The Ed and Am Hunter series by Frederic Brown continues with the seventh installment, The Late Lamented. Each novel in the series can stand alone and Ed Hunter, as narrator gives sufficient background for context. Still, it has been nice reading these in order and watching the evolution of the protagonists, an uncle and nephew who operate a detective agency in Chicago. Previously, they worked for a carney and another detective agency.This story is interesting as the Hunters again demonstrate the benefits of painstaking humdrum detective work. It is a glimpse of life in a small, big-city detective agency. The pair work more than just the case the story deals with. We see how business comes in and some of the behind-the-scene mundane workings of reports and relationships. Unfortunately, while interesting, it doesn't make much of a riveting story.This one is pretty predictable. But it held my interest while I learned about embezzlement, and some of life in Chicago in the 1950s. Basically, people could not accomplish a thing without a drink and a smoke, gambling was easy to find, rooming houses were pretty normal places to live, and human relationships were much as they are today. Uncle Am is wise and stands back till needed. Ed, young and handsome, finds a girl to sleep with. Ed gets in a fight.Although Ed does not believe in coincidences, the book is full of them. The unwinding of the crime is contrived and unlikely. But I love the brief detail provided on Ed's trombone playing and Italian opera, and the tie-in to their prior carney life that includes a dwarf crime boss (former clown) who is running a nightclub.The book is worth reading if you have an interest in that era and particularly Chicago. But it won't set your world on fire.