Chicago provides the dark setting for an homage to horror films and history in a new novel by Hermosa native. In “The Shoemaker’s Magician,” Pelayo blends film history and Chicago history into a genre-crossing journey into the occult. The story opens with the discovery of a gruesome murder in a downtown theater.
“Sebastian Ramos, who is a homicide detective, … discovers a body on stage at the Chicago Theatre one night with a poster of an old 1920s film affixed to the body,” Pelayo said. “And his wife, Paloma Ramos, is a horror host on YouTube and she’s an expert on all things horror films. Both of them work together to solve increasing … counts of bodies being found throughout various historic Chicago theaters.
“I feel like Chicago is this beautiful mix of light and dark and especially in ‘The Shoemaker’s Magician,’ a lot of people don’t realize that Chicago was Hollywood before there was Hollywood,” Pelayo said. “Chicago was the silent film capital of the world. Charlie Chaplin worked here. He filmed numerous movies here. And so Chicago takes center stage again as we learn about the history of the silent film era in the city of Chicago.”He starts flipping through it and stops.
“I’ve lived here my whole life and I’ve never read of the Tivoli,” Gutierrez says. He moves over to her laptop. “Let’s hope this isn’t password protected.”“A little funny. I feel like we stepped into one of Polly’s movies. Potential serial killer. A victim with very bizarre interests. This is all above my pay grade.”
Excerpted from “The Shoemaker’s Magician” by Cynthia Pelayo. Copyright 2023 Cynthia Pelayo. All rights reserved.
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