Author Jeffrey Gusfield to Visit May 9

Chicago native Jeffrey Gusfield is coming to the Waukegan Public Library on Wednesday, May 9 from 6 to 7:30 p.m. to reveal the details behind one of the city’s most famous whodunits, the grisly St. Valentine’s Day Massacre of 1929.

The author will read from his novel, “Deadly Valentines: The Story of Capone’s Henchman ‘Machine Gun’ Jack McGurn and Louise Rolfe, His Blonde Alibi,” and talk about his research into the Prohibition era of gangsters, speakeasies and smoking guns. When seven members of Chicago’s North Side gang were found splattered with bullets in an execution-style lineup, police immediately suspected McGurn. But the baby-faced McGurn, a prizefighter and professional hitman, had vanished. Two weeks later police found him holed up in a hotel with the beautiful Rolfe and a titillating alibi.

Copies of Gusfield’s book will be available for purchase and signing from Lake Forest Book Store. Part of the library’s Writers Revealed series, the event is free and includes complimentary refreshments. To register, click here. For questions about the Jeffrey Gusfield visit or other author events, call Sara Teti at 847-623-2041, ext. 292