After one of them receives a bloodstained scrap of shirt from a boy murdered 14 years ago and an anonymous note taking credit for the crime, three journalism graduate students attempt to discover why innocent men are being framed for murder--and who's been doing the killing.

Rookie Chicago detective David Beckman investigates the shooting deaths of five people during a snowstorm, one of whom was a controversial Jewish rights activist in the 1970s.

Hired by a former lover to follow her husband, private detective Michael Kelly tracks the subject to Chicago's North Side, where he discovers a body and a possible answer to the mystery of who started the Great Chicago Fire of 1871.

Lucy Tucker, the crotchety old bag lady from the popular Yada Yada House of Hope series, is a veteran of the Chicago streets and not about to give up her independence, even as she approaches her 80th birthday. Until, that is, a young displaced woman with her gentle ageing mother and a dog named Dandy seem to need her--unsettling the secretive Lucy, who doesn't let anyone get too close. But just when it seems her past is catching up with her to bring...

Chicago celebrity, Charles James can't shake the nightmare that wakes him each night. He sees himself walking down a long, broken highway the sides of which are lit in flames. Where is he going? Why is he walking? What is the wailing he hears around him? By day, he wonders why he's so haunted and unhappy when he has all he ever wanted-fame, fans and fortune and the lavish lifestyle it affords him....

Ten years after leaving, Arlene Fleet finds she still has not escaped Possett, Alabama, when an old classmate turns up asking questions about a crime Arlene committed in her youth, forcing her into a confrontation with her past.