TWO KILLERS STALK THE STREETS OF CHICAGO—CAN ONE TAXI DRIVER CORNER THEM BOTH? Eddie Miles is one of a dying breed: a Windy City hack who knows every street and back alley of his beloved city and takes its recent descent into violence personally. But what can one driver do about a killer targeting streetwalkers or another terrorizing cabbies? Precious little—until the night he witnesses one of them in action...

Chicago private eye Nick Acropolis is back with a new adventure. Billy Mansfield has been on Death Row for more than 20 years, and Nick helped put him there in his days as a Chicago homicide detective. Now he's asked to find evidence to free him. Could Billy Mansfield really be innocent? "Westerfield's Chain," the first Nick Acropolis novel, was a Shamus Award finalist. "A great read," --Publishers Weekly "A pure delight for many reasons, not the least of which is the way Jack Clark celebrates and rings a few changes of the familiar private eye script...There's a memorable moment on] virtually every page." --Chicago Tribune "A likeable protagonist and spirited, uncluttered prose." --Kirkus Reviews "Jack Clark's descriptions are beautifully haunting and his plotting is exceptional." Romantic Times. Jack Clark is also the author of "Nobody's Angel." "A gem... without] a wasted word or a false note." --Washington Post "Heartbreaking... Captivating. Clark's true subject is] his city. Each page turn feels like real, authentic Chicago." --Chicago Sun-Times

"Jack Clark's wondrous celebration of his working-class mother and her natural gifts as a storyteller has touched me deeply. Hooray for Mary Jo Ryan Clark and her boy Jack." --Studs Terkel "The book itself is a marvel of writerly restraint... Some are private moments--being 4 years old, getting shiny new shoes and remembering looking down at them as she toed circles in the sawdust on a butcher shop floor. "Other brush against history--news of Pearl Harbor, or the Dorchester, a World War II troop ship sunk off the coast of Greenland. It was famous for the four chaplains who gave up their life vests to other sailors, but Bill, who was dating Mary Jo's younger sister, wasn't one of the lucky survivors... "The books strength is that it doesn't stoop to Greatest Generation mythologizing. The Clarks are real people, and Mary Jo doesn't try to make them heroes." --Chicago Sun-Times Mary Jo and Jack Clark are also authors of "Private Path -- The Desk Calendars of Mary Jo Ryan, 1937 -- 1943."

These 17 stories which first appeared in the Chicago Reader, cover everything from art to taxicabs. In between you'll find stories about pauper burials, the newspaper business, a high school cheating scandal, accidents and saloons. One element the stories have in common is the city of Chicago.

Chicago private detective Nick Acropolis goes to rural McKinley, Illinois--a town along the old and legendary Route 66--to investigate the case of Jesse Lopez, a truck driver charged with smuggling drugs. Nick meets truck stop waitress Maddy Miller. Her teenage son Billy has been missing for over a year. Nick heads out to Southern California, the end of that same lost highway. This is where Billy Miller was last seen. It's also where Jesse Lopez began his trip. Could the two cases be connected? "Westerfield's Chain," the first Nick Acropolis novel, was a Shamus Award finalist. "A great read," --Publishers Weekly "A pure delight for many reasons, not the least of which is the way Jack Clark celebrates and rings a few changes of the familiar private eye script...There's a memorable moment on] virtually every page." --Chicago Tribune "A likeable protagonist and spirited, uncluttered prose." --Kirkus Reviews "Jack Clark's descriptions are beautifully haunting and his plotting is exceptional." Romantic Times. Jack Clark is also the author of "Nobody's Angel." "A gem... without] a wasted word or a false note." --Washington Post "Heartbreaking... Captivating. Clark's true subject is] his city. Each page turn feels like real, authentic Chicago." --Chicago Sun-Times

Westerfield's Chain was a finalist for the Shamus Award for Best First Private Eye Novel. "A pure delight for many reasons, not the least of which is the way Jack Clark celebrates and rings a few changes on the familiar private-eye script. There's a memorable moment on] virtually every page."-Chicago Tribune "Clark knows his city: the geography and flavor of the neighborhoods are vividly presented, and interesting, often quirky characters are introduced along this fascinating ride."-Chicago Reader "Jack Clark's descriptions are beautifully haunting and his plotting is exceptional."-Romantic Times "A likeable protagonist and spirited, uncluttered prose."-Kirkus Review "It's a great read."-Publishers Weekly

The world asks Christians tough questions, and we ask equally tough questions of ourselves. In this book thirty contributing authors of seventeen denominational backgrounds and an agnostic share their understandings about fifty-seven challanges to our faith including such hot button issues as war, abortion, homosexuality, what it means to take up our cross, what sin is and what it can do, why we are convinced of God's existence, and why we believe the resurrection wasn't faked.