Author: Michael Raleigh

Title: Poe Street

Date: March 22, 2023

Day: Wednesday

Time: 7:00 - 9:00 PM

About the Book:
Poe Street 
​It is the summer of 1946, the sinister, Gatsby-like millionaire Cary Morrison is found dead in his Chicago mansion, apparently the victim of a burglary gone hopelessly wrong. Soon after, the burglars themselves are found dead, one by one. Ray Foley, just returned from wartime service in Europe, finds himself embroiled. One of the dead burglars was Ray’s boyhood friend Eddy Walsh, and Ray decides to involve himself in the search for the killer. At the heart of the mystery is a missing statue, a hollow Greek statuette said to contain Morrison’s records of all his illegal financial transactions with mobsters and public officials. Ray’s investigation attracts the wrong kind of attention, as a number of interested – and dangerous – people assume he has the statue or knows of its whereabouts.
    Ray’s search brings him in contact with street toughs, bookies, gangsters, a slick private investigator named Max Silver, a tough young nurse named Hannah Marcel, a crusty street cop named Carmody, and the eccentric Sal Greene, a major figure in the local mob, and the killer, in the hot Chicago summer.

About the Author:
Michael Raleigh is the author of ten previous novels. These include the coming-of-age novel IN THE CASTLE OF THE FLYNNS, (Sourcebooks 2002) the comic adventure THE BLUE MOON CIRCUS (Sourcebooks 2003), and a five-book mystery series featuring private investigator Paul Whelan (St. Martin’s Press).  Most recently, Raleigh has published THE CONJURER’S BOY (Harvard Square Editions, 2013), PEERLESS DETECTIVE (Diversion Books 2015), and MURDER IN THE SUMMER OF LOVE (Epicenter, 2021).
    Michael lives in Chicago, where he teaches first year writing in the Honors Program at DePaul University.  He has taught at DePaul since 2007 and in 2019 was named Distinguished Professor by the Honors Program. Prior to DePaul, he taught English and Chicago History at Truman Community College. He is married and has three grown children.
    He has been a stock boy, a bartender, a microfiche maker, a bank-teller, fund-raiser and manager of social programs for the Salvation Army, and liaison officer for the Chicago Department of Human Services.
    Michael is currently a member of the Mystery Writers of America and the Society of Midland Authors. 
    When he is not writing or grading papers, Michael raises tomatoes, practices archery, watches English mysteries with his wife and works on his lock-picking skills.