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Acclaimed Author Betty Brandt Passick Featured in Reader’s House Magazine, Winner of Editor’s Choice Award of Literary Excellence (link), Feb. 21, 2025

Popular Author Talk (60 mins): “Gangster(s) in Our Midst: The Untold Story.” The presentation exposes the backstory of mobster Louie La Cava, who soon after arriving in my hometown of Fairbank, Iowa, in the early 1920s, he boasted of being “bookkeeper to Al Capone.” The historical crime novel chronicles the gangster’s criminal life during the 60 years he resided there off and on. The talk includes other gangsters who roamed the Midwest during the “Gangster Era” of the 1920s/30s.

I grew up in the small town of Fairbank, Iowa (population 1,000), where few people would expect the idea for a gangster series, yet this is where I have drawn inspiration for my historical crime novels. Most recently, the series was awarded the 2025 Editor’s Choice Award of Literary Excellence by Reader’s House book review magazine in the UK. My 10-year writing journey has been arduous… similar to rescuing Bichon Frise dogs—something else I do since retiring from a Fortune 500 Company. Meet me at the Robert Trail Library in Rosemount, MN, and learn more about my story on May 15th!

© 2017 Betty Brandt Passick. All rights reserved.