Michael Harvey ’80 investigates evil in two acclaimed novels

By Karen Sharpe

Michael Harvey has made many a transition since graduating from Holy Cross in 1980—first becoming a lawyer, then an investigative journalist and documentarian, and, now, a novelist. Harvey’s accolades are many and include nominations for an Emmy and an Academy Award. Perhaps the best known of his work may be the A&E series Cold Case Files—which he created and produced—but it’s his work in fiction that has kept him busy for the last several years.

Harvey’s acclaimed first novel, The Chicago Way, is already headed to paperback printing in July and his second book, The Fifth Floor, is slated for hardcover release in August.

Set in Chicago, his adopted hometown, both novels bring together the elements of humanity that fascinate him.

“Life seems more a matter of varying shades of gray than a picture painted in black and white,” Harvey says. “Nowhere is that truer than in the field of criminal investigation. At the heart of every case are acts of evil that make you sometimes wonder about the redeeming nature of man. In lock step with that, however, is an undeniable sense of goodness.”

“These types of stories offer the yin and the yang of human experience,” he continues. “The evil, balanced and, hopefully, outweighed by the good. Whether it be in a novel or a documentary, my goal is to provide a window into that sort of experience and, maybe, a bit of perspective. How can you get a better gig than that?”

A classics major at Holy Cross, Harvey pulled from that experience to develop The Chicago Way’s main character.

“I guess the moral of the story is this: a liberal arts education, and, in my case, a background in classical languages, has served me exceedingly well,” Harvey says. “It has helped me to understand some of the deepest currents of human nature and acted as a crucible in which whatever skills I possess as a storyteller have been forged. The path to this sort of enlightenment is not, perhaps, as straight and narrow as if I had majored in accounting, graduated with an accounting degree and then become an accountant. But that, too, is a hallmark of Holy Cross and a liberal arts education. There are many paths to take. You just need to have the proper mindset and be open to whatever the road offers you.”