Chicago Blues
by Libby Fischer Hellmann
Summary
Nobody does Blues like Chicago. This collection of dark stories, from today’s best Chicago crime fiction authors, captures the depths to which people sink when they run out of options. The emptiness and pain spawned by greed. The violence--or occasionally, the bittersweet redemption--that springs from a broken heart.
The writers who live and breathe in Chicago make Chicago live and breathe in this stunning collection. Contributors include Sara Paretsky, Stuart Kaminsky, Barbara D’Amato, Max Allan Collins, Marcus Sakey, Sean Chercover, Michael Black, JA Konrath, Libby Fischer Hellmann, and others. With an introduction by Rick Kogan.
Excerpt
This classy anthology of mostly original short stories from 21 renowned Windy City authors blends the blues, crime and Chicago, quite surpassing Akashic’s recent Chicago Noir. Several series heroes make appearances, including Sara Paretsky’s V.I. Warshawski, Kris Nelscott’s Smokey Dalton and J.A. Konrath’s Jack Daniels. Stuart M. Kaminsky takes a different tack with Blue Note, a fine story of a poker game where the real stakes are a mother’s fingers. Two authors with acclaimed recent debut novels, Jack Fredrickson (A Safe Place for Dying) and Marcus Sakey (The Blade Itself), demonstrate equal talent in short form. Best of all are Michael Allen Dymoch’s A Shade of Blue in which a man claims to have witnessed a murder that took place 30 years earlier; D.C. Brod’s My Heroes Have Always Been Shortstops, which measures the depths of a Cubs fan’s devotion; and Barb D’Amato’s The Lower Wacker Hilton, about the death of a homeless man in Chicago’s underworld.
Reviews
“[T]he work of some of Chicago's finest mystery writers….Noir at its darkest”—Library Journal
“[T]he authors, all with close ties to the city, agree that Chicago is bold, reeking and real—a gift to mystery writers—and every single one of them is right”—Kirkus Reviews
“This impressive volume has soul, grit and plenty of high notes”—Publishers Weekly
Author's Biography
Libby Fischer Hellmann is the author of the award-winning Ellie Foreman mystery series: An Eye for Murder, A Picture of Guilt, An Image of Death, and A Shot to Die For. Her fifth novel, Easy Innocence, is a spin-off from that series. She has published over 12 short stories, and has edited the acclaimed crime fiction anthology, Chicago Blues.
Libby holds a BA from the University of Pennsylvania and an MFA in Film Production from New York University. She has worked in public relations and television news, and currently conducts executive training programs in media presentation. She lives on the North Shore of Chicago.