Illusions of Magic: Love and Intrigue in 1933 Chicago

Illusions abound. Connie’s illusion is a better life with someone else. Hinkley’s illusion is a return to earlier times. Sossek’s illusion is money without work. And Giuseppe Zangara’s illusion is to “fix the world” by killing FDR.

Illusions of Magic is the story of a victim of vaudeville’s demise and the Great Depression. Magician Nick Zetner embarks on a risky quest to regain his life. Along the way, a love he thought he’d forever lost is rekindled. Is this a promise of magic, or is it another illusion?

The question plays during nineteen days of political upheaval, the last nineteen days of Chicago Mayor Anton Cermak’s life. Mayor Cermak was wounded by a bullet intended for Franklin D. Roosevelt during the little-known, but true-life assassination attempt on the president-elect, Feb. 15, 1933.

In modern style, this novel ranges through historic Chicago, its comedy and magic, exposing the intrigues and foibles of the City’s famous and infamous, while the engrossing tale of Nick Zetner’s dreams, adversity and insight unfolds.

The novel’s characters and situations spring to life in the volume’s marvelous pen-and-ink illustrations drawn by the author, a well-known and award-winning artist.