Title: What You Don't See

Author: Tracy Clark

Date: June 5, 2020

Day: Friday

Time: 7:00 PM

Description

Former cop Cass Raines knows the streets of Chicago all too well. Now she’s a private investigator and getting an exclusive glimpse into how the other half lives—and how they die . . .
 
Wealth. Power. Celebrity. Vonda Allen’s glossy vanity magazine has taken the Windy City by storm, and she’s well on her way to building a one-woman media empire. Everybody adores her. Except the people who work for her. And the person who’s sending her flowers with death threats . . .
 
As Vonda’s bodyguard, off-duty cop Ben Mickerson knows he could use some back-up—and no one fits the bill better than his ex-partner on the police force, Cass Raines. Now a full-time private eye, Cass is reluctant to take the job. She isn’t keen on playing babysitter to a celebrity who’s rumored to be a heartless diva. But as a favor to Ben, she signs on. But when Vonda refuses to say why someone might be after her, and two of her staff turn up dead, Ben and Cass must battle an unknown assailant bent on getting to the great lady herself, before someone else dies.
 
Cass finds out the hard way just how persistent a threat they face during the first stop on Vonda’s book tour. As fans clamour for her autograph, things take an ugly turn when a mysterious fan shows up with flowers and slashes Ben with a knife. While her ex-partner’s life hangs in the balance, Cass is left to find out what secrets Vonda is keeping, who might want her dead, and how she can bring Ben’s attacker to justice before enemies in the Chicago Police Department try to stop her in her tracks . . .

About the Author

Tracy Clark is the author of the highly acclaimed Chicago Mystery Series featuring ex-homicide cop turned PI Cassandra Raines, a hard-driving, African-American protagonist who works the mean streets of the Windy City dodging cops, cons, killers, and thugs. She received Anthony Award and Lefty Award nominations for her series debut, Broken Places, which was also shortlisted for the American Library Association’s RUSA Reading List, named a CrimeReads Best New PI Book of 2018, a Midwest Connections Pick, and a Library Journal Best Books of the Year. In addition to her Cass Raines novels, Tracy’s short story “For Services Rendered,” appears in the anthology Shades of Black: Crime and Mystery Stories by African‑American Authors. A native of Chicago, she works as an editor in the newspaper industry and roots for the Cubs, Sox, Bulls, Bears, and Blackhawks equally. She is a member of Sisters in Crime, PI Writers of America, International Thriller Writers, and a Mystery Writers of America Midwest board member. Find Tracy on Facebook, follow her on Twitter @tracypc6161, or visit her online at TracyClarkBooks.com.

Date: December 8, 2019 

Day: Sunday

Time: 2:00 PM

Title: Widow's Run

Author: T. G. Wolff

Description

One night in Rome. One car. One dead scientist. Italian police investigate, but in the end, all they have are kind words for the new widow. Months later, a video emerges challenging the facts. Had he stepped into traffic, or was he pushed? The widow returns to the police, but they have little interest and no answers. Exit the widow.

Enter Diamond. One name for a woman with one purpose. Resurrecting her CIA cover, she follows the shaky video down the rabbit hole. Her widow’s run unearths a plethora of suspects: the small-time crook, the mule-loving rancher, the lady in waiting, the Russian bookseller, the soon-to-be priest. Following the stink greed leaves in its wake reveals big lies and ugly truths.

Murder is filthy business. Good thing Diamond plays dirty.

From & About Author

I am TG Wolff, mystery writer and Civil Engineer. I have always loved puzzles. It doesn't matter if the puzzles are made of words, numbers, or pictures. I dig on "figuring it out." Becoming an engineer was a natural, because that what I do -- figure out why things are broken, figure out how to fix them.

In my day job, I am a Civil Engineer. I hold a Bachelor’s from Case Western Reserve University and a Master’s from Cleveland State University. I started in the Transportation field, designing roadways and the water systems that support them. After working nights on my Master’s degree, I began working in the water and wastewater industry, specializing in Clean Water Act compliance. Currently, I work for one of the largest self-performing General Contractors in the Midwest, helping with the projects that keep our water clean and our communities strong.

I love reading mysteries for the "figuring it out." Over ten years ago while living in Cleveland, Ohio and working on a project in Northern Kentucky, with little to fill the time along the I-71 corridor, I began create puzzles, mini “whodunits” that kept my mind alert. The  puzzles became short stories and, eventually, full length mysteries. While I am an avid reader of mysteries and thrillers, I love, in capital letters, LOVE, creating mysteries for the reader to solve and enjoy.

As a mystery writer, I create the whodunits, and then work backwards to create the story that will be read front-to-back. I’m not a cop or a lawyer. My stories aren’t police procedurals or legal thrillers. My stories are about the plot, the mystery, with a fun twist of humor that makes life entertaining. I like to make you think but give you everything you need to solve the problem.

Title: The Greatest Escape (Based on True Events)

Author: Lou Macaluso

Date: November 23, 2019

Day: Saturday

Time: 2:00 to 4:00 PM

Description

The Greatest Escape Danger and adventure abound as a group of senior citizens escape through the Berlin Wall to freedom. Based on the inspiring true story of one of the most daring Cold War exoduses. A Berlin trip a few years ago rekindled the author s twenty-year fascination with a daring, true, tunnel escape from East to West Berlin during the height of the Cold War. A wonderful group of feisty senior citizens led by an eighty-one-year-old man, pulled off one of the most daring escapes to freedom in recent history. The fictionalized account of these real events is the backbone of this wonderful novel by prodigious author Lou Macaluso. The Greatest Escape must rank as one of the best historical fictions of this period anyone has written to date.

Author:

Déjà vu, Italian Style marks Lou Macaluso’s second installment in the Tony Morelli mystery series. Before becoming an author and motivational speaker, Lou was an English teacher, football, track and wrestling coach, triathlete, and a union president. He currently serves as a Mystery Writers of America Board Member. His other published works include In Search of Sal (premiere Tony Morelli mystery inspired by the true story of a Hollywood character actor), The Warming Sicilian Son, and numerous short stories. His current novel, The Greatest Escape, is a chilling thriller based on the most daring escape from East to West Berlin during the Cold War.

Lou is a lifelong resident of Chicago where he lives with his wife and their three dogs.

Author: John  Rice

Title: The Ghost of Cleopatra

Date: November 10, 2019

Day: Sunday

Time: 2:00 PM to 4:00 PM

Author

John Rice is a columnist/private detective, who has seen his business and family thrive in Forest Park. He thoroughly enjoys life in the village and still gets a thrill smelling Red Hots, watching softball and strolling through cemeteries.

Description

The Ghost of Cleopatra is a work of historical fiction by John Rice and Gail Tanzer. It tells the story of African-American/Native American sculptor, Edmonia Lewis, whose masterpiece, The Death of Cleopatra, languished for over 70 years in obscurity. It’s an epic story that spans centuries and continents and tells how the spirit of the Queen of the Nile inspired Lewis to create her likeness in marble. The tale is through the eyes of Lewis, her statue and Cleopatra herself. The Ghost of Cleopatra celebrates the achievements of women, immigrants and minorities. It shows the indomitable spirit of Edmonia Lewis, who overcame terrible hardship to become one of the celebrated sculptors of her time. It traces her life from her humble circumstances living with her mother’s Ojibwe tribe to her life of sculpting world-renowned works of art.Cleopatra’s rise to power in a world ruled by men and the fate she suffered at the hands of these powerful men are testaments of what a truly remarkable woman she was. Finally, the story describes the precarious journey of the Statue, from its creation to its ultimate triumph. All three characters embody the spirit of strong females, who rise above oppression by their sheer determination. Primarily, it’s the saga of Edmonia Lewis, who was born in 1844: the daughter of a Haitian immigrant man and an Ojibwe-African American woman. Aside from the racism she suffered, she faced the prejudice that plagued females of that era.The authors hope to inspire women, young and old, in their struggle for equality. Their story also recognizes an overlooked sculptor who deserves a place of honor in the pantheon of American heroes.

Title: Haunts of the White City: Ghost Stories from the World's Fair, the Great Fire and Victorian Chicago 

Author: Ursula Bielski

Date: November 17, 2019

Day: Sunday

Time: 2:00 PM

Description

At the close of the nineteenth century, Chicago offered the world a glimpse of humanity's most breathtaking possibilities and its most jaw-dropping horrors. Even as the White City emerged from the ashes of the Great Fire, serial killers like H.H. Holmes stalked the sparkling new boulevards and tragic accidents plagued the factories, slums and railroads that powered the churn of industrial innovation. Demons, mesmerists and birds of ill omen preyed on the unwary from the shadows. Ship captains spoke to the dead, while undertakers discovered reanimated corpses no longer requiring services. From posh mansions built on massacre grounds to the drowned quarries of a forest preserve, Ursula Bielski follows the dark undercurrents beneath the electric lights of the World's Fair.

BIOGRAPHY:

Historian, author, and parapsychology enthusiast, Ursula Bielski has been writing and lecturing about Chicago's supernatural folklore and the paranormal for more than 16 years. A recognized authority on the Chicago region's ghost lore and cemetery history, she is the author of four popular and critically acclaimed books on the same subjects, all published by Lake Claremont Press.

Ursula's interests in ghost hunting began at a young age. She grew up in a haunted house on Chicago's north side and received an early education in Chicago history from her father, a Chicago police officer. Since that time she has been involved in numerous investigations of haunted sites in and around Chicago, including such notorious locales as Wrigley Field; the Red Lion Pub, Bachelors Grove Cemetery, and the Oshkosh, WI, Opera House.

Program: There will be a collection of local and national authors who will sit with readers one-on-one to talk about their books and answer your questions about their books. They will stay in 2 hour segments. So around September 30, 2019 start checking our website for this date for authors & times.