A slice of underworld life, ’57, Chicago is a fact-based fictional thriller. The banker’s dead—a mob killing with repercussions. Money’s tied up. Three men are on a collision course: Al. He’s a layoff bookie, thinks he can live as a middleman between his customers and the Outfit. His credo: Never take a position. The Lip. Desperate and dangerous, he’s a fight promoter trying to create the fight of a lifetime. The Hammer. A great black hope. He’s a boxer, thrust into an uncomfortable limelight. A potential heavyweight champ, his biggest fight is with himself. The cops swarm. The gangsters rage. One night. One fight. No way they can all win. The heat’s intense, the stakes are high and the outcome’s impossible to predict. The mystery: Who makes it out alive? It’s a bloody, savage night in ’57, Chicago.

Dateline Chicago, 1946: Policy, the illegal lottery, makes millions of dollars for racketeers in Chicago’s black community. But the numbers don’t add up when kingpin Ed Jones is kidnapped. Who grabbed him? The mob? Another policy wheel operator? And why?   Gus Carson, World War II veteran, a survivor of the sinking of his ship in the Pacific. A Chicago cop, he’s suspended for a late night shooting at a brothel. Enter wealthy politico Arvis Hypoole. He hires Gus to find Jones. The caveat: He’s got one week to do it. The challenge: Everyone’s looking for Jones and most don’t want to find him alive.   Author Steve Monroe offers another slice of underworld life told through fact-based fiction. And his protagonist, Carson, is the conduit to the intrigue. Haunted and violent, he staves off pressure with a wisecrack or a hard cross to the jaw. He navigates through a world of gambling, nightlife, shady politics and murder, all the while seeking much more than the kidnapping victim. He’s seeking redemption. And there is only one time and one city in which he can find it: ’46, Chicago.

What is this book about? Is it adventure? Is it travel? Is it i-- shing? Is it about Michigan or the Caribbean. Is it a wander lust or is it goal setting? Is it the mid life crisis of a disgruntled screen printer? Whatever it's about, I hope you enjoy reading it. I sure had fun writing it while reliving a few extraordinary experiences of my life.

Present day: A major mob bust going down. The FBI pulls back surveillance, a killer flees. There’s slaughter in the ’burbs of Chicago; a murderer heads downtown. Why did he do it? Where is he going? Above all, what will he do next? Detective Wallace Greer and his partner, Romar Jones, are hot on the killer’s trail. They give chase through the Gold Coast and its tony restaurants, under the El in the East Loop, by Lake Michigan and the Chicago River, following the evidence, but always slightly behind; bodies mark the route. Five days in a cold Chicago winter. Motives collide. Psyches split. There’s no rest, no time; it’s all angles and action. They have to head off the killer, prevent killings too close to home. But can they catch him? Kill him? There’s only one way to find out.

Building suppliers, manufacturers, trade contractors, real estate brokers-if you sell products or services to home builders, this book will increase your success rate and business savvy. Learn the types of builders and what will get you in the door and writing orders. Steve Monroe draws on over 30 years of sales wisdom to provide proven tools that assess where you stack up as a sales or service professional, motivate you, and polish your performance, whether you aim to serve small-volume, custom, or large production builders. This second edition includes a companion CD with exercises that help you evaluate your current business practices and guide you to become an even more successful salesperson. The CD also has easy-to-use business forms that will bolster the amount of business you are doing with builders.