'46, Chicago — Steve Monroe

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.