cover image Bright and Yellow, Hard and Cold

Bright and Yellow, Hard and Cold

Tim Chapman. Allium (www.alliumpress.com), $14.99 trade paper (222p) ISBN 978-0-9831938-9-0

The title of Chapman’s assured first novel, taken from Thomas Hood’s poem “Gold!,” alludes to a stash of gold coins that psychopath Gilbert Anglin believes were hidden by Chicago gangsters during the 1930s. In flashbacks to Depression-era Chicago, newlyweds Delroy and Lucille aspire to a better life but become entangled in the criminal activities of their housemates, including the infamous Freddie Barker and Alvin Karpis. In the present, Anglin, acting on information from his father, an Alcatraz inmate who knew Karpis, leaves a trail of dead seniors across the Midwest in his quest to find the coins. John Phillips, a young thug, has confessed to killing one of Anglin’s victims, but Sean McKinney, a forensic scientist with the Illinois State Police, argues that no physical evidence links Phillips to the crime scene. McKinney’s dedication to the facts sets him on a collision course with Anglin. Well-developed characters more than make up for a less-than-credible climax. (June)