Jimmy Flannery - (fictional character, as created by author Robert Campbell)


Edgar-winning Robert Wright Campbell (1927 - 2000) wrote a series of eleven novels featuring Jimmy Flannery, salty Democratic committeeman for Chicago’s infamous Twenty-seventh Ward, who has a penchant for solving impossible crimes. Here are some of the reviews ...

"Reading a Flannery caper is always fun" – Chicago Tribune

"A new Flannery mystery is always cause for celebration" – Mystery News

"Dialogue so breezy it stings your eyeballs, spirited characterisations of Jimmy’s proud ethnic neighbours, and the ward heeler’s cocky defence of the old ways, the old politics ... You can’t help liking Jimmy Flannery" – New York Times Book Review (Marilyn Stasio)

It is interesting to note that all eleven titles in the series feature an animal, namely "The Junkyard Dog" (1986), "The 600 Pound Gorilla" (1987), "Hip-Deep in Alligators" (1987), "Thinning the Turkey Herd" (1988), "The Cat’s Meow" (1988), "Nibbled to Death by Ducks" (1989), "The Gift Horse’s Mouth" (1990), "In a Pig’s Eye" (1991), "Sauce for the Goose" (1994), "The Lion's Share" (1996), and "Pigeon Pie" (1998).

His first novel in the Jimmy Flannery series, "The Junkyard Dog", won him the Mystery Writers of America's Edgar Allen Poe Award, commonly known as an Edgar.