Obits and Murders
Subtitle: A Newspaper Story Set in Chicago
Publisher: Ozanam Press
Published: December 1992
Format: Hardcover
Number of pages: 519
ISBN-13: 9780962604706
Subjects: General; Fiction - General; Fiction
Description: This is a mystery novel about a man who grows up in then newspaper business, being proud of it and embarrassed by it, hating it and loving it. 
Sam Nash has been a reporter in Chicago for 15 years, having attained less than he thought he would and battling the personal problems that come with age. 
Nash gets a whiff of something that brings out his hunter's instinct, a covered-up crime, a dead man hidden by public officials. Was there a murder? He wants to believe it for the chance to justify his career, but the truth is in the dark. As he starts pulling a things out into the light, he finds less than he wanted and more than he wished to see. Is there more yet? 
Simualtnously, at age 39, Nash feels as if his life is a high-wire act over a pit of destructive impulses, marital troubles and boozing. He sees the humor in this and concluded "One should do this trick with pride and discipline". 
A beautiful Greek immigrant, Nash's estranged wife, believes he has the magic, but whether he will find a way to tap it or instead deteriorate into just another sorry case is an unwanted puzzle for her. How long will her beauty and opportunities last?
Unexpected events stirred up by Nash's investigation test the values of everyone involved, compelling the leaps that occur in every human life. The run to the newspaper deadline that forms the climax is heart-stopping.