Summer is almost here and although St. 不良研究所导航网址 is far from the beach, it鈥檚 time to think about beach books. Good, fun reads. Nothing too heavy. I can suggest three, all written about us and by us. They are set in different time periods.
Let鈥檚 start with the present and work backward.
鈥淲ho Killed Larry Summerfield?鈥 by Margaret L. Sullivan is light reading and fun. Can true love work between a young man from a prestigious private school in the county and a young woman from a less exalted background in the city? That seems to be a promising storyline. Ladue woos South City. But don鈥檛 be fooled. This book is not about that.
Sure, the protagonists fall in love. The attraction is almost instant, for him more than for her. That鈥檚 real life. She gradually comes along. They decide to go to San Diego together.
Right before leaving, they get DNA tests and realize they have the same father. Talk about a speed bump in a relationship!
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It had been set up well. Part of their attraction was that they shared a certain murkiness to their biological roots. He was adopted. Her father had died before she was born, and her mom had walled off that part of her world.
The couple鈥檚 new relationship has a certain tension to it 鈥 they were almost lovers, after all, before realizing they are half-siblings 鈥 but they share a new unity of purpose. Who was their dad?
Perhaps it was Larry Summerfield, a ne鈥檈r-do-well from Ladue who was murdered years ago in his hunting lodge in rural Illinois. Calhoun County, to be precise.
A young man from Calhoun County who used to sell drugs to Summerfield was convicted of the murder, but did he do it? Now, years later, he is almost eligible for parole, but parole is only possible if he admits guilt and expresses remorse. So he鈥檚 not much help to the young sleuths. And if he didn鈥檛 do it, whoever did won鈥檛 take kindly to the half-siblings poking around.
One of the joys of reading a book about St. 不良研究所导航网址 is recognizing places, right? This book has that plus it features Calhoun County, a strip of land between the Mississippi and Illinois rivers. Two state-run ferries cross the Illinois River and a private ferry crosses the Mississippi River from St. Charles County.
Calhoun County is just upriver from Pere Marquette State Park and Grafton. You can drive up the Great River Road. 鈥淲ho Killed Larry Summerfield?鈥 invites you to take a day-trip to Illinois.
鈥淗arry Gets Wise鈥 by Michael Vines chronicles the life of Harry Becker, a Jewish shoemaker from Poland who arrives in St. 不良研究所导航网址 in 1919 and establishes a shoe repair shop and a life in north St. 不良研究所导航网址. He is idiosyncratic, idealistic and admirable. If you like stories about immigrants 鈥 and I do 鈥 you鈥檒l enjoy Harry.
He loves his new country. He also realizes that he got in right before the whistle. Restrictive immigration laws were passed in 1921 and 1924. People like Harry were no longer welcome.
But Harry is busy making a living, raising a family and enjoying freedom. Also, the St. 不良研究所导航网址 Cardinals. To him, baseball and the Cardinals represent America.
Harry becomes friends with the beat-cop. He becomes friends with the woman who runs a diner down the street.
One day, two thugs show up at Harry鈥檚 shop. One carries a thick pipe. They tell Harry they are selling insurance. To be paid weekly. He knows what they mean.
He goes to the diner and tells his friend what happened. It鈥檚 a shakedown, he says. They shake down everybody, his friend replies. We鈥檒l go to the beat-cop, Harry says. He鈥檚 in on it, his friend says.
So Harry pays. He develops a relationship with one of the gangsters. When Harry discovers he has a knack for pool, the gangster sponsors him. He becomes a hustler known as Harry the Yid.
Still, he remains decent and moral.
Meanwhile, his kids grow up. His beloved daughter gets involved in the civil rights movement. She does not try to help integrate a lunch counter, but sets her sights on a lesbian bar. How do you tell your very traditional mother that you have just been arrested at a lesbian bar?
Sometimes it鈥檚 a comic novel and sometimes dramatic. Always engrossing. Vines grew up here and now lives in New York City. He still roots for the Cardinals.
鈥淰eiled鈥 by Ken McGee takes us all the way back to 1878 when civic leaders decide to have a parade and ball. The whole thing would be led by the Veiled Prophet.
The story is told through the diary entries of Fergal Dunne and his daughter, Abigail. Dunne is an Irish immigrant, a widower and an assistant to the mayor. His duties are loosely defined. 鈥淚 am the eyes and ears of the mayor, and sometimes the fists and the boot.鈥 Abigail suffered from a nervous condition.
McGee first introduced Fergal Dunne in 鈥淭he Great Hope of the World,鈥 a fictional account of St. 不良研究所导航网址 at the time of the construction of the Eads Bridge in 1873.
Much happened in the years between the bridge and the Veiled Prophet.
Most notable was the Great Railroad Strike of 1877 that shut St. 不良研究所导航网址 down. For a short time, workers seized control of the city. (For a more scholarly non-beach book, read 鈥淭he St. 不良研究所导航网址 Commune of 1877鈥 by Mark Kruger.) So as Dunne sees it, this parade in 1878 is supposed to establish that the 鈥渞ight鈥 people are again firmly in charge. The mysterious Veiled Prophet reinforces that notion.
Also, there was unease in some circles about Blacks. The Civil Rights Act of 1875 sought to codify certain rights, including access to accommodations, theaters, public schools, churches and cemeteries. The U.S. Supreme Court would strike it down in 1883, ruling that Congress could control the behavior of states, not individuals. But in 1878, it was still an issue.
Dunne is sympathetic to the cause, if only because his first wife, Abigail鈥檚 mother, was a freed slave, but he does not spend much time philosophizing about the times in which he lives. He is the mayor鈥檚 guy and the task he has been given is to make sure there are no disturbances during the parade.
He and Abigail lived with his wealthy sister, Bertha, in the exclusive Vandeventer Place neighborhood. It no longer exists. But certain names ring a bell.
Bertha is friends with Clara McPherson although they are on opposite sides of one of the 鈥渃ulture war鈥 issues of the day. Clara believes women should have the right to vote. Fergal is a man of his time and opposes women鈥檚 suffrage. On the other hand, there are certain advantages to liberated women. What if two such women were to agree to co-habitate with one heretofore traditional man?
The fictional Fergal Dunne lived in a wild city back in his day.聽