Kate Burns

Dec 5, 2024 | lit.newcity.com | Kate Burns

If the television show Hill Street Blues had instead been a series of crime novels, Tracy Clark could have written the collection. That masterfully written police drama had such strong characters and involved plot lines, it is amazing that it’s forty years old. Clark’s new book “Echo” is the final novel in her Chicago-based Detective Harriet Foster series.

Oct 27, 2024 | buckscountybeacon.com | Kate Burns

The crowd at the Lincoln Memorial came ready for a day of worship and prayer, decked out in their favorite Jesus garb. Many wore Let Us Worship and Kingdom to the Capitol merchandise mixed with pro-Israel T-shirts, hoodies, and MAGA gear. The air was filled with the sound of shofars and an array of flags, including the Appeal to Heaven flag—a symbol Christian nationalists use to signal they want theocracy, even if it means violent revolution.

Oct 7, 2024 | lit.newcity.com | Kate Burns

I inadvertently read two books about menopause at the same time: Cris Mazza’s “The Decade of Letting Things Go” and Miranda July’s “All Fours,” and found them so different and so differently intriguing. Mazza’s collection of essays deals with the aftermath of menopause and the meanderings and reflected musings of a contemplative writer at this post-fecund stage in her life; July’s novel is an everything-all-the-time sensory blitz.

Sep 19, 2024 | lit.newcity.com | Kate Burns

Local judge David Ellis has again proven his adeptness at the crime thriller with his very entertaining new novel, “The Best Lies.” His confidence in his second career as a writer is reflected in his main character’s swagger as a pathologically lying attorney accused of murder. In his eleventh novel, Ellis weaves an elaborate tale that’s part sleight of hand and part Olympic gymnastics meet of who-coulda-possibly done it.

Jul 25, 2024 | lit.newcity.com | Kate Burns

Mick and Keith believed Chicago was the home of the blues and made a pilgrimage to Chess Records in the 1960s. Brought here by Black Americans during the Great Migration starting in the 1920s, the blues developed local strains wherever its performers set down roots. At the same time, American football was morphing from a genteel Ivy League game to a hugely popular working-class pastime. One all-but-forgotten Chicagoan was key to the development of both. Clifford R.