Centuries & Sleuths Bookstore - Events Feed

The Mystery Discussion* Group Meeting

Mon, 07 May 2012 20:24:45 -0400

Start: 05/19/2012 - 2:00pm

End: 05/19/2012 - 4:00pm

Title to Be Discussed: The Beautiful Blue Death

Author: Charles Lynch

*{There is no fee, however, all titles selected must be purchased at Centuries & Sleuths to be part of the Discussion Group & voice your opinion on the assigned book.}

Description

Charles Lenox, Victorian gentleman and armchair explorer, likes nothing more than to relax in his private study with a cup of tea, a roaring fire and a good book. But when his lifelong friend Lady Jane asks for his help, Lenox cannot resist the chance to unravel a mystery.

Prudence Smith, one of Jane’s former servants, is dead of an apparent suicide. But Lenox suspects something far more sinister: murder, by a rare and deadly poison. The grand house where the girl worked is full of suspects, and though Prue had dabbled with the hearts of more than a few men, Lenox is baffled by the motive for the girl’s death.

When another body turns up during the London season’s most fashionable ball, Lenox must untangle a web of loyalties and animosities. Was it jealousy that killed Prudence Smith? Or was it something else entirely? And can Lenox find the answer before the killer strikes again—this time, disturbingly close to home?

About the Author

Charles Finch is a graduate of Yale and Oxford. His first novel, A Beautiful Blue Death, was named one of Library Journal’s Best Books of 2007, one of only five mystery novels on the list. He lives in New York.

Praise for A Beautiful Blue Death…

“Vividly capturing the essence of Victorian England, Finch presents us with a unique sleuth who combines the deductive powers of Sherlock Holmes with the people skills of Thomas Pitt. A sparkling achievement.” —Library Journal (starred review)

“A fine specimen of the genre…. Particularly good is [Finch’s] delineation of Lenox’s cozy-but-proper relationship with Lady Jane.” —The Washington Post

“The best sort of historical mystery—clever, charming, full of period detail, and a delight to read.” —David Liss, author of The Whiskey Rebels

Author Signing & Discussion Craig Cleve

Tue, 20 Mar 2012 13:04:38 -0400

Start: 05/26/2012 - 2:00pm

End: 05/26/2012 - 4:00pm

Come to Centuries & Sleuths to listen to Craig Cleve discuss his non-fiction Chicago Book, The Green Hornet Streetcar Disaster.

As rush hour came to a close on the evening
of May 25, 1950, one of Chicago’s new fast, colorful, streamlined
streetcars—known as a Green Hornet—slammed into a gas truck at State
Street and 62nd Place. The Hornet’s motorman allegedly failed to heed
the warnings of a flagger attempting to route it around a flooded
underpass, and the trolley, packed with commuters on their way home,
barreled into eight thousand gallons of gasoline. The gas erupted into
flames, poured onto State Street, and quickly engulfed the Hornet,
shooting flames two hundred and fifty feet into the air. More than half
of the passengers escaped the inferno through the rear window, but
thirty-three others perished, trapped in front of the streetcar’s back
door, which failed to stay open in the ensuing panic. It was Chicago’s
worst traffic accident ever—and the worst two-vehicle traffic accident
in U.S. history.

Unearthing a forgotten chapter in Chicago lore, The Green Hornet Streetcar Disaster
tells the riveting tale of this calamity. Combing through newspaper
accounts as well as the Chicago Transit Authority’s official archives,
Craig Cleve vividly brings to life this horrific catastrophe. Going
beyond the historical record, he tracks down individuals who were
present on that fateful day on State and 62nd: eyewitnesses,
journalists, even survivors whose lives were forever changed by the
accident. Weaving these sources together, Cleve reveals the remarkable
combination of natural events, human error, and mechanical failure that
led to the disaster, and this moving history recounts them—as well as
the conflagration’s human drama—in gripping detail.

The History Discussion* Group Meeting

Mon, 07 May 2012 20:23:55 -0400

Start: 05/27/2012 - 2:00pm

End: 05/27/2012 - 4:00pm

Title To Be Discussed: The Reformation: A History

Author: Diarmaid. Mac Culloch

*{There is no fee, however, all titles selected must be purchased at Centuries & Sleuths
to be part of the Discussion Group & voice your opinion on the assigned book.}

Description

At a time when men and women were prepared to kill—and be killed—for their faith, the Reformation tore the Western world apart. Acclaimed as the definitive account of these epochal events, Diarmaid MacCulloch’s award-winning new history brilliantly re-creates the religious battles of priests, monarchs, scholars, and politicians—from the zealous Martin Luther to the radical Loyola, from the tortured Cranmer to the ambitious Philip II.

Drawing together the many strands of the Reformation and Counter-Reformation, and ranging widely across Europe and the New World, MacCulloch reveals as never before how these dramatic upheavals affected everyday lives—overturning ideas of love, sex, death, and the supernatural, and shaping the modern age.

Praise for The Reformation…

"This isn’t merely ‘a history’ of the Reformation, but rather ‘the history.’" —Michael Dirda, The Washington Post

"MacCulloch brings the history of the Reformation into vivid focus, providing what must surely be the best general account available." —Financial Times

"A lasting work [and] one of the most magisterial and stylishly written historical works to be published in a decade." —The Atlantic Monthly

Authors Discussion & Signing with John McEvoy and Jack Fredrickson

Sun, 25 Mar 2012 19:43:39 -0400

Start: 06/02/2012 - 2:00pm

End: 06/02/2012 - 4:00pm

Come join us at Centuries & Sleuths Bookstore to listen to John Mc Evoy and Jack Fredrickson discuss their latest Jack Doyle Race Track Mystery, Photo Finish and Dek Elstrom Mystery, Hunting Sweetie Rose . They will then sign copies of their books purchased at C&S.

Former advertising man, amateur boxer, and track publicist Jack Doyle undertakes a new job in the world of thoroughbred horse racing as a jockey’s agent. His client is a seventeen-year-old feminine riding phenom from Ireland named Mickey Sheehan, who has decided to try her luck in the States. They prove to be an effective team until misadventure occurs as the result of someone secretly administering dangerously illegal medications to horses. In his quest to identify the culprit, the shrewd, irreverent, and always opinionated Doyle is aided by his old friend Moe Kellman, furrier-to-the-Mob; trainer Ralph Tenuta, himself the target of a blackmailer; and young veterinarian Ingrid McGuire, a greatly talented horse communicator. Jack and Moe become co-owners of a talented, bargain-priced colt named Plotkin, who provides several thrills, not all of them welcome. Mickey’s sibling rivalry with her occasionally race-manipulating brother Kieran, one of Ireland’s top jockeys, comes to a climax with Mickey aboard Plotkin in the million dollar Heartland Downs Futurity. The primary setting is the Chicago area racetrack Heartland Downs. Other major scenes take place at New York’s famed Saratoga Race Course and aboard Mob chieftain Fifi Bonadio’s lavish yacht in Chicago’s Belmont Harbor. Doyle is sometimes mistaken but invariably persistent in his search for answers. The challenges he faces in attempting to halt the horse drugging and the threat to Tenuta’s life are the most daunting of his colorful career as an amateur investigator in the world of American racing.

About the Author

John McEvoy, former editor and senior correspondent for Daily Racing Form, is the author of five previously published nonfiction books on thoroughbred horse racing, including the award-winning Great Horse Racing Mysteries. Photo Finish is his fifth novel and fourth featuring adventurous protagonist Jack Doyle. One of McEvoy’s earlier novels, Riders Down, won a Benjamin Franklin Award. He and his wife Judy live in Evanston, IL.

****************************************************************

"Jack Fredrickson is one hell of a writer. This is a book that satisfies on every level."--William Kent Krueger Sweetie Fairbairn, the doyenne of Chicago society, is known for big-hearted philanthropy and magnificent soirees in her penthouse high atop one of the city’s premier boutique hotels. Dek Elstrom is hired by a mysterious man in a long limousine to investigate the death of a clown. Was it suicide—or murder? What is the connection between the dead clown and Sweetie?

About the Author

JACK FREDRICKSON'S first Dek Elstrom mystery, A Safe Place for Dying, was nominated for the Shamus Award for Best First Novel, and his second, Honestly Dearest, You're Dead, was a March 2009 Pearl Pick. His short fiction has appeared in the acclaimed Chicago Blues and in Michael Connelly’s Burden of the Badge anthologies. He lives in Chicago.

Mystery Writers of America (Midwest Chapter) Meeting

Mon, 07 May 2012 20:27:54 -0400

Start: 06/03/2012 - 1:00am

End: 06/03/2012 - 3:00pm

Mystery Writers of America (Midwest Chapter) Meeting

Topic: MWA at Centuries & Sleuths will be participating with the MWA meeting being conducted in Cleveland, OH via WiFi. (Guess what? It's less than a week until Chicago's Printers Row Lit Fest June 9-10th.)

Forest Park's Chamber of Commerce's "Summer Festival"

Mon, 07 May 2012 20:35:27 -0400

Start: 06/08/2012 - 5:00pm

End: 06/08/2012 - 10:00pm

Starting at 5PM thru 10PM enjoy the great programs and performances for both children and adults all along Madison Street. Also, many of the local restaurants will have tables a variety of their selections for sale.

The Chicago Tribune's Printers Row "Book Lit Fest"

Mon, 07 May 2012 20:46:12 -0400

Start: 06/09/2012 - 10:00am

End: 06/09/2012 - 5:00pm

Lynda Fitzgerald and Friend will be at Printers Row in downtown Chicago selling books at the Mystery Writers of America Midwest Chapter's Booth for our author friends with the MWA in attendance.

Forest Park's Chamber of Commerce's "Summer Festival"

Mon, 07 May 2012 20:39:24 -0400

Start: 06/09/2012 - 10:00am

End: 06/09/2012 - 10:00pm

G.K. Chesterton Society Meeting

Thu, 19 Jan 2012 18:47:03 -0500

Start: 06/09/2012 - 2:00pm

End: 06/09/2012 - 4:00pm

Title: The ManWho Was Thursday

Author: G.K. Chesterton

A fast-paced novel about a club of anarchists in turn-of-the-century London and a poet/sleuth who infiltrates their ranks. Inventive and ingenious
story becomes a vehicle for Chesterton's brilliant social, religious,
and philosophical speculations.

Chicago Tribune's Printers Row Lit Fest

Mon, 07 May 2012 20:48:45 -0400

Start: 06/10/2012 - 10:00am

End: 06/10/2012 - 5:00pm

The Dickens Fellowship of Chicago Meeting

Thu, 19 Jan 2012 18:50:14 -0500

Start: 06/10/2012 - 2:00pm

End: 06/10/2012 - 4:00pm

Title: Great Expectaions (Chapters 28-44)

Author: Charles Dickens