round up of fiction books set in Chicago (for most or all of the story) or nonfiction books about the city
created by deirdrizzle
last updated August, 2026
Red Line: Chicago Horror Stories
Cynthia Pelayo
Die for Me: A Novel
Shirlene Obuobi
Chicago TV Horror Movie Shows: From Shock Theatre to Svengoolie
Ted Okuda
Wake Now in the Fire: A Graphic Novel
Jarrett Dapier
Summerdale
David Jay Collins
We Dance Upon Demons
Vaishnavi Patel
Osgood as Dead
Cooper S. Beckett
Conspiracy in the Streets: The Extraordinary Trial of the Chicago Seven
Jon Wiener
Original Sins: The (Mis)education of Black and Native Children and the Construction of American Racism
Eve L. Ewing
The Place Where They Buried Your Heart
Christina Henry
This City is Killing Me: Community Trauma and Toxic Stress in Urban America
Jonathan Foiles
There are No Children Here: The Story of Two Boys Growing Up in the Other America
Alex Kotlowitz
My Bloody Life: The Making of a Latin King
Reymundo Sánchez
The El: A Novel
Theodore C. Van Alst Jr.
Simon B. Rhymin' (Simon B. Rhymin', #1)
Dwayne Reed
An American Summer: Love and Death in Chicago
Yummy: The Last Days of a Southside Shorty
G. Neri
Balm
Dolen Perkins-Valdez
Children of Chicago (Children of Chicago #1)
Hairstyles of the Damned (Punk Planet Books)
Joe Meno
Savvy Summers and the Sweet Potato Crimes
Sandra Jackson-Opoku
Lucky Day
Chuck Tingle
The Shoemaker's Magician (Chicago Saga, #2)
The House That Horror Built
As the Wicked Watch
Tamron Hall
The Perfect Place to Die
Bryce Moore
My Vampire Plus-One
Jenna Levine
Ghosts in the Schoolyard: Racism and School Closings on Chicago's South Side
1919
The City Is Up for Grabs: How Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot Led and Lost a City in Crisis
Gregory Royal Pratt
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