Chicago history, Architecture, particularly from the Art Deco era, and anything to do with trains and railroading.
Want a copy of "The One-Eyed Man on the Elevated"
a short story by
Robert Goldsborough?
Send Bob a jpg of your favorite picture of Chicago
past or present at
In his early teens, Robert Goldsborough began reading Rex Stout’s Nero Wolfe mysteries. This started when he complained to his mother one summer day that he had 'nothing to do.' An avid reader of the Wolfe stories, she gave him a magazine serialization, and he became hooked on the adventures of the corpulent Nero and his irreverent sidekick, Archie Goodwin.
Through his school years and beyond, Goldsborough devoured virtually all of the 70-plus Wolfe mysteries. It was during his tenure with the Chicago Tribune that the paper printed the obituary of Rex Stout. On reading it, his mother lamented that 'Now there won’t be any more Nero Wolfe stories.'
'There might be one more,' Goldsborough mused, and began writing an original Wolfe novel for his mother. As a bound typescript, this story, 'Murder in E Minor,' became a Christmas present to her in 1978. For years, that’s all the story was–a typescript. But in the mid-80s, Goldsborough received permission from the Stout estate to publish 'E Minor,' which appeared as a Bantam hardcover, then paperback. Six more Wolfe novels followed, to favorable reviews.
But as much as he enjoyed writing these books, Goldsborough longed to create his own characters, which he has done in 'Three Strikes Your Dead,' set in the gang-ridden Chicago of the late 1930s and narrated by a Tribune police reporter.
Goldsborough, a lifelong Chicagoan who has logged 45 years as a writer and editor with the Tribune and with marketing journal Advertising Age, says it was 'Probably inevitable that I would end up using a newspaperman as my protagonist.'
Featuring A Blaze in the Night By Robert Goldsborough
Snap Malek isn't looking to be a hero, but no one is going to die on his beat.
We would like to offer our special thanks to
the exceptional musical artist Alex Woodard
for allowing us to showcase his new tune PHOTOGRAPH
in the following video!
1946, the first post-World War II year, finds Tribune police reporter Snap Malek hip deep in a murder case. Someone has stabbed his cousin's British war bride to death in their Bohemian neighborhood home in Pilsen. As the prime suspect, the meek and self-effacing man is jailed, and Malek, convinced of his innocence, begins a dogged hunt for the murderer.
Snap’s rogue investigation takes him into the shadowy blue-collar saloon world of Pilsen, where he encounters a mélange of characters, including cynical and hard-bitten factory workers, a tragic war widow, and a former professional prizefighter–all "bar friends" of the murdered woman. Despite objections from the police, Malek presses on, incurring the anger of one of the bar’s habitués, and fighting for his life in a bare-knuckle slugfest in a Pilsen street.
Determined, Malek hires the city’s best defense attorney, encounters legendary architect Frank Lloyd Wright, and deals with the traumatic emotional distraction of reporting on one of the nation’s worst-ever train wrecks that rocked the western Chicago suburb of Naperville. Finally, when Snap turns his attention back to the murder case, he finds multiple surprises and an unexpected and tragic resolution.
Other Books by
Nero Wolfe Award Winning Author
Robert Goldsborough
THREE STRIKES YOU'RE DEAD Book One
ISBN 1-59080-424-4 Love is Murder 2006 "Best Historical Mystery" Echelon Press Diamond Club Best Seller (2005 #1 Seller)
In the shadowy metropolis that is 1938 Chicago, Steve Malek is a Tribune police reporter in a city gripped by the Kelly-Nash political machine and the post-Capone crime syndicate. In Malek's depression-era world, the Tribuneis the largest of the town's fiercely competative daily papers. With the winds of change blowing in, Malek senses the story of a lifetime when a reform candidate for mayor is gunned down by an unknown assailant.
Incurring the anger of his editors, Malek ranges far beyond his beat, plunging into a maverick investigation of the murder that soon spins beyond his control. However, it's the other side of the law, displeased with Malek's inquiries, that leaves him dangling on the edge of life and death.
Along this precarious journey, Malek is dazzled by actress Helen Hayes, and crosses paths with Richard J. Daley, legendary Tribunepublisher Robert R. McCormick, Al Capone, and pitching great Dizzy Dean, who after being traded to the Cubs at the start of the '38 season, helps lead the race for the pennant, never imagining he will be the key to Malek's very survival!
What people are saying about Three Strikes You're Dead:
Booklist (6/15/05 100th Anniversary Issue) says… "a prewar Chicago that is at once sinister and appealing. … an engaging subplot… An enormously entertaining caper." –Wes Lukowsky
"…cause for any mystery fan to rejoice! …a master storyteller, providing crackling dialogue and plot twists around every corner – readers are in for a real treat!" –Max Allan Collins, author of ROAD TO PURGATORY
Against the ominous backdrop of America's entry into World War II, the navy still reels from the devastation wreaked at Pearl Harbor and the crushing defeat of US ground troops in the Philippines.
On the home front, scientists at the University of Chicago under Enrico Fermi labor feverishly on a secret weapon that promises to reverse the fortunes of battle. However, sinister forces are at work on the outwardly serene Gothic campus, resulting in violent deaths.
While work grinds on in the shadowy catacombs beneath an abandoned football stadium–work that will forever alter our world–Chicago Tribune police reporter Steve Malek delves into the intrigue. Battling for an exclusive story and, ultimately, for his very life, Malek finds himself in the midst of history-in-the-making.
"The author's own secret weapon is the way he stirs in just enough period detail to make you believe it really happened this way." –Dick Adler, Chicago Tribune
"Featuring great characters and wonderful dialog…Goldsborough’s description of Chicago has the quality of Max Allan Collins’ fiction and Erik Larson’s factual The Devil in the White City.” –August P. Aleksy, Centuries & Sleuths Bookstore, Forest Park, IL
I haven't been by in a while and thought I'd stop in and say hi. It's Monday again. I'm back to work on a new book.
A Demon Awaits will be out on October 14th. I'm excited for the release and waiting for news about the screenplay. If nothing else, the new book will keep my mind off the waiting.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY Robert!! You have had quite a fascinating writing career, you are an inspiration.
I wish you continued great success as an author!
May all your birthday dreams come true...
Rai Aren, co-author of Secret of the Sands, Amazon Bestseller
For 12,000 years a dark and deadly secret has been hidden deep below the Great Sphinx of Giza. In present day Egypt, a frightening, yet awe-inspiring story unravels as archaeologists race against time to decipher an ancient truth...
"A deep probing mystery riddled with prophecy and danger, Secret of the Sands uses Egypt and her mythology as a backdrop to delve into the meanings of life and religion." -McNally Robinson
P.S. I thought I would share our new video trailer with you... :)
Just wanted to give you a heads up that my latest forensic crime thriller, Freezer Burn, is coming out June 3 ...that's tomorrow! It’s available for preorder on Amazon right now! I'll be doing a bunch of events in and around Philadelphia. For details, see my profile. Thanks for the friendship!
Spice up your holiday party with a Shot In The Dark Mysteries holiday game! The Santa Strangling for adults, The Christmas Crankster for kids and, to make sure your office holiday party doesn't stink, this year you can have Bloody Christmas or Bloody Holiday customized for your company! Visit Shot In The Dark Mysteries for more information!
Just stopping by to wish you a happy birthday, Robert. Yeah, we’re all busy, but never too busy to wish you well on your most important day of the year.
