Chi-Town Blues

A shady landlady with a half-dozen skips on her hands, a suburban contractor in the Mob's cross-hairs, a nearly frozen fisherman with a sloe-eyed, murderous blonde to heat things up. From the wealthy Near North Side and the chimera of Rush Street to the city's plebeian suburbs, here's a cross-section of Chi-Town's most secretive, seductive, and seditious characters. All the cops, dicks, cons, dames, skirts, and criminals whose paths a living body could ever hope to cross—or not!—appear in this whimsical, haunting, riveting, and erotically charged neo-noir. From Crime and Punishment to Humor, Spirituality, and Redemption, this is life as it used to be in the Second City. Uncover the real Chicago at the hands of a native Chicagoan whose latest book brims with mystery around every aging brownstone—and mayhem atop each spiraling staircase. Uncover the Second City's unique brand of crime and criminals in D. J. Herda's CHI-TOWN BLUES. Among the stories unfolding in this book: Double Jeopardy - A story of life, love, and lethargy at play when a con sets out to run a grift and nearly gets taken for the ride of his life. Fisher of Men - A curious mix of a young man, his favorite uncle, and a murderous blonde join together on a fishing trip to Lake Michigan ... and lead to murder. Greatness - How a drunk and a loser can redeem himself in the eyes of a young boy and, later, a grown man obsessed with solving the riddle of his grandfather's tarnished life. The Tenants - When a landlady turns her eye toward ridding the world of the losers, derelicts, and scumbags of society, she begins by cleaning up her own rental building on Chicago's wild Near North Side--big time! The Union - Caught by the beauty of a dumb blonde who turns out to be anything but, a man skates on thin ice not knowing how his tryst will end. Trapped! - Beauty and brains collide in a costly business venture overrun by mobsters and criminals--all intent on taking from society far more than they give.