Dreams of Justice

"It's only detective stories." "You only read them and write them for fun," crime writer Harriet Vane says to her husband, Lord Peter Wimsey. He replies, "You seem not to appreciate the importance of your special form. Detective stories contain a dream of justice. They project a vision of a world in which wrongs are righted...murderers are caught and hanged, and innocent victims are avenged and future murder is deterred." -Jill Paton Walsh in Thrones, Dominations, the 12th Lord Peter Wimsey book, based on notes left by Dorothy L. Sayers In this collection of reviews written over a span of several years, author and Chicago Tribune columnist Dick Adler explores the social implications of the genre he reviews and admires, and traces its evolution into one of today's most respected literary forms. Dick Adler, editor, book reviewer, novelist, and blogger, was a magazine and newspaper editor in New York, London, and Los Angeles. He also won two Maggie Awards for his editing. With the late Edmund G. (Pat) Brown, he co-authored Public Justice, Private Mercy: A Governor's Education On Death Row, called by the New York Times Book Review "a compelling and important book." Adler also wrote Sleeping with Moscow, an account of the Richard Miller FBI espionage case. His mystery novel, The Mozart Code, was published in 1999 as an electronic book and was a Frankfurt eBook Award nominee in 2000. Adler died in California in 2011 at the age of 74. "Through his longevity, keen writing and near faultless taste, Adler became the dean of American mystery reviewers. Dreams of Justice is a fine tribute to his career." -David Montgomery, Chicago Sun-Times