Chicago: Lawrence Hill Books / Chicago Review Press, (2012) dj. Hardcover first edition - When the federal government, despite the "new deal, " pulled back from direct relief, control was returned to local authorities. "On February 25, 1938, the reviled poormaster [of Hoboken, NJ], Harry Barck wielding power over who would receive public aid died from a paper spike thrust into his heart. . . News of the poormasters death brought national attention to the plight of ten million unemployed living in desperate circumstances. A team led by celebrated attorney Samuel Leibowitz of 'Scottsboro Boys' fame worked to save Scutellaro from the electric chair, arguing that the jobless mans struggle with the poormaster was a symbol of larger social ills." We are still living in a time when these issues - endemic poverty, and the inadequacy of public assistance - are vital. Map, photographs, notes, index. 308 pp. ISBN: 978-1613744185.

New York: William H. Morrow, (1986) dj. Hardcover first edition - Novel by this award-winning mystery writer centered on the trial of Cully Paul King, a handsome black skipper of private yacht, who was arrested in a California coastal town for the strangulation murder and robbery of a woman he had hired to work onboard. "The prosecutor claims that the victim's jewel case which can't be found was King's motive for murder. The contents of the case mark one of the startling disclosures in the proceedings, most shedding merciless light on the people involved with the defendant. The judge, the opposing attorneys, the amorous court clerk - everyone has more at stake in the verdict than the defendant. All, for different reasons, want to control King's future. Only one realizes that ambition, making the final shocker in Millar's tautly constructed story." (PW Weekly) 323 pp. ISBN: 0-688065937.