Review: Runner

I discovered Tracy Clark's Cass Raines series as 2020 gave way to 2021 and was immediately hooked on the smart, savvy, competent as hell, former Chicago police officer turned private eye. I caught the series early, which means after plowing through the first three books I had to wait for book four, Runner, like a regular chump.  Well, it's finally here and it was a riveting read.

It's shortly after Thanksgiving and the Chicago weather has turned bitter cold. Winter is here and Cass is paying the price for most of this book. You can tell Clark knows Chicago. She nails the weather.  Anyway, Cass is seeking shelter in that most Chicago of places - a White Castle. Certainly the sliders are a draw but she's also there to meet a perspective client.  Leesa Evans is a recovering addict looking for her missing daughter, Ramona.  Ramona is 15-years-old and in the foster care system. By all accounts she was in a good situation, living with a former actress, Deloris Poole, who was giving the girl structure, and slowly getting her to open up.  And then one day, poof! Ramona runs away. No word, no warning, in the dead of winter.  The cops are on the case, but Leesa doesn't trust the cops. She wants someone working for her - which is where Cass comes in.  Cass hears the words "15-year-old girl" and knows she'll be taking on Leesa as a client.

What follows is Cass covering a lot of ground and backtracking through territory that the police have already covered (to start at any rate). But it's definitely odd. For one thing the lead detective on the case is downright cooperative and is fine with a PI sniffing around. Given the previous three books in this series, Cass finds that odd (she's used to rubbing Chicago's finest in all the wrong ways, never mind she used to be one of them).  Ramona has zero friends and didn't seem to confide in a single person, anywhere and she's not part of the city's social services system. Ramona is in foster care through a private organization. Cass talks to the obvious players, hits a lot of dead ends, but eventually hits pay dirt when she uncovers a lead through Ramona's part-time job.  Unfortunately that lead brings up more questions than answers.

Clark rounds out her story by populating it with the many "found family" secondary characters that have been introduced over the course of the series.  The police detective she's been dating wants her to finally meet his teenage daughter (it goes about as well as you'd expect), the childhood friends, a nun who helps her with the case by introducing her to some street kids, the ex-con turned short order cook who is hiding something (plot bunny for Book #5!) and the local diner where Cass regularly eats has a new waitress who has her out-of-sorts (Cass doesn't do well with change).  

The mystery is engaging and solid and Cass continues to be a dynamite character, smart and savvy. Series, at a certain point, can be tricky to write - needing to engage both newcomers and fans alike, but this book stands alone very well, and won't lose newcomers despite being book #4. Clark also avoids info-dumping that would cause an already-fan's eyes to glaze over.

Clark has won an award named after Sue Grafton, and for readers who loved the "feel" of the Kinsey Millhone series, you need to drop your life and try this series.  The recurring cast of secondary characters, the strong neighborhood feel of the setting, the competent as hell female PI - this series hits all those beats.  Clark is definitely my favorite author discovery in recent memory and I am ready for another book tomorrow.  Instead, like a chump, I patiently wait.

Final Grade = B+