Little Underworld A Novel
Little Underworld by Chris Harding Thornton is a novel published by Picador on March 11, 2025, featuring 288 pages in English. Set in 1930s Omaha, this atmospheric noir follows private investigator Jim Beely as he navigates a chaotic landscape marked by crime and corruption. When a dead body is discovered in his backseat, Jim finds himself entangled with the crooked cop Frank Tvrdik, who sees the situation as an opportunity rather than a crisis. The story unfolds as Jim is forced to double-cross a politician intent on closing down the city’s speakeasies, leading to a series of unexpected and dangerous events.
Readers will encounter a gripping narrative that intertwines elements of mystery and suspense, exploring the darker side of Omaha’s political landscape. As Jim and Frank delve into the city’s bordellos, gin joints, and gambling houses, they confront the absurdity of their circumstances and the mounting death toll. The novel examines themes of morality and survival in a world rife with deception, ultimately challenging the characters’ understanding of what it means to be good. Little Underworld offers a unique blend of historical context and thrilling intrigue, making it a notable addition to the genre.
Official synopsis Publisher
Chinatown meets the Coen brothers in 1930s Omaha in this atmospheric noir by a native Nebraskan.
Omaha, 1930. PI Jim Beely’s life wasn’t a peach to begin with. And now there’s a dead guy in his backseat. The last thing he needs to deal with is a cop—much less the notoriously crooked Frank Tvrdik. But where a square-dealing lawman would see homicide, Frank spots opportunity. He can make the body disappear. All Jim needs to do is double-cross a politician bent on shuttering Omaha’s speakeasies, some of the few places to make an illegal, honest living in a city that’s a racket.
After the double-cross goes haywire, Jim gets his bell rung in a bizarre attack. A man on his payroll turns up dead. And Jim and Frank form an unlikely alliance, digging for the reality behind patently false headlines. They comb the city’s bordellos, gin joints, and gambling houses. They search for answers in the fun-house mirror of Omaha politics. All the while, the death toll mounts, outmatched only by the absurdity of it all.
As the clock runs down, Jim and Frank must make a choice that can’t be unmade. One that leaves them asking what it means to be good. And how the hell you go on living when you’re not. Laying bare historical myth and political corruption, Chris Harding Thornton’s Little Underworld is a searing, darkly funny novel and a ferocious romp through a world not so distant from our own.
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