If you've been hankering to read a tongue-in-cheek novel that blends Chicago politics and New Age mirth, Skullduggery is a mystery of mayhem to consider.
Silvia Foti is a native of the Southwest Side of Chicago, and she has taken her years of experience in reporting for newspapers and magazines and transmogrified them into her first mystery novel with a protagonist from Garfield Ridge.
In a nutshell, the story is about supernatural reporter Alexandria Vilkas who launches a feature on Crystal Skull, but is skeptical of its metaphysical powers---until the Chicago mayor dies in her arms. Now the prime suspect in the mayor's murder, Alex needs to clear her name, fast. Along the way, she begins to suspect her own mother in Garfield Ridge, discovers a cigarette-selling scam that's making some city-aldermen rich, stumbles into some bad shenanigans in a tortilla factory in Pilsen, and gets attacked by a lovelorn astrologer in Brighton Park. Meanwhile a knockout brawl among the town's fifty aldermen erupts in downtown City Hall (which would never happen in Chicago! ;) and Alex desperately wonders if she'll be alive for the next mayoral election. Can she unearth the connection between the Crystal Skull and the murder before it's too late?
Author Silvia Foti resides in Central Stickney, and calls herself a "double-life creative," a phrase she invented to signify the life that many creatives lead. During the day, she has a "real" job as a journalist and teacher, and during the night she as "dream" job as a creative writer. She has her own writing company called Lotus Ink from which she freelances for a variety of businesses. She also teaches the basics of public speaking (Speech 101) at St. Xavier University and English 101 at Daley College in Chicago. Most recently, she has begun a creativity coaching practice in which she coaches other artists to unblock so that they can unleash their creativity.
Skullduggery is being published by Creative Arts Book Company in Berkeley, California. This company has been in business for 30 years and has published more than 300 titles. Its authors include William Saroyan, Aldous Huxley, Gertrude Stein, Allen Ginsburg, and Yoshiko Uchida.
Following several murders, means, motive, and opportunity all point to out-of-work actresses Bootsie Kittredge and Babs Harrison. Their claims of righteousness and lack of guilt seem fabricated, thanks to a cheerfull announcement made to the patrons
Share
Save
