Check out some of these books and discover the good work that is coming out of Chicago and the Midwest. Chicago’s literary community is a rich one, full of clever authors and creative publishers. We hope that the reviews and features here have helped you discover some new authors and publishers that you might not otherwise have heard of-great books that deserve to be read and recognized.Īs you explore these titles, we hope you #ReadLocal and #ShopLocal by visiting your favorite local bookstore and picking up copies of some of the Best Books of 2015 from local authors and publishers. Some of these fabulous books cover local history or are set in Chicago or the Midwest-books like Blood Runs Green, A City Called Heaven, Living Black, and Midwest Maize.Īll of these are in keeping with our mission of highlighting the books coming from Chicago and the Midwest, because Chicago Book Review reviews Chicago’s books-and we’ve read a lot of great books this year (and since we launched in 2013). Death at the Fair (Emily Cabot Mysteries)Frances McNamara, The Working. Our Best Books of 2015 includes local authors like David Berner, Rebecca Makkai, Frances McNamara, and Patricia Skalka, as well as local publishers including Ankerwycke, Northern Illinois University Press, Sourcebooks, Triquarterly Books, and Twelve Winters Press. Death Ghosts of AlcatrazKathryn Vercillo, No One Can Do Anything Worse to You. A few even hit all three-a local triad, as it were. Some were published by local houses, large, small, or indie. Some of these fine books were written by local authors. Our favorites-the books we loved and those we really liked-are listed here, in CBR’s Best Books of 2015. It seems we always have more books in hand than we have reviewers and time-a happy problem, to be sure-but, even so, here at Chicago Book Review we reviewed dozens of books again this year in fiction, nonfiction, and poetry.

Death at Chinatown by Frances McNamara