DEATH AT THE CHICAGO TRUST: Emily Cabot Mysteries Book 10 by Frances McNamara

This review was published in the February 2026 issue of Historical Novels Review.

Widowed grandmother, Emily Chapman, has quite a day in the winter of 1930 when she learns her savings are a casualty of the stock market crash, watches her banker commit suicide, and witnesses a Chicago mob shooting. Emily is sickened by her city’s descent into lawlessness and burns for the evil-doer gangsters to be brought to justice. But her involvement thrusts her into the underbelly of Prohibition-era Chicago and puts her family at risk. She comes face to face with Al Capone’s henchman Frank Nitti and organized crime pursuer Eliot Ness as she digs deeper and deeper.

Emily’s first-person, easy to read account of her part in the criminal investigation unfolds in a comfortable, conversational style. Pacing is crisp from scene to scene as Emily follows leads on the suspect she has identified, while learning that old allies in the Police Department and at City Hall can’t be as helpful as they once were. Emily is an interesting and noble protagonist, an academic drawn with plentiful societal and behavioral observations, an interest in emerging criminology techniques, and a zest to serve others, both in her family and the community at large. Local landmarks like The Loop, Cicero, Hull House, Evanston, and Hyde Park provide backdrop. Depression-era Chicago politics and gangster activities are well-researched. This book is tenth in a historical mystery series. A fine pick for readers seeking a page-turning, fast read featuring a strong female heroine seeking justice in crime-ridden Chicago in the ‘30s.