Chicago Blues is a collection of 21 short stories set in Chicago. I read about this book in the blog, The Outfit. The Outfit is a collective of seven Chicago crime authors all of whom have stories. All of the authors are listed at the bottom of this review.

In her introduction, Libby Hellman the editor and a contributor, writes about the blues theme of this book:

[with the Blues] "you’re listening to people tell you about the lover who did them wrong, trouble on the job, dreams that will never come true. In that sense, the Blues are the Noir of music. You know you’re on a journey to a bitter end, but you don’t want to stop."

“Chicago is the perfect backdrop to blend the noir of the Blues with the noir of crime fiction.”

“Some of the twenty-one dark, edgy stories in Chicago Blues are about people who sing the blues. Some are about people who have the blues, and some are about people who wear the Blues. “

The stories are first rate. It isn’t practical here to describe all of them, but the lead story, Blue Note by Stuart M. Kaminsky, is in the running for an Edgar in the Best Short Story category. It is a poignant story about Blues music and a son doing what is needed to help his mother. Really excellent writing.

Another story, The Non Compos Mentis Blues by Sean Chercover, is one of the reasons I purchased a copy of Chicago Blues. Chercover wrote the novel Big City, Bad Blood featuring newspaper reporter turned P.I., Ray Dudgeon. It is a terrific read of you like contemporary hardboiled detectives. Sean was a private investigator and he begins this story with an investigator’s surveillance report. The report isn’t action packed – no foot chases, car chases, gun fights, and martial arts action – but I enjoyed reading it. I’ve read a lot of stories where the P.I. hands the client his or her report and I’ve wondered what was in the report, how it was written. I like stories that give me a look into the working of a profession. I think it is a good set-up to the story.

A story collection like this is, in addition to providing a good read, is also a good discovery tool. You are exposed to authors you might not otherwise have read. My “look for” list has grown considerably from the short author descriptions that precede each story.

If you have a personal library of crime books, this is a worthy addition. If you don’t, ask your public library to add it to the collection if they haven’t already. Tell them a librarian recommended it.

The authors are:Stuart M. Kaminsky, Kevin Guilfoile*, Libby Fischer Hellman*, Jack Fredrickson, Sara Paretsky*, Kris Nelscott, JA Konrath, Sean Chercover*, Max Allan Collins, Michael black, Steven B. Mandel, David J. Walker, Michael Allen Dymmoch*, Sam Reaves, D.C. Brod, Mary V. Welk, Sam Hill, Marcus Sakey*, Ronald Levitsky, Brian Pinkerton, Barbara D’Amato*.* indicates a member of The Outfit

Harry Blackstone Copperfield Dresden is back in the sequel to Storm Front and is as droll, cagey and nimble as ever. Harry hasn't heard from Murphy since the bad business from the year before and it doesn't help that a rumor is traveling fast that Harry is involved with the mob. But when bodies turn up shredded with unusual paw prints close by, Harry is called in to consult with the Chicago Police Department. But things get hairy (no pun intended) when the FBI also shows up and start hassling Murphy for bringing in a "psychic".

With the help of Bob, who is easily becoming my favorite character, Harry learns of three types of Werewolves. Hexenwulfs, Lycanthropes, and Loup-garou; those that have a magical talisman to help them transform into a wolf, those that are so full of rage that they can perform extraordinary acts and heal quickly but do not actually transform and those poor bastards that have been cursed to transform into a monster at each full moon. Oh, and you meet all of them.

There were moments in this book that literally made me laugh out loud. I am finding this series wholly enjoyable and almost addictive. Harry's proclivity to find trouble coupled with his wry thoughts about his own abilities, keep the pages flying by at an almost maniacal pace. This book also hints at dark secrets about Harry's parents, Harry's mysterious lost love Elaine, the Faerie Queens and a hint at Harry's involvement in the death of Justin Morningway, Harry's teacher and uncle.

Oh, Harry, what will you get into next? And more importantly, how are you going to get out of it?

Something is stirring up ghosts and all sorts of spooky critters and weakening the filmy rift between our world and the Nevernever, the world of Fae. And it's not likely to lead to hugs and puppies. With a Knight of the Cross, Michael Carpenter, by his side - and honest to goodness faithful emissary of God - Harry sets out to find the culprit and stop the mayhem. The coolest thing about Michael is that every time a crisis occurs, a babysitter always fortuitously appears. Things are going well until he shows up at the Red Court Vampire Masquerade Fete dressed as a cheesy vampire, complete with cape, fake fangs and white stage makeup only to be lured into a trap that will cost him something he holds very dear and start a war between the White Council of Wizards and the Red Court Vampires. (And his very treacherous Fairy Godmother - literally - proves no help.)

The married thing. Sometimes I look at it and feel like someone from a Dickens novel, standing outside in the cold and staring in at Christmas dinner. Relationships hadn't ever really worked for me. I think it's had something to do with all the demons, ghosts and human sacrifice.

Harry Blackstone Copperfield Dresden is the only Wizard listed in the Chicago phone book, and for good reason. Whether driven by the desire to use his power to protect the innocent, or to keep from being evicted, Harry Dresden is a Wizard for Hire. He consults for the Chicago Police Department, is pestered by the general public for love potions (which he will NOT provide) and is hired to find lost persons and/or objects. Most people who come in contact with the things, literally, that Harry does, don't walk away, "Magic, it can get a guy killed."

When Harry is called in to consult for the Chicago Police Department's Special Investigations unit, he is unnerved to find two bodies with their hearts ripped from their chests during a carnal act using the darkest of black magics. The case is further complicated by pizza loving fairies, missing husbands, very attractive journalists, mobsters and a new drug hitting the streets called ThreeEye, which produces visions both wondrous and horrifying.

Blending the jaunty style of haute Film Noir in a Buffy the Vampire Slayer universe where vampires, fairies, trolls, dragons and all manners of fae creatures exist alongside, and occasionally intermingling with, humans; Jim Butcher's first novel of The Dresden Files, Storm Front, is a delightfully brisk and engaging read.

Paranoid? Probably. But just because you're paranoid doesn't mean that there isn't an invisible demon about to eat your face.

My favorite in the series so far

Destitute, shaggy, dirty and heart broke, things couldn't get much worse for Harry Dresden, Chicago's only listed wizard. That is until frogs rain from the sky, a nasty monster tries to assassinate him, a long lost love (who once tried to kill him) shows up, the White Council decides to convene to decide Harry's fate for his role in starting the war with the Red Court vampires - and - the queen of the fairies buys out his term of service from his fairy godmother.

Beautiful, descriptive, fanciful passages follow one after another through a delightful (and horrifying!) trip through the high courts of the Seelie and Unseelie of the Sidhe. Anyone who loves to read about fairies (not just the little tinkerbell types - but the monstrous beauty of Titania and Mab) will not be disappointed with the faithful descriptions with up to date interpretations. Some of the most comical moments include Toot-Toot - and his tiny army of friends - and their ferocious love for pizza.

So I'm on my way to Dresden, Germany, hanging out with my friend Alice before departure, realizing as I ponder her book collection that I did not bring anything to read that I knew would captivate me for the trip. I had Kafka's Das Schloss, the good ol' original German version of The Castle, which I read in English once. I can always rely on Alice for good book suggestions, as past reviews can show you. So I grabbed a few, asked her which I should read, and she pointed to this one and said, "You'll definitely like that." And boy, did I ever. By the time we were landing in Dresden, my book was finished and I discovered all about the World's Fair.

I had already been aware of Dr. H.H. Holmes via crimelibrary.com, my bored-at-work-reading of choice. But I was clueless about the World's Fair. Erik Larson gives great behind-the-scenes details and stories about the inspiration, planning, building and living-out of the humongous 1893 affair. He did it so well, I wanted badly to be the first on the very first Ferris Wheel; I wanted to walk in the buildings, smell the air, look at the dirt, compare the before and after pictures. Put on my wire undergarments, hold my parasol and go watch the Wild Wild West show after a luxurious train ride! It was awesome. The people that crossed paths with the World's Fair, the inventions that walked out, the legacy it left for Chicago--so important--YET I HAD NEVER HEARD OF IT.

I do recommend you pick this one up. It was amazing. Though the Holmes part is what intrigued me most about the book when I picked it up, the new info about the World's Fair is what I ended up enjoying the most. For more info about the World's Fair, and the architecture, click here.

As a longtime time-travel book fan I have read many books with some sort of time-travel. The first book I read that dealt with this subject was called The Thyme Garden by Edward Eager where children went into a garden and crushed thyme between their fingers and traveled elsewhere in time. I recently re-read it, and discovered the author wrote a number of other time-travel books for children. While not really "time travel", I loved the Narnia series where the children traveled to a different place. Another book I enjoyed was Andre Norton's Dragon Magic in which people were able to time travel where they wanted. Secretly, my favorite romantic movie is "Somewhere in Time" and I have even written a short story or two involving time-travel.

I purchased The Time Traveler's Wife a few months ago after hearing about it and thinking the title and cover of the book were intriguing. I suggested it as a possible read for my book group, but another book was chosen. Then an online group to which I belong suggested reading it, and I joined in. My real life book group is still not interested. Pity.

Henry first meets Clare at the Newberry Library in Chicago when Henry is 28 and Clare is 20. However Clare first meets Henry when she is 6 and he is 36. Henry has a disorder that he suspects is a bit like a seizure disorder, except instead of having a seizure, he is transported backwards and forwards in time, ending up naked where ever he lands.

In this book Henry may not change events, although he is forced to witness some tragedies time and time again, he is always helpless to change the outcome.

This book is breathtakingly beautiful and heartbreakingly sad. However it is uplifting and I am envious of the love these two characters have for each other. The author writes it in such a way that the time-travel part of the story is believable.

I had a slightly difficult time with the ending, not the very ending, but what happened to Henry in the year before the book ended. The book was like a pleasant ride on a mild roller coaster, and suddenly it became, for a while, a jarring walk through an evil carnival fun house.

One last thing I liked about the book was the fact that many place names were real. I recently spoke to someone who said that she even went to some of the concerts mentioned in the book.

It is hard to believe that this is Audrey Niffenegger's first book. It is nearly perfect in every detail. I read an interview with the author that suggested she wrote the book in a different order than in which it was published.

"I got the title first, and played around with it for quite a long time, slowly evolving the characters in my head. I wrote the end before anything else, and then began to write scenes as they occurred to me. TTW was written in a completely different order than the one it finally took. I understood early on that it would be organized in three sections, and that the basic unit was the scene, not the chapter. It has a rather chaotic feel to it, especially at the beginning, and that is deliberate-there is a slow piecing together, a gradual accumulation of story, that mimics the experience of the characters. I made a lot of notes about the characters. I had two timelines to help me stay organized, but no outline of the plot.

(Audrey Niffenegger interviewed by Mark Flanagan. Full interview available here.)

I sincerely hope this will not be Niffenegger's last novel.