Noir and highballs

I don't often read mysteries.  But when I do, you'd better believe I want a mystery--I want real hard-boiled, hard-livin', hard knocks, hard drinkin' (think Humphrey Bogart as Philip Marlowe)-type stuff.

This is why it was a lot of fun to find a series by J. A. Konrath called the "Jack Daniels" mysteries; the "Jack Daniels," of course, referring to tough-as-nails Chicago policewoman Jacqueline Daniels.  The first book in the series is titled Whiskey Sour; I myself started with the second book, Bloody Mary, and enjoyed it thoroughly.  The friendship between Jack and her police detective partner Herb was a lot of fun, and if you don't mind some unsettling bits in the mystery where victims' arms turn up in the morgue and a crazed psychopath sets out to murder his victims to ease his headaches, this might be the mystery series for you.

In the meantime?  All I can say is, I'm glad I don't have to be a Chicago cop.  That sort of thing is definitely better left to women with Bogartesque names like "Jack Daniels."