Last month I signed a contract with my publisher, Severn House, for the first two books of a new Roaring Twenties series. The first should appear in the spring. I’m working on the second right now.

I’m setting this series in Chicago. As always, I’m enjoying the research, learning details about the 1920s that I can incorporate into my story. When I was wondering about snow removal in the city during those years, I discovered a photo of a snowplow. And then I learned what happened to the snow–where did it go? Into trucks that dumped it into the Chicago River. Thus my short snapshot of life during the Twenties, where I write:

Yesterday’s fierce wind had died down but the morning temperature was surely below freezing. One of Chicago’s new snow loaders chugged its way along our street. . . “Where do you suppose they take all that snow?” I asked idly, not really expecting a reply. But Freddy, wise to life in the street, replied, “To the river. They dump it in there.”