CREW's treasurer, Eudora finds herself in big trouble when someone steals cash raised to benefit CREW from her home. Alerted to the theft, husband-and-wife team Dugan and Kirsten of the Wild Onion private investigative firm head for Miracle City on what they think will be a routine case. The local cops, Chief Frawley and Officer Galboa, don't welcome them with open arms, but at least they don't escort Kirsten and Dugan out of town. Instead, they direct the duo to the house of Mama Dee, Eudora's best friend and probably the wisest woman in Kankakee County. There, Kirsten and Dugan are almost burned to death after discovering a dead body. Then the action really begins. Throw in the humorous banter between Kirsten and Dugan, and you have a wonderful mix of fun, local Midwest charm and a compelling plot. Walker is also the author of the Malachy Foley series. Agent, Jane Jordan Browne. (Dec. 12) Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
Eudora Ragsdale is the treasurer of a small environmental group dedicated to saving Emerald Woods, a small wooded area outside Kankakee, Illinois, from Chicago shopping-mall developer John Michael Hurley. When $2,000 is stolen from her home after a fund-raiser, Eudora hires Wild Onion Investigations. Sole proprietor Kirsten, a former Chicago cop, and her legal advisor and reluctant backup, husband Dugan, get more than they bargained for when Eudora's mother's home is torched and a body is found inside. There is no evidence, but both Kirsten and Dugan suspect developer Hurley. The third Wild Onion case continues to boast clever plots, great Chicago settings, and plenty of suspense, but, as before, the best parts of the series are the sparkling dialogue and the sexual tension between Kirsten and Dugan. They are a couple who are on equal footing but never let sexual politics impede their progress to the bedroom. There have been numerous attempts to create modern versions of Nick and Nora Charles, but Kirsten and Dugan are the most fun. Wes Lukowsky
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Book Description
Chicago investigator and lawyer, wife and husband team Kirsten and Dugan are working together again to investigate what looks like a penny-ante problem: the theft of $2112.50, donations to the Committee to Rescue Emerald Woods, from the grassroots organization's treasurer. It seems like an open-and-shut case. But when it becomes clear that one group who might take offense by CREW's activities is a powerful Chicago land developer, and that the supposedly small-time theft of the money has been accompanied by some very serious threats, the case gets complicated-and deadly-in a hurry. Edgar Award nominee David J. Walker's Wild Onion series-which includes A Ticket to Die For and A Beer at a Bawdy House-features two of the most appealing and creative series characters in mystery fiction today, and this cleverly drawn new installment is sure to be a success with longtime fans as well as those new to Walker's fine work.

About the Author
David J. Walker is the author of two previous Wild Onion mysteries as well as the Edgar-nominated Mal Foley series. Walker, who was born, raised, and still lives in Chicago, has been a parish priest and an investigator for the police department, and is now a practicing lawyer.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Chicago investigator and lawyer, wife and husband team Kirsten and Dugan are working together again to investigate what looks like a penny-ante problem: the theft of $2112.50, donations to the Committee to Rescue Emerald Woods, from the grassroots organization's treasurer. It seems like an open-and-shut case. But when it becomes clear that one group who might take offense by CREW's activities is a powerful Chicago land developer, and that the supposedly small-time theft of the money has been accompanied by some very serious threats, the case gets complicated-and deadly-in a hurry.

Edgar Award nominee David J. Walker's Wild Onion series-which includes A Ticket to Die For and A Beer at a Bawdy House-features two of the most appealing and creative series characters in mystery fiction today, and this cleverly drawn new installment is sure to be a success with longtime fans as well as those new to Walker's fine work.

Author Biography: David J. Walker is the author of two previous Wild Onion mysteries as well as the Edgar-nominated Mal Foley series. Walker, who was born, raised, and still lives in Chicago, has been a parish priest and an investigator for the police department, and is now a practicing lawyer.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

Edgar nominee Walker is up to his usual good-humored form in his third Wild Onion mystery (after A Beer at a Bawdy House). John Michael Hurley, an unscrupulous commercial real estate developer, wants to turn pristine Emerald Woods, in Miracle City south of Chicago, into a megamall. Eudora Ragsdale, a former public housing resident in Chicago, joins with others in Miracle City to form CREW (Committee to Rescue Emerald Woods). As CREW's treasurer, Eudora finds herself in big trouble when someone steals cash raised to benefit CREW from her home. Alerted to the theft, husband-and-wife team Dugan and Kirsten of the Wild Onion private investigative firm head for Miracle City on what they think will be a routine case. The local cops, Chief Frawley and Officer Galboa, don't welcome them with open arms, but at least they don't escort Kirsten and Dugan out of town. Instead, they direct the duo to the house of Mama Dee, Eudora's best friend and probably the wisest woman in Kankakee County. There, Kirsten and Dugan are almost burned to death after discovering a dead body. Then the action really begins. Throw in the humorous banter between Kirsten and Dugan, and you have a wonderful mix of fun, local Midwest charm and a compelling plot. Walker is also the author of the Malachy Foley series. Agent, Jane Jordan Browne. (Dec. 12) Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.

Kirkus Reviews

Husband-and-wife team Kirsten and Dugan, of Wild Onion, Ltd., have their work cut out for them as they find themselves once again locked in battle with venture capitalists with a taste for paving forests into shopping mall parking lots. Their present adversary, John Michael Hurley, is as connected as he is ruthless, with a reputation for making his opponents drop their opposition—or drop out of sight. So he'd seem more than a match for Eudora Ragsdale, a black single mom who worked her way out of the Chicago projects and into lower-middle-class respectability as treasurer of suburban Miracle City's Committee to Rescue Emerald Woods (CREW). And sure enough, as support builds for Eudora and her fellow environmentalists, scary things start to happen: threatening phone calls, the disappearance from Eudora's house of $2,000 in donations to CREW, and ultimately, Eudora's arrest. Dugan puts his legal prowess to work fighting the bogus charges, and Kirsten trains her detective skill on finding the real culprit. But the field is large in this small town, where the corrupt mayor and smarmy Police Chief Frawley are both too cozy with the developers to help in the investigation—even when a fire that destroys Eudora's grandmother's home at the edge of Emerald Woods reveals a corpse hidden in the cellar. This time out, environment-conscious Walker recycles too many motifs from Wild Onion's last case (A Beer in a Bawdy House, 1999) to give its witty and unconventional partners the adventure they deserve.Herter, David CERES STORM Tor (240 pp.) Nov. 2000