Illinois Authors

50 songs are featured in this third edition of an outstanding collection of Disney favorites.

In the depths of the Knight Hawk, one of the last working collieries in downstate Illinois, the body of a reporter is found, his mini-recorder tied around his neck and a notepad stuffed in his mouth. The Knight Hawk's owner, Matthew Luster, isn't happy. He wants answers -- and he doesn't want the cops or any more press poking into his business. To protect himself and the operation, he turns to Slim, a mine employee with a reputation for "bloodhounding"--Finding lost souls when the police can't or won't. Luster needs Slim to locate a missing photographer named Beckett, a close associate of the victim ... who just happens to be his son-in-law.

Arcana Studio ; Rockford, Ill. : 2011.

Awakening in the sprawling necropolis of Near Dis, Wayne soon finds himself assigned to the NDPD's elite spiricide unit the so called Redball 6 with five other dead cops from different periods of human (and nonhuman) history. Redball 6 is a darkly comedic police procedural set in a sprawling necropolis called Near Dis, an unhappy city in the littoral region of the Big Black itself. Near Dis! No one wants to be there; almost everyone ends up there. A purgatorial way station for borderline cases, Near Dis is home to legions of minor devils, wayward angels, and countless human spirits eagerly waiting their chance to move either up or down the celestial ladder.

Arcana Studio ; Rockford, Ill. : 2010.

"Pitbull fighters, shadowy ne'er-do-wells, and murder mark Jason Miller's wry, darkly atmospheric second novel in his Little Egypt series--perfect for fans of Frank Bill and Greg Iles. One hot summer day, in his home in the southern Illinois coal country known as Little Egypt--a Midwest Gothic wonderland of barren vistas, sinister hollows, petty corruption, and deeply strange characters--the self-appointed "redneck detective" known as Slim gets a visit from a shady-looking pair who introduce themselves as Sheldon Cleaves and his son, A. Evan, looking to hire him to find a missing dog. As a miner with a reputation for "bloodhounding"--Tracking down missing persons the police can't find or won't--Slim is accustomed to looking for people, not pets. On the other hand, he needs the cash to fix his air conditioner. But when he pulls the thread that leads to the Cleaveses' red-haired purebred pitbull--and then the dognapper is discovered with his head blown off--Slim finds himself plunged into a world of underground dogfights and white supremacists. all because he just wanted to get cool. As bitingly funny as it is starkly violent, Red Dog marks the emergence of a new, gritty voice in detective fiction"--

Meet Memphis cop Wayne Hamber. Wayne has just died and gone to Hell. And that's the best part of his day.