Death at Hull House. Allium Press of Chicago. Pub Date: Dec. 2009. Historical mystery. 250 p. Trade Paperback $15.99 ISBN-13 978-0-9840676-0-2.
In this sequel, Emily Cabot finds work at Hull House, the famous settlement established by Jane Addams. There she quickly becomes involved in the political and social problems of the immigrant community. But when a man who works for a sweatshop owner is murdered in the Hull House parlor, Emily must determine whether one of her colleagues is responsible, or whether the real reason for the murder is revenge for a past tragedy in her own family. As a smallpox epidemic spreads through the impoverished west side of Chicago, the very existence of the settlement is threatened and Emily finds herself in jiopardy from bothe the deadly disease and a killer. DELAYED! AVAILABLE DECEMBER 2009!!!
“As in the Devil in the White City, this yarn takes place in Chicago during the 1893 World’s Fair, and like in that nonfiction bestseller, murder intrudes on the city’s cultural uplift with surprising consequences. Emily Cabot, one of the first female graduate students at the University of Chicago, invites her mother and brother to join her in the city to attend the fair along with her teacher Dr. Stephen Chapman. At the fair, Chapman turns pale as a ghost when he runs into a oman who turns out to be an old flame. When her husband is killed, and Chapman is found by the body, it is up to Emily and a rotating case of advisers, some recognizable from your history texts, some not–to free him…” Publishers Weekly
Schaumburg Township District Library will host a a day. And as a member of the local Sisters in Crime, I will attend along with Emily Victorson, publisher of Allium Press of Chicago. There will be an advanced look at DEATH AT HULL HOUSE due out in October.
Coffee, Tea and a Smoking Gun….
Saturday, September 12 – 10am to 4:30 pm
Second floor meeting rooms
Spend the day with member authors of Sisters in Crime, Chicagoland chapter. The day will include workshops, panel discussions, readings, book sales and signings, as well as other events. A detailed schedule and list of participants will be available at the Readers’ Advisory Desk closer to the event.
The Chicago Maroon, at University of Chicago published an interview about Death at the Fair
http://www.chicagomaroon.com/2009/3/10/university-librarian-finds-stories-in-the-stacks
Thanks to Jessen O’Brien for doing that! Hope some of the students pick up a copy for spring break. They just got some more in at 57th Street Books.
Yikes, the Sun times review is no longer linked to from the picture I posted. It’s in an archive:
http://archives.chicagotribune.com/2009/feb/22/news/chi-ap-il-chicagofairnovel
Thanks to Lisa Donovan for writing that, it is really fine!!. I’ll post the text to a page eventually.
In Death at the Fair, Ida B. Wells is distributing her pamphlet THE REASON WHY THE COLORED AMERICAN IS NOT IN THE WORLD’S COLUMBIAN EXPOSITION: THE AFRO-AMERICAN’S CONTRIBUTION TO COLUMBIAN LITERATURE See a preview of this books on Google Book Search at:
There are a number of interesting websites about the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition. But one of the most fun is the UCLA project that provides an online simulation. Try it and you can actually take a tour through the very places Emily Cabot and her friends walk through at the Fair!
Another fun site was developed by the ECUIP project, a joint project between the University of Chicago and Chicago Public Schools. In includes an interactive map:
There is also a lecture by Professor Neil Harris of University of Chicago, but it is limited to Chicago Public Schools and UChicago:
Neil Harris, a Professor of History at the University of Chicago lectures on the history, politics, and architecture of the Columbian Exposition. Listen to his lecture or read through the transcript. NOTE: This resource is only accessible by CPS or UofC networked computers
Check it out!
And another great sites with wonderful pictures if hosted by the Illinois Institute of Technology at:
This hypertextual thesis explores the Exposition through a virtual tour, investigates visitors’ reactions to the Fair, and analyzes the social, polictical, and cultural legacies of the World’s Columbian Exposition.
Kirkus Discoveries has published the following review:
A compelling tale of the Chicago World’s Fair, complete with history, mystery and a likable heroine.
Against the backdrop of the World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893, McNamara deftly weaves themes of Southern honor, Northern political graft, post-Civil War abolitionist concerns, nascent women’s suffrage and tangled familial relationships. Emily Cabot, a graduate student of solciology at the University of Chicago, and her Boston-based family visit the Fair accompanied by her professor, Dr. Chapman. A chance meeting with Emily’s classmate Clara, and her family and friends from Kentucky, reveals Dr. Chapman’s past romantic involvement with a Mrs. Larrimer, now the wife of a powerful Southern cotton dealer. When Mr. Larrimer is killed, all evidence points to Dr. Chapman–or does it? Emily’s conviction in his innocence leads to detective work ranging from high tea in frills to finagling audiences with members of the powerful Chicago political machine and finally to donning boy’s clothing and spying on a covert gambling session on the Midway. In addition to solid pacing and engaging storytelling, teh polot incorporates historical figures like Frederick Douglass, Mayor Carter Harrison and Eugene Prendergast, nicely balancing historical exposition with narrative drive. Racial relations under Reconstruction come alive as Emily discovers the secret in Larrimer’s past and requests the help of Ida B. Wells and her editor husband F.L. Barnett. Emily’s own precarious position as a female graduate student involved in a scandal results in an examination of social mores and gender double standards…With and eye to her readership, McNamara includes a historical epilogue, bibliography and reding group discussion questions, as well as the first ten pages of the next Emily Cabot book DEATH AT HULL HOUSE
An energetic story of politics, racism and murder set against the whilr of the White City
