Table of Contents

Acknowledgments Introduction The Fatal Fortune The Grifters The Avenging Fury and the Confidence Man Hippodrome The State of Illinois vs. William Darling Shepherd Defending Darl Shepherd Was It Oysters or Murder? The Will Contest Epilogue Notes Selected Bibliography Index

Promotional Information

"In Fatal Fortune, Virginia McConnell so brilliantly takes the reader back to Chicago in the 1920's that she seems to make time travel possible. And once you get there, she tells a wonderful story of murder and mystery, made even more compelling by the fact that it's true." -- David Rosenfelt, author of Bury the Lead "McConnell has established herself as the premiere archeologist of long-forgotten American true crime tales that once read makes readers wonder why no one else has written the story before. With a historian's eye for accuracy and atmospheric detial and a mystery writer's flair for great drama, she holds us spellbound. Fatal Fortune is her best yet." -- Gregg Olsen, author of Starvation Heights

About the Author

Virginia A. McConnell, a native of Syracuse, New York, has degrees from The College of the St. Rose, Purdue University, and Golden State University Law School. She currently teaches English, Literature, and Speech at Walla Walla Community College's Clarkston Center in Clarkston, Washington. Her other books include Arsenic Under the Elms: Murder in Victorian New Haven (Praeger, 1999) and Sympathy for the Devil: The Emmanuel Baptist Murders of Old San Francisco (Praeger, 2001).

Reviews

"In Fatal Fortune, Virginia McConnell so brilliantly takes the reader back to Chicago in the 1920's that she seems to make time travel possible. And once you get there, she tells a wonderful story of murder and mystery, made even more compelling by the fact that it's true." - David Rosenfelt, author of Bury the Lead"