Dead to the World, [by] North Baker and William Bolton. Garden City, New York: Published for The Crime Club by Doubleday, Doran & Co., Inc., 1944. 246p.

During one of his frequent visits to the Chicago city morgue, Danny Michaels, a medical student, recognizes one of the unidentified corpses as the father of a former girl friend. Soon Danny is involved in a first-rate mystery in which all of the principals declare him mistaken.

Book Review Digest, 1944, p. 35.

The Breath of Scandal, by Edwin Balmer. With Frontispiece by Ralph P. Coleman. Boston: Little, Brown, and Company, 1922. 360p.

Charles Hale's extra-marital affair is exposed when he is shot during a quarrel in his mistress' apartment. Shocked by the revelation, his incredibly beautiful and naive daughter Marjorie helps to hide the scandal from family, friends, and business associates but uses the opportunity to move from home so that she can better live her own life. The Breath of Scandal is an unusually perceptive novel, indicative of Chicago during the 1920s.

Book Review Digest, 1922, p. 23.

Dangerous Business, by Edwin Balmer. Author of "That Royle Girl," Etc. New York: Dodd, Mead & Company, MCMXXVII. 279p.

John Roundtree has hated his son from birth, blaming the boy for his wife's death. When Jay returns from college, amid scandal and gossip, to join his father in the family's Chicago-based business firm, a confrontation seems inevitable. Forced to prove his mettle, Jay is able, with the help of a more-than-loyal female employee, to preserve the family fortune and gain some measure of respect for doing so. Although the story is ordinary, the style in which it is told is crisp and fresh. Good insight is given into women's place in the business world during the 1920s.

Book Review Digest, 1927, p. 42.

Dragons Drive You, by Edwin Balmer. Author of That Royle Girl, Fidelia, Etc. New York: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1934. 289p.

Agnes Gleneith, at twenty-three, is wealthy, beautiful, and very marriageable. Sought after by both of the Braddon brothers, she cannot decide between Rodney, the humanitarian, and Judson the businessman. Then a murder and the ensuing trial change the entire course of her life. One of several mystery-romances from the pen of Edwin Balmer, Dragons Drive You is typical of his style, dealing with Chicago's wealthy, elite, and influential in times of crisis. The year is 1929.

Book Review Digest, 1934, p. 42-3.

Fidelia, by Edwin Balmer. Author of "A Wild Goose Chase," "The Indian Drum," (with Wm. MacHarg), etc. New York: Dodd, Mead and Company, 1924. 368p.

From the day that she arrives in Evanston, Illinois, to complete her degree at Northwestern University, Fidelia Netley surrounds herself with an aura of mystery which appeals mightily to the college men. Through little effort of her own she interferes with the impending marriage of David Herrick and Alice Sothron--until the secret of Fidelia's past life is revealed. One of Balmer's least successful books, Fidelia has little to recommend it other than a good description of life at Northwestern during the 1920s.

Book Review Digest, 1924, p. 29.

Keeban, by Edwin Balmer. Boston: Little, Brown, and Company, 1923. 295p.

Twin brothers, separated in infancy, encounter each other again in manhood. One, having turned out badly, is a source of anguish, pain, and embarrassment to his brother, whom he impersonates in order to carry out his crimes. Balmer uses many literary devices to build interest and to heighten suspense, but he uses them well, adds a few variations of his own, and the result is a good mystery novel set in Chicago around 1920.

Book Review Digest, 1923, p. 26-7.

Resurrection Rock, by Edwin Balmer. With frontispiece by Anton Otto Fischer. Boston: Little, Brown, and Company, 1920. 383p.

Although Resurrection Rock is represented as a landmark in Northern Michigan, much of this novel takes place in Chicago. A melodramatic story of a divided family, it features a riches-to-rags heroine; an attractive young veteran of World War I whose parentage is a mystery; a crotchety old grandfather who is implicated in a murder; his sly, immoral henchman; and other equally notorious or sublime characters.

Ruth of the U. S. A., by Edwin Balmer. Illustrated by Harold H. Betts. Chicago: A. C. McClurg & Co., 1919. 361p.

Working in an office in Chicago to support her widowed mother and younger brother, Ruth Alden dreams of doing something--anything--to contribute to the World War I war effort. Ruth's wish is granted by a quirk of fate which propels her into the midst of danger, excitement, intrigue, and love in the struggles of the French against the Germans. The coincidence which changes Ruth's life is rather absurd, and her actions throughout the novel are exaggerated, but the story is lively and appealing in spite of its faults.

Book Review Digest, 1919, p. 25.

That Royle Girl, by Edwin Balmer. Author of "Fidelia." NewYork: Dodd, Mead and Company, 1925. 358p.

Joan Daisy Hoyle loves the young band leader-composer who lives in the flat directly below her, but she refrains from becoming one of his conquests because he has a wife in another part of the city. When his wife is killed and the band leader is charged with her murder, Joan Daisy battles staggering odds to convince the state's attorney of his innocence. In this thriller of the 1920s, Balmer describes a slow-paced Chicago in which a woman can walk on the beach at midnight without being molested, and public transportation is safe, convenient, and the major mode of travel for the city dweller.

Book Review Digest, 1925, p. 34.

The Shield of Silence, by Edwin Balmer and Philip Wylie. Authors of "The Golden Hoard," "When Worlds Collide," "After Worlds Collide," etc. New York: Frederick A. Stokes Company, MCMXXXVI. 310p.

Lucian Myrand killed Serge Ralten. There is no question of his guilt, and he is serving a life sentence in the state penitentiary at Joliet for the crime. The mystery, if mystery there is, lies in Lucian's refusal to discuss his motive. Then a second murder occurs which makes the telling of Lucian's story imperative.

Book Review Digest, 1936, p. 45.

Country Club People, by Margaret Culkin Banning. New York: George H. Doran Company, [1923.] 308p.

Twin Bridges, a medium-sized city near Chicago, is suffering from social in-breeding. A small group of gossipy, self-satisfied people, the country club set, rules the town and its inhabitants, daring anyone to venture beyond the prescribed bounds of social behavior. Ruth Driscoll, one of their own, challenges the group with her revolutionary ideas gained while attending college and traveling, with her friendship with the town rake and his obviously middle-class wife, and with her unconventional marital arrangement. As Ruth gradually adjusts her life style to conform to Twin Bridges' standards, and the townspeople grant her grudging re-appraisal, the reader is given a view of the crass provincialism smothering the midwest during the 1920s and 1930s.

Book Review Digest, 1923, p. 27.

Wisdom's Gate, by Margaret Ayer Barnes... Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company; The Riverside Press Cambridge, 1938. 370p.

This story continues the lives of the family portrayed in Mrs. Barnes' earlier novel, Years of Grace. It concerns Cicily's second marriage, after she and her husband return to the Chicago area from a five-year sojourn in China. Wealthy and successful they are unhappy and their marriage is threatened by divorce. Cicily's developing maturity is well stated in this simple, but effectively written story.

Book Review Digest, 1938, p. 57.

Within This Present, by Margaret Ayer Barnes... Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin Company; The Riverside Press Cambridge, [1933.] 611p.

The saga of the Sewall clan of Chicago, Within This Present delineates the lives of that influential banking family through two generations, from the beginning of World War I through the stock market crash to the beginning of the New Deal. Yet, Mrs. Barnes' novel is more than the history of a family, it is the history of a city and an era. Attention to fads, fashions, music, gossip, and news of the times creates a mood without which the characters and the plot would be two-dimensional and flat.

Book Review Digest, 1933, p. 51-2.

Years of Grace, by Margaret Ayer Barnes. Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin Company; The Riverside Press Cambridge, [1930.] 581p.

See No. 299.

Golden Tales of the Prairie States, Selected with an Introduction by May Lamberton Becker. Decorations by Lois Lenski. New York: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1932. 355p.

See No. 303.

Love in Chicago, [by] Charles Walt, [pseud.] New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company, [1929.] 254p.

Most of this novel is written in diary form, with introductory and closing explanations to complete the story. The diarist is a Chicago gangster who arranges the murder of a politician because he wants the politician's daughter. Improbable dialogue and plot detract from an ugly theme.

Book Review Digest, 1929, p. 996.

The Adventures of Augie March, A Novel by Saul Bellow. New York: The Viking Press, 1953. 536p.

The Adventures of Augie March provides a light-hearted spin through the flapper, Depression, and World War II years, with most of the action taking place in Chicago. Augie tries occupation after occupation and escapade after escapade in this volume that won a National Book Award for fiction. At a tender age, Augie is taught the advantages of knowing how to lie convincingly; and in time he learns to take sex and love, sin and crime with equal aplomb. In spite of the comic style, the tragedy of unfulfilled promise and misdirected independence is effectively told.

Book Review Digest, 1953, p. 58-9.

Dangling Man, [by] Saul Bellow. New York: The Vanguard Press, Inc., [1944.] 191p.

When a young Chicago man's induction into the Army during World War II is delayed for almost a year after he first receives notice and resigns his job, the frustration of waiting becomes a serious problem. This book is written as a journal telling what happens during those long months. Although it is not Bellow's best work, it is an interesting commentary on the effects of waiting, particularly that experienced by young men just prior to their induction into the service in wartime.

Book Review Digest, 1944, p. 54.

If the Heart Be Hasty, a novel by Alexandra Jane Benchly. [Berwyn, Illinois: Chekhov Publications, Ltd., 1969.] 280p.

A love story as frustrating as it is unrealistic, If the Heart Be Hasty tells of two people who act as free spirits throughout most of twenty years, all the time realizing that each is nothing without the other. In the days before World War II, Jennie Logan and Mike Nielson grow up together on Chicago's south side. Mike is protective and over-possessive; Jennie is rebellious and undisciplined. Then comes war. Mike enlists and Jennie marries, beginning a series of love traumas and misunderstandings silly enough to try the patience of the most avid reader of love stories. Mike, with lots of help from his friends, sees Jennie through two disastrous marriages, a couple of ugly affairs, and a variety of emotional upheavals before discovering what Jennie needs to make her happy.

The Third Weaver, [by] Emily Calvin Blake. "Of the tapestry itself, ... a worker took strands and wove and embroidered, a bit here, a bit there, till the picture came out ... and not so important the weaver as the pattern he made." Chicago: Willett, Clark & Colby, 440 South Dearborn Street; New York, 200 Fifth Avenue, 1929. 252p.

Thaisa Worthington, daughter of an English gentleman and his lowborn wife, acquires opposing attitudes and characteristics from her parents. From her father, she gets arrogance, ideals, a passion for culture and beauty, and a disregard for convention and security. From her mother she gets the strength and will to survive all hardships. When Thaisa marries, her choice is a man quite similar to her father--a struggling socialist publisher, a sometime journalist, freelance writer, and inveterate wanderer. It is her mother's influence that causes Thaisa to learn typing and shorthand so that she can support herself and her husband when he is between positions. It is her father's influence which causes her to lose her husband; it is her mother who inspires her to carry on until his return. The Third Weaver is set in England, New York, Chicago, and Portland, Oregon, during the World War I era, and presents an authentic, if considerably romanticized version of the Bohemian life and culture popular among the creative and talented youth of the time.

Book Review Digest, 1929, p. 92.

Behold a Cry, by Alden Bland. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1947. 229p.

Ed Tyler is a ladies' man who works on the killing floor of a large Chicago meat-packing firm. He lives, for a time, in a lower class apartment with his wife, his two sons, his mistress, and a sufficient amount of self-assurance to enable him to carry out this cozy arrangement for an incredibly long season. Behold a Cry provides a revealing and representative picture of Negro life in Chicago during and immediately following, the first World War and speaks expressively of the struggle of the black man to find a place in the white man's industry, the white man's union, and the white man's city. Included is a vivid portrayal of the racial violence in Chicago in 1919.

Book Review Digest, 1947, p. 83.

Spoon River Legacy, A collection of human interest stories, by H. L. Blount. [Chicago: Adams Press.] 1969. 135p.

Many have tried to redefine the Spoon River area since Edgar Lee Masters popularized it in his Spoon River Anthology in 1915, but all have fallen short of the mark. H. L. Blount in his Spoon River Legacy has captured some of the flavor of the region in his stories of Uncle Dart, whose two major interests are farming and the local school board, Jaysus-ta-Hell Jeffy, who moves into a shack on Uncle Bart's farm for the winter and stays nigh onto twenty years; and Boots Porter who has an insatiable appetite for chicken, particularly if it is from someone else's hen house. But Blount's stories are tame in comparison with those of the master poet, and the short essays and travel experiences which appear at intervals throughout the book add little to the author's stated theme.

Blackguard, by Maxwell Bodenheim. Drawing by Wallace Smith. Chicago: Covici-McGee. Publishers, 1923. 215p.

Blackguard is an autobiographical novel based on the author's early life as he defies parental authority and grapples with fate for the opportunity of pursuing a writing career. Stealing money from his father to run away from home, working as a telephone lineman to support himself while writing in his spare time; receiving rejection slip after rejection slip for his best efforts, Carl Feldman seems destined for failure until the editor of a new poetry magazine decides to give him a chance. Bodenheim caricatures many of his literary and publishing contemporaries in this poetic novel of a romantic in a realistic world. The setting is Chicago.

Book Review Digest, 1923, p. 50-1.

Duke Herring, by Maxwell Bodenheim. New York: Horace Liveright, Inc., [1931.] 242p.

A portrait of Arturo Herring called the Duke "... because of his egomania de lure," this is a biting satire depicting the self-centered, sharp-tongued, and unscrupulous character of one of the successful members of the Chicago school of writers which flourished in the 1920s. Aimed at Ben Hecht in retaliation for an earlier caricature of Bodenheim in Hecht's novel, Count Bruga, Duke Herring was obviously written in anger. Unfortunately, there is little about the book that is worthy of note except the anger, which is sustained for 242 pages. Structurally unsound, inordinately verbose, and totally lacking in wit, Duke Herring might better have been left unwritten were it not for the insight it adds to the Hecht-Bodenheim feud.

Book Review Digest, 1931, p. 100-1.

Sixty Seconds, by Maxwell Bodenheim. New York: Horace Liveright, [1929.] 280p.

Awaiting execution in the electric chair, John Musselman of suburban Chicago spends the last minute of his life recalling his past. The author thus presents John as a forgivable, if not entirely virtuous young man, frequently wronged in his affairs with the opposite sex. The murder he commits is the result of one particularly bitter injury. Action set in lower middle-class districts of Chicago with a few scenes set in Texas are interspersed with lengthy harangues decrying prudish attitudes toward sex. Both dialogue and plot are strained in the author's attempt to justify criminal behavior.

Book Review Digest, 1929, p. 97.

Glenport, Illinois, [by] Paul Darcy Boles. New York: The Macmillan Company, 1956. 424p.

Tone Grayleaf is a very likable eleven-year-old whose family moves to Glenport in 1929. Glenport, Illinois is a gentle story focusing on Tone's love life for the next twenty years, and providing a rich background filled with details of routine small-town life, and the lives of some of the towns big and little people. The novel is divided into four books, each exposing a slice of time out of Tone's life, spaced at five-year intervals. The epilogue, "Yesterday," adds a startlingly bitter note to the otherwise heart-warming story. Boles, a former resident of Glen Ellyn, uses his hometown as background for the novel.

Book Review Digest, 1956, p. 98.

Dandelion Wine, A Novel by Ray Bradbury. Garden City, New York: Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1957. 281p.

Although Dandelion Wine is not the science fiction or supernatural tale Bradbury usually writes, it still casts a spell with its lyrical prose and the touch of magic Bradbury adds to the slim plot, teasingly crowding the reader's credulity with a story of a mysterious cure for a mysterious malady. The book tells of the summer of 1928 as seen through the eyes of Douglas Spaulding, a 12-year-old who for the first time senses what it means to be alive. Bradbury paints vivid, nostalgic scenes of Green Town; and his characters, especially Douglas, his grandmother, his brother Tom, and his friends John Huff and the junkman, are colorful and believable. In the introduction to the 1975 reissue of Dandelion Wine Bradbury explains that the novel was constructed from memories of his childhood in Waukegan, that he really had a close friend named John Huff, and that there really was a murderer, called the Lonely One, loose in town. Individual chapters were originally published separately as short stories in various magazines and revised for inclusion in this novel.

Book Review Digest, 1957, p. 109-10.

Something Wicked This Way Comes, a novel by Ray Bradbury. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1962. 317p.

The fascination of a carnival, even in October when carnivals are not supposed to be, draws Jim Nightshade, dark and thoughtful, and Will Halloway, his best friend, into a terrifying ordeal of supernatural imagery. This novel from an established writer of science fiction stories combines realism and the supernatural in a beautifully chilling allegory of death and youth. The setting is Green Town, Illinois, sometime in the past.

Book Review Digest, 1963, p. 120.

Pattern of Three, by Mary Hastings Bradley. New York [and] London: D. Appleton-Century Company, Incorporated, 1937. 305p.

When a lovers' triangle develops, Richard Kendall, a middle-aged Chicago lawyer, finds himself torn between Eve, his wife of many years, and Kay, his alluring young secretary. Kay, the victor, becomes the second Mrs. Kendall, only to discover that society gives first wives certain rights and privileges that prevent Richard from ever being totally hers. A novel of adjustment to a situation which occurs frequently in life, Pattern of Three is a fair interpretation of a common problem.

Book Review Digest, 1937, p. 116.

Maud Martha, A Novel by Gwendolyn Brooks. New York: Harper & Brothers, Publishers, [1953.] 180p.

Maud Martha, by Illinois' present poet laureate, is the delicate and sensitive story of a life--loneliness as a child, anxiety over a first date, pride over a new apartment, an unplanned outing to a downtown theatre, birth of a first child, death of a grandparent. In her only novel, Gwendolyn Brooks presents a view of urban Negro life which is seldom seen in print. The setting is Chicago.

Book Review Digest, 1953, p. 116.

The World of Gwendolyn Brooks; A Street in Bronzeville, Annie Allen, Maud Martha, The Bean Eaters, In the Mecca. New York, Evanston, San Francisco, [and] London: Harper & Row, Publishers, [1971.] 426p.

A representative sampling of Gwendolyn Brooks' writing, this collection contains the complete texts of four of her early volumes of poetry along with the novel, Maud Martha.

Book Review Digest, 1972, p. 164.

Halo in Blood, by John Evans, [pseud.] Indianapolis [and] New York: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, Publishers, [1946.] 245p

His unintentional attendance at a strange funeral seems nothing more than a passing incident to detective Paul Pine until several people, including a police officer, begin to ask questions. Gambling is the game; murder is the payoff in this tough Chicago novel of the early 1940s.

Book Review Digest, 1946, p. 254

Sporting Youth, by McKinley Bryant. New York: Alfred H. King, Publisher, [1931.] 287p.

The rise to fame and ultimate decline of a young professional boxer is the theme around which this average novel is written. A brawl in a Chicago speakeasy first attracts the attention of Giorgio Fabrizzi, Chicago gang boss, to Jimmy Burton, a college athlete with ambitions to turn professional. Offering Burton the opportunity of going into boxing, Fabrizzi gets him a trainer and sponsors him until he is ready for the ring. Throughout his boxing career, Burton leads a charmed existence, getting break after break, each of which he botches with unerring regularity. In addition to the insight into the sports world, Sporting Youth tells vividly of the Chicago gang wars of the 1920s. Although names have been changed in all cases such incidents as the funeral of Big Jim Colosimo and the murder of Dion O'Banion are easily recognizable.

Command the Morning, A Novel by Pearl S. Buck. New York: The John Day Company, [1959.] 317p.

The scientists who develop and activate the world's first atomic pile are the main characters in this fictionalized account of the Manhattan Project, set in Chicago, Oak Ridge, and Los Alamos during the second World War. The personal involvement of the scientists is shown--how the men endure the strain imposed by this work, and how their wives endure the secrecy which surrounds their husbands. A love story is included and a feminist message can be discerned, but the main force underlying the action is a strong concern for the ethical implications of the project and the proposed atomic weapon. Although Command the Morning will never rival Ms. Buck's more popular novels, it is uniquely valuable as well-researched historical fiction describing a world-shaking event and expressing the conscience of the nation in the aftermath of that event.

Book Review Digest, 1959, p. 150-1.

April Harvest, [by] Lillian Budd. New York: Duell, Sloan and Pearce, [1959.] 309p.

See No. 331.

Everything by Heart, [by] Nora Null Bunney. New York: Exposition Press, [1972.] 140p.

See No. 333.

Dark Hazard, by W. R. Burnett. New York and London: Harper & Brothers Publishers, 1933. 295p.

Jim and Marg Turner are convinced that their love can overcome every obstacle that stands in the way of a long and happy marriage, despite opposing backgrounds and interests. To that end the two are married; and Jim an inveterate gambler, settles into a steady job in a second-rate hotel on Chicago's Sheridan Road. In the early stages of their life together, the marriage seems ideal, but restlessness, discontent, and an unexplainable passion for the excitement of the big stake--or at least a chance at it--eventually drive Jim back to the racetrack. Chance plays an important part in their lives as a series of events leads them to California where Jim manages a dog track, becomes intrigued with Dark Hazard, a sleek, beautiful greyhound who seems a sure winner, and loses Marg. Dark Hazard displays the same smooth style, impeccable detail, and penetrating insight of Burnett's earlier novels, Little Caesar and Iron Man, with less of the verve that earned him his tough guy reputation in modern literature.

Book Review Digest, 1933, p. 140-1.

Iron Man, by W. R. Burnett. Author of "Little Caesar." New York: Lincoln MacVeagh, The Dial Press; Toronto: Longmans, Green and Co., MCMXXX. 312p.

Coke Mason battles his way to the middle weight championship of the world under the competent management of his long time friend, Regan. With the title secured and success firmly in his grasp, Coke is happy with his lot until marital problems and Regan's interference cause him to break contract and training. From this point his career goes downward. Discontent, worry, poor management, and lack of training take their toll, and Coke is eventually beaten in the ring by O'Keefe, Regan's new protégé. Sinewy and tough, Iron Man is powerful fiction by a novelist who knows his subject and his audience.

Book Review Digest, 1930, p. 146.

Little Caesar, by W. R. Burnett. New York: Lincoln MacVeagh, The Dial Press; Toronto: Longmans, Green and Co., MCMXXIX. 308p.

A pioneering crime story about the rise and fall of a Chicago gang leader, this novel was a best seller, was translated into many languages, and was the basis for a top money-making film by the same name which sparked Edward G. Robinson's career as a movie tough guy. The author's approach--considered unusual in 1929--was to use the gangster's point of view and vernacular to expose more vividly the brutal tragedy and corruption of big-city crime. Austere in style and language by today's standards, the book projects a certain authenticity and drama as the infamous Rico Bandellow ruthlessly pushes his way to the top of the underworld and then begins his slow, inevitable descent.

Book Review Digest, 1929, p. 139-40

The Silver Eagle, by W. R Burnett. Author of "Little Caesar," "Iron Man," etc. New York: Lincoln MacVeagh, The Dial Press; Toronto: Longmans, Green and Co., MCMXXXI. 310p.

Frank Harworth, Chicago night club owner, wants desperately to forget his rags-to-riches past and be accepted into Chicago society. With an abundance of money at his command, he lives in an ostentatious mansion, is driven about in a gaudy automobile, and overdresses to the point of appearing slightly ridiculous. In spite of his airs, his borderline business activity, and his passion for social acceptance, Harworth remains honest, generous, prim, and rather dull until greed entices him into an underworld alliance which he cannot control. A tough novel in the Burnett tradition, The Silver Eagle is powerful, entertaining, and quite readable. The complexity of Harworth's character adds an element to this novel which is not apparent in Little Caesar or Iron Man. However, society and the underworld do not mix well, and Burnett seems less comfortable when writing of the former.

Book Review Digest, 1931, p. 152.

This Our Exile, by David Burnham. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1931. 423p.

Told in the first person by the middle son of a wealthy and highly respected Chicago banker, this sad tale recounts a family tragedy of 1927. Book One tells of the illness, death, and funeral of the father, Ralph Eaton. Book Two provides a detailed analysis of the emotional repercussions resulting from his death on the lives of his widow, his three sons, and the sisters with whom two of the sons are in love. The author writes skillfully on a depressing theme, examining carefully the hopeless attitudes of his own generation.

Book Review Digest, 1931, p. 152.