History/True Crime Article Profile: “Milwaukee’s Local Color”

History/True Crime Article Profile: “Milwaukee’s Local Color”

Two of my research interests are the history of Milwaukee and the history of journalism, and in my article for The Wisconsin Magazine of History, “Milwaukee’s Local Color: The Journal, The Green Sheet, and Its Readers,” I discuss one of the most beloved features of Milwaukee’s longtime newspaper: The Green Sheet.  

What was the Green Sheet?  Allow me to quote myself from my article “Bring Back the Green Sheet,” published in the magazine Gilbert!:

 

“The Green Sheet was a fixture of The Milwaukee Journal for many years. It was an outstanding Milwaukee tradition. It was composed of a single sheet of newsprint dyed light green. Appearing Monday through Saturday, this remarkable section was a marvelous source of information and entertainment. 

Not only was it packed with comics and puzzles, but it was also stuffed with original articles on every topic under the sun. One day The Green Sheet would be filled with articles on East Indian folklore, the next day scientific stories about disease research might appear, the day after that could bring write-ups on figures from classic American fiction, coupled with short biographies of obscure real-life super sleuths. Both original and famous poetry and short fiction frequently appeared. Literate, simultaneously light and weighty, and highly respectful of its readers’ intelligence, The Green Sheet was a constant delight and an always salutary experience. It turned the comics page into high culture.”

My article covers the six-decade history of the Green Sheet, how it helped, educated, and entertained the city of Milwaukee, and why the section was cancelled.  This article was written before the Green Sheet was revived in The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel (the result of a merger).  I like to think that my efforts contributed to the quasi-renewal of the venerable section.

 

–Chris Chan

 

 

Chris Chan’s first book, Sherlock & Irene: The Secret Truth Behind “A Scandal in Bohemia” was released on August 27^th from MX Publishing, and is available for sale at Amazon.com and the MX Publishing website, as well as at Book Depository (with free worldwide shipping there).  It is also available in a Kindle edition.

 

Any Suggestions?

Any Suggestions?

 

Hi!  I’ve been writing for this blog for well over half a year now, and if there are any regular readers or visitors to this blog who have any ideas for upcoming content or any questions they’d like to ask, please let me know in the comments.

 

And if you’re interested in MX Publishing’s “Thank Holmes It’s Friday!” bargains, please take a look here.

 

 

Week 4 - Here are the offers valid from 9pm Thursday UK time (4pm EST) to 9am Saturday UK time (4am EST). Only one discount code can be used per customer so please pick your offer. Please consider adding a 'mystery book' to your order too as it helps us spread the postage.

 

 

Just A Dollar - Holmes Series of the Week

Shadowfall  (click) - $14.95

First in the Shadow trilogy from Tracy Revels (BSI)

Offer $1     Quantity 5

Code at basket     THIF-12

 

Sherlock Book Of The Week

Scandal In Bohemia (click)    $16.95 by Petr Kopl

Award winning graphic novel - first in a series of three.

Offer $ 6.95     Quantity 5

Code at basket     THIF-13

 

Free AudioBook of the Week

The Celtic Phoenix: A Sherlock Holmes Adventure (click)  $16.95 by Kim Krisco

Offer $ free    Quantity   5 US,  5 UK 

First five from USA and UK to use contact us form with code THIF-14 and let us know if you would like a US or UK code.

 

Half Price Series of the Week

Benedict Cumberbatch - All The Biographies (click) $54.85

Offer $27.00   Quantity  5

Code at basket  THIF-15

 

Remember that strictly while the office stocks last we have some UK Clearance Bundles left. You can buy multiple and we will try and make sure you always get new books.

We've also launched the Sherlock Holmes Book Club subscription service - anyone joining before the end of February will also get a copy of The Guide To Deduction.

 

 

 

 

–Chris Chan

 

 

Chris Chan’s first book, Sherlock & Irene: The Secret Truth Behind “A Scandal in Bohemia” was released on August 27^th from MX Publishing, and is available for sale at Amazon.com and the MX Publishing website, as well as at Book Depository (with free worldwide shipping there).  It is also available in a Kindle edition.

 

 

Kickstarter for The Cases of Sherlock Holmes and Solar Pons

Kickstarter for The Cases of Sherlock Holmes and Solar Pons

 

Belanger Books has been granted the rights to publish new stories feature Solar Pons, August Derleth’s affectionate pastiche of Sherlock Holmes (say the great detective’s name with a heavy lisp).  Belanger Books uses Kickstarter to fund its publications, and offers great rewards if you contribute to their fundraising.  Depending on how much you contribute, you can get one or both volumes of this collection in paperback or hardcover.

 

My story “The Wisconsin Hodag” will be in The Cases of Sherlock Holmes and Solar Pons, though I’m not sure which of the two volumes it will be in yet.

 

Also, this is Week Three of MX Publishing’s “Thank Holmes It’s Friday” promotion.  Go here to check out some discounts on select books, and even a free ebook!

 

–Chris Chan

 

 

Chris Chan’s first book, Sherlock & Irene: The Secret Truth Behind “A Scandal in Bohemia” was released on August 27^thfrom MX Publishing, and is available for sale at Amazon.com and the MX Publishing website, as well as at Book Depository (with free worldwide shipping there).  It is also available in a Kindle edition.

True Crime Article Profile: “Some Day the Truth Will Come Out”

True Crime Article Profile: “Some Day the Truth Will Come Out”

 

I am a crime historian as well as a mystery writer and critic.  Over a century ago in Madison, Wisconsin, a shocking murder turned the city upside-down.  A little girl, Annie Lemberger, was kidnapped from her home and brutally slain.  The police soon arrested a likely culprit and sent him to prison, but he maintained his innocence.  Years later, an ambitious lawyer took on the case, leading to a courtroom scene as dramatic as anything in Perry Mason.  

 

At the end of the proceedings, the world thought that a wrongly imprisoned man had be cleared and that the true guilty party had been identified.  But was this truly the case?  The second man to be accused argued that he had been framed, though few people wanted to hear his denials.  Decades passed, and the case, once the most famous American child murder aside from the Lindbergh Baby Kidnapping, faded into obscurity.

 

By the last twentieth century, Annie’s grown nephew, born long after her death, started looking into the case, and realized that corruption and misguided zeal had led to another miscarriage of justice.  Mark Lemberger’s book Crime of Magnitude explained his research and conclusions.  My article “Some Day the Truth Will Come Out” tells Mark Lemberger’s story.

 

Mark Lemberger’s website can be found here.

 

“Some Day the Truth Will Come Out” was published in September 2019, in issue #27 of Sherlock Holmes Mystery Magazine.  It won an Honorable Mention for the Kay W. Levin Award for Short Nonfiction from the Council for Wisconsin Writers.

 

 

–Chris Chan

 

 

Chris Chan’s first book, Sherlock & Irene: The Secret Truth Behind “A Scandal in Bohemia” was released on August 27^thfrom MX Publishing, and is available for sale at Amazon.com and the MX Publishing website, as well as at Book Depository (with free worldwide shipping there).  It is also available in a Kindle edition.

THIF!– Thank Holmes It’s Friday!

THIF!– Thank Holmes It’s Friday!

 

As I’ve mentioned many times on this blog, my first book, Sherlock & Irene: The Secret Truth Behind “A Scandal in Bohemia” was published by MX Publishing this year, and I couldn’t have asked for a better publisher.  MX Publishing specializes in Sherlock Holmes-themed work, and if you’re looking for new Sherlock Holmes stories by fans, scholarly work about Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, or just an entertaining read in general, I highly recommend that Sherlock Holmes fans and mystery readers take a look at their website.

 

MX Publishing is holding a special sale on certain books.  As part of their new promotion, “Thank Holmes It’s Friday!” here are some special deals:

 

Here are the offers valid from 9pm Thursday UK time to 9am Saturday UK time. Only one discount code can be used per customer so please pick your offer. Please consider adding a 'mystery book' to your order too as it helps us spread the postage.

Just A Dollar - Holmes Book of the Week

The Detective and The Woman - $16.95

First in the Holmes/Adler series of four books (so far) by Amy Thomas

Offer $1 Quantity 5

Code at basket THIF-3

Just a Dollar - Non-Holmes Book Of The Week

80 Years Gone In A Flash - $19.95

The autobiography of John Jochimsen - legendary photographer.

Offer $1 Quantity 5

Code at basket THIF-1

Sherlock Book Of The Week

The Monographs $22.95

The definitive guide to becoming Sherlock Holmes

Offer $ 5 Quantity 5

Code at basket THIF-4

Free AudioBook of the Week

A Biased Judgement: The Sherlock Holmes Diaries 1897 $18.95

Geri Schear's first in novel in a traditional trilogy

Offer $ free Quantity 5 US, 5 UK

First five from USA and UK to use contact us form with code THIF-2

 

Check them out before it’s too late!

 

 

–Chris Chan

 

 

Chris Chan’s first book, Sherlock & Irene: The Secret Truth Behind “A Scandal in Bohemia” was released on August 27^th from MX Publishing, and is available for sale at Amazon.com and the MX Publishing website, as well as at Book Depository (with free worldwide shipping there).  It is also available in a Kindle edition.

My Amazon Author Page

 My Amazon Author Page

 

If you’re interested in reading some of my work, please check out my Amazon Author Page.  There are links to the publications with my writings in them, connections to this blog, and if you’re interested in buying an anthology with one of my stories in it, or my book Sherlock & Irene, please check it out !

 

–Chris Chan

 

Chris Chan’s first book, Sherlock & Irene: The Secret Truth Behind “A Scandal in Bohemia” was released on August 27^thfrom MX Publishing, and is available for sale at Amazon.com and the MX Publishing website, as well as at Book Depository (with free worldwide shipping there).  It is also available in a Kindle edition.

My Work for Gilbert! Magazine, Part Two

 My Work for Gilbert! Magazine, Part Two

 

Picking up where I left off last week, during the first term of my senior year of college, I stopped by a used book sale and discovered an anthology of Nobel Prize for Literature laureates.  In the introductory essay for the 1936 Prize (Eugene O’Neill) there was an comment about how G.K. Chesterton was nominated for the 1935 prize.  I wondered if Mr. Dale Ahlquist, the President of the American Chesterton Society, knew any more about it. 

 

I wrote to him, and this was the first he’d heard about it.  He wrote to a friend in Sweden who was able to access the files and translate the assessment of Chesterton’s work.  This led to my writing an article on Chesterton’s Nobel nomination, which led to being asked to speak at the annual Chesterton Conference in the Twin Cities that summer.  A few months later, I joined Gilbert! as a contributing editor, and I’ve been writing for them ever since.  In the past sixteen-plus years, I’ve written over two hundred fifty articles for Gilbert!

 

I started by writing a column called “Manalive,” which focused on literary theory.  After a few years, I started writing more TV, movie, and book reviews, and after “Manalive” was discontinued, and focused on reviews, mainly in a column titled “Fear of Film.”  More recently, there was another change of assignment, leading to a column titled “Chesterton’s Great Characters.”  That lasted for a couple of years, with plenty of book reviews along the way.  For the last two years, I’ve been writing a column titled “The Debater,” focusing on the many prominent figures Chesterton debated over the years. 

 

Hopefully, I’ll be writing columns for Gilbert! for many years to come.

 

–Chris Chan

 

Chris Chan’s first book, Sherlock & Irene: The Secret Truth Behind “A Scandal in Bohemia” was released on August 27^thfrom MX Publishing, and is available for sale at Amazon.com and the MX Publishing website, as well as at Book Depository (with free worldwide shipping there).  It is also available in a Kindle edition.