Just finished
Devil in the White City by Erik Larsen.
http://www.randomhouse.com/crown/dev...city/home.html
This was an amazing book. Non-fiction.
It recounts, in sort of a parallel fashion, the lives & projects of two individuals in Chicago in the early 1890s. One of them was architect Daniel Burnham, who was in charge of building the Chicago World's Fair. Facinating stuff about the politics of the fair - - and everything from engineering problems to labor issues. Notable cameos by many famous sorts - - Buffalo Bill, Thomas Edison, Elias Disney (Walt's dad), George Ferris, Clarence Darrow, Susan B. Anthony, Hellen Keller, Frank Baum, etc., etc.
The other guy, who had his own project underway, was Herman Webster Mudgett, a/k/a Dr. H. H. Holmes, possibly one of the most prolific serial killers in American history, who constructed what was basically a "murder factory" - - practically next door to the fair.
5 stars.