By Natasha Julius

I close my phone and sigh. Lucy’s not the type of girl to cry wolf; if she thinks there’s something going down, that means that right now some punk with sticky fingers is trying to pocket store property. Well, he picked the wrong books, music, DVD and coffee retailer to target today.
“Something wrong?” asks the blonde. She’s leaning forward in her chair with a concerned look on her face.
“No, it’s just, uh . . . That was my office. I’ve got to get back.”
She stands up and walks toward me, her wavy hair falling like liquid gold around her shoulders. “So soon? You must have a pretty important job.”

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Posted on April 3, 2006

By Natasha Julius

You see the worst kinds of low-lifes in this job. Not the mobsters, the crass developers or the crooked politicians that run this town; but the liars and the thieves, the thrill-seekers and the junkies, all of them looking for that five-finger discount. My name is Jim Brody, and I’m a store detective.

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Posted on March 29, 2006

By The Beachwood Reporter’s Book Affairs Desk

A list.

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Posted on March 27, 2006

By Steve Rhodes

Was the seemingly fun-loving Harry Caray actually a miserable human being?
Former Cubs broadcaster Milo Hamilton is taking some shots for saying just that in his new book, Making Airwaves.
“Being around Caray, day after day, was a real challenge,” Hamilton writes. “Harry’s handling of people was poor to say the least.”

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Posted on February 28, 2006

“What is literature?” Jean-Paul Sartre once asked in a small volume bearing that title.
I submit that literature is made upon any occasion that a challenge is put to the legal apparatus by conscience in touch with humanity.

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Posted on February 26, 2006

A possibly true story that will be told in many parts. Debuts soon.

Posted on February 25, 2006