A Killing on the Hill
Nineteen-year-old William Shumacher (“Shoe”) works as an intern for Seattle’s only afternoon paper. On an early morning in 1933, Shoe gets tipped off about a killing at an upscale gaming and drinking club atop Profanity Hill. Club owner and long-time crook, George Miller, has shot Frankie Ray, a former prizefighter. Shoe’s paper gives him prime responsibility for covering the arrests, trial, and jury verdict. Shoe’s curiosity, youthful ambition, and sense of justice impel him to take on more than merely writing about the daily events. He chases leads that both sides of the case seem to either ignore or cover up but is soon warned not to meddle. An important witness dies in a head-first fall from a building, other witnesses change their stories. Beset by the Depression and suffering from Prohibition, corruption fuels the city. Shoe learns everyone from the mayor down to most beat cops will ignore rules for extra cash or an open bar tab. He wonders if even the righteous trial judge is on the take.
Dugoni’s plotlines flow fast through twists and dead ends to page-turning but believable resolutions. The sensational court proceedings are realistic. An unforced emotional romance softens the story’s harder edges. Thugs and their women, lawyers and cops, keep everyone on edge and looking over their shoulders. Shoe’s boarding house owner is a delight, and his boss at the paper comes up with surprises right to the end. Seattle, its hills, harbor area, slums and fancy homes, trolleys and busy traffic all feel authentic. Highly recommended as a murder mystery, a legal thriller, and a historical about Seattle and its people during hard times.
