While running a con in 1934 Chicago, sixteen-year-old Joe splits his time between Eddie, a handsome flirt, and Raymond, a carefree rich kid who shows Joe the queer life of the big city, but as danger closes in, Joe must decide who he wants to be before disappearing.

"When 11-year-old Langston's mother dies in 1946, he and his father leave rural Alabama for Chicago's brown belt as a part of what came to be known as the Great Migration. It's lonely in the small apartment with just the two of them, and at school Langston is bullied. But his new home has one fantastic thing. Unlike the whites-only library in Alabama, the local public library welcomes everyone. There, hiding out after school, Langston discovers another...

A coming-of-age memoir and a chronicle of a Chicago community.

"Franny Steinberg knows there's powerful magic in laughter. She's witnessed it. With the men of Chicago off fighting WWII on distant shores, Franny has watched the women of the city taking charge of the war effort. But amidst the war bond sales and factory shifts, something surprising has emerged, something Franny could never have expected. A new marvel that has women flocking to comedy clubs across the nation: the Showstopper. When Franny steps into...

"From the author of the international bestseller The German Heiress, a gripping historical drama about a woman determined to avenge for the crimes against her family, set at the 1933 Chicago World's Fair"-- It's the worst year of the Great Depression, and America needs all the hope it can get. The Chicago World's Fair, a glittery city-within-a-city, becomes a symbol of the good that's yet to come. But every utopia has a seedy side--and that's Rosa...

Raised by his grandparents, first in Mississippi then in Wisconsin, ten-year-old Lymon moves to Chicago in 1945 to live with the mother he never knew, while yearning for his father.

"During the First World War, on the South Side of Chicago, officer Joe Flip Flippity has begun an investigation into a serial decapitationist who is hunting young children. At a time when African American officers are rendered second-class by prejudicial policies, Flip is nonetheless called upon by the mayor of the city--the legendary Big Bill Thompson himself--and a host of powerful city fathers, to thwart this murderer who threatens to destroy the...

"As investigators brought out the bagged remains of several dozen young men from a small Chicago ranch home and paraded them in front of a crowd of TV reporters and spectators, attention quickly turned to the owner of the house. John Gacy was an upstanding citizen, active in local politics and charities, famous for his themed parties and appearances as Pogo the Clown. But in the winter of 1978-79, he became known as one of many so-called "sex murderers"...

"Since he became the guardian of the Gate between our world and Feirie sixteen hundred years ago, Nick Medea, once Saint George, has battled to keep the darkest Feirie--the Wyld--from invading the mortal plane. With the dragon an unwilling part of him, Nick maintains balance between realms, often at great cost to himself and those nearest to him. Nick and his ragtag confederates--including the shape-shifter Fetch and Nick's reincarnated love, Claryce--have...