Chicago's inner city, the core of its early crime era, was MICHAEL G'FRANCISCO'S
birth place and home for many years.
Lost in this same abyss was a mixed bag of impoverished immigrants whose survival
sometimes meant crossing that line from good into evil.
As a youth, books were a part of his everyday life. His mother's craving
to disappear into the pages of a fictional life made her an avid reader. Her covet for this imaginary world sparked
his interest to become a writer. His apprenticeship began as a staff writer and cartoonist for his high school
newspaper.
Marriage and the responsibility of a family caused a departure from college to seek
a career which put his eagerness to be a writer on hold. After his two sons finished their education and set out
on their own, he and his spouse looked toward the good life in a warm climate and relocated to Florida.
His interest in writing was rekindle after reading about the history of the
Seminole Indian Tribe and the exploits of the state's early pioneers.
Extensive research into their history led to the publication of several souvenir
booklets and writing a series of historical articles for a Florida newspaper. Their success gained him
a commission to create historical tours for the cities of Fort Worth, Texas, Miami and Fort Lauderdale,
Florida.
He began to read fiction. Soon, the idea of trying to mold the paradox
of half-truths into fiction took shape. He changed his genre to fiction and set his focal point on the city
noted for its gangsters, Chicago.
While reseaching old crime files an intriguing name, "The Yard",
surfaced within a number of high profile crimes. After extensive inquiring and intruding into places that
were taboo, he finally gained access to a privy of information about the strange name.
His discovery unfolded a secret crime investigative unit that once existed within
the Chicago Police Department dubbed "Chicago's Scotland Yard".
It was established in 1921 and fashioned
after London's famous Scotland Yard. Its disbandment came in 1956, leaving an extrodinary amount of information about
Chicago's underworld of criminal activities.
Still, the most captivating find was its location, an abandon police station, a
stones throw from the author's home as a youth. This and memories sparked his current series of "Whodunits" featuring
a fictional female inspector BJ McFabish, whose abilities to deduce facts and clues in crime scenes somewhat equal
those of London's fictional, Sherlock Holmes.
