Smoke-Filled Rooms

Smoke-Filled Rooms is a historical mystery novel written by Kristine Kathryn Rusch under the pen name Kris Nelscott. The first entry in the Smokey Dalton, it follows Dalton, an African-American private investigator in the late 1960s who has escaped to Chicago from Memphis, Tennessee with Jimmy, a 10 year-old boy who had witnessed the assassination of Dalton's childhood friend Martin Luther King Jr.

Reception

Dick Adler of the Chicago Tribune called the novel "mystery fiction at its highest, most-gripping level", opining that Rusch "has the heart, courage and brains for the job". Richard Lipez of The Washington Post it "something of a tease" and "hair-raising", writing that while the "denouement" involving Smokey Dalton's years in the Korean War is "clunky", the novel is "redeemed by its well-researched historical background." Publishers Weekly stated: "Fans of modern PI novels may enjoy this one, but it makes a very poor substitute for authentic black crime writing from that turbulent era, much of which is available in reprint."