The author of Haunted Illinois takes readers to the Windy City’s wild west, where criminals from Frank Capone to John Wayne Gacy left their mark. 
 
Blazing from the West Side, the Great Chicago Fire left nothing but ashy remnants of the developing city, leveling its landscape but certainly not its spirit. While the West Side was home to the infamous O’Leary barn, it was also where news of some of

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When the one person standing between you and true love is the wife you never knew you had...

When Aisha travels to Las Vegas with her fiancée Kris, all she wants is to get married. The venue is booked. The music has been chosen. The flowers are perfect. The guests are arriving.

On the casino floor Aisha runs into a long lost college friend. They'd gotten fake "married" many years before as part of a protest for

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On the edge of the Chicago medical district, the Harrison School for Exceptional Youth looks like a castle in a snow globe. Janina has been there since she was ten years old, and now she's fourteen. She feels so safe inside its walls that she's afraid to leave. Devante's parents bring him there after a tragedy leaves him depressed and suicidal. Even though he's in a different place, he can't escape the memories that come flooding back when he least...

"Kiddieland and Other Misfortunes" takes readers on a wild ride through a series of unconventional and unforgettable tales. From a former hitman who must return to his violent ways to save his beloved, to an advertising executive who abandons her family to live as a forest nymph, to a young girl grappling with the gift of divine power, these stories explore themes of family, class, crime, and love.The author of "A Trace of Gold" and "The Blue Silence"...

Kate has an idyllic life on a remote farm with her four daughters. She's in love with her neighbor, Lucy. And she has never known a world with men. All the men are gone. Their decline occurred over the course of generations, fewer boys born every year, until eventually, none were born at all. After the Waning Wars, the Governing Council promised there was a plan and seed stores to last. But when an imprisoned old woman writes a deathbed...

Pascuala Herrera, a Mexican immigrant woman with a physical disability resulting from childhood polio, had the odds against her, yet she conquered simply by working hard, having unfailing faith, and finding her own life purpose. This autobiography covers many facets of the human experience - race, health, disability, religion, poverty, immigration, access to medical care, education, disability rights, miscarriage, adoption and much more.

For unwed mother Nell Lillington, 1876 Chicago-and her new wealth-offer the promise of longed-for independence. She dreams of a place in society for her daughter Sarah and contentment for her friend Tess. Yet how can she settle in a town where she's far too likely to run into Martin Rutherford and his glittering, faithless wife, Lucetta? Can she resist her love for Martin for Sarah's sake? Martin was doubtless joking when he told Nell that if she...

Chicago Heights was long the seat of one of the major street crews of the Chicago Outfit, but its importance has often been overlooked and misunderstood. The crew's origins predate Prohibition, when Chicago Heights was a developing manufacturing center with a large Italian immigrant population. Its earliest bosses struggled for control until a violent gang war left the crew solidified under the auspices of Al Capone. For the remainder of the twentieth...

Citizens of Springfield first witnessed human flight, a balloon ascent, on July 5, 1858. In 1861, the capital city's most famous resident, Abraham Lincoln, then residing in the White House, authorized the creation of the first U.S. "air force," a balloon to observe Confederate troops. Springfield's interface with aviation has been a steady stream of hot-and-cold-running enthusiasm since airplanes began flying from the state fair racetrack infield...

Glory Bishop lives her life in pieces. At work and with her friends, she reads novels, speaks her mind, and enjoys slow dances and stolen kisses with her boyfriend, JT. But at home, Glory follows strict rules and second-guesses every step. Though she dreams of going to college and living like a normal teenage girl, her abusive mother has other ideas. When JT leaves to join the navy, Glory is left alone and heartsick. The preacher's son, Malcolm Porter,...