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This page lists novels and short story collections that feature the Chicago Tribune police reporter Snap Malek.

Three Strikes You're Dead

Robert Goldsborough

2005

A Snap Malek novel.

"In the shadowy metropolis that is 1938 Chicago, Steve Malek is a Tribune police reporter in a city gripped by the Kelly-Nash political machine and the post-Capone crime syndicate. With the winds of change blowing in, Malek senses the story of a lifetime when a reform candidate for mayor is gunned down by an unknown assailant. Incurring the anger of his editors, Malek ranges far beyond his beat, plunging into a maverick investigation of the murder that soon spins beyond his control. However, it's the other side of the law, displeased with Malek's inquiries, that leaves him dangling on the edge of life and death. Along this precarious journey, Malek is dazzled by actress Helen Hayes, and crosses paths with Richard J. Daley, legendary Tribune publisher Robert R. McCormick, Al Capone, and pitching great Dizzy Dean, who after being traded to the Cubs at the start of the '38 season, helps lead the race for the pennant, never imagining he will be the key to Malek's very survival!"

Shadow of the Bomb

Robert Goldsborough

2006

A Snap Malek novel.

"Against the ominous backdrop of America's entry into World War II, the navy still reels from the devastation wreaked at Pearl Harbor and the crushing defeat of US ground troops in the Philippines. On the home front, scientists at the University of Chicago under Enrico Fermi labor feverishly on a secret weapon that promises to reverse the fortunes of battle. However, sinister forces are at work on the outwardly serene Gothic campus, resulting in violent deaths. While work grinds on in the shadowy catacombs beneath an abandoned football stadium–work that will forever alter our world–Chicago Tribune police reporter Steve Malek delves into the intrigue. Battling for an exclusive story and, ultimately, for his very life, Malek finds himself in the midst of history-in-the-making."

A Death in Pilsen

Robert Goldsborough

2007

A Snap Malek novel.

"1946, the first post-World War II year, finds Tribune police reporter Snap Malek hip deep in a murder case. Someone has stabbed his cousin's British war bride to death in their Bohemian neighborhood home in Pilsen. As the prime suspect, the meek and self-effacing man is jailed, and Malek, convinced of his innocence, begins a dogged hunt for the murderer. Snap’s rogue investigation takes him into the shadowy blue-collar saloon world of Pilsen, where he encounters a mélange of characters. Despite objections from the police, Malek presses on, incurring the anger of one of the bar’s habitués, and fighting for his life in a bare-knuckle slugfest in a Pilsen street. Determined, Malek hires the city’s best defense attorney, encounters legendary architect Frank Lloyd Wright, and deals with the traumatic emotional distraction of reporting on one of the nation’s worst-ever train wrecks that rocked the western Chicago suburb of Naperville. Finally, when Snap turns his attention back to the murder case, he finds multiple surprises and an unexpected and tragic resolution."

A President in Peril

Robert Goldsborough

2009

A Snap Malek novel.

"Autumn 1948 - the final tense days of the Presidential campaign between incumbent Harry S Truman and Republican challenger Thomas E. Dewey. As Truman prepares for a visit to Chicago, Tribune police reporter Steve 'Snap' Malek is warned of a plan by an anti-Semitic group to assassinate the President because of his recognition of the new state of Israel. This hate group pressures Malek to give them publicity in the Tribune. He demurs, and the menacing organization, calling itself The New Reich, begins killing Chicagoans, one a day, including a policeman and a fireman. They threaten to kill more unless Malek writes about them, although their spokesman, contacting the reporter by phone, refuses his request for an in-person interview. Malek begins his dogged hunt for the people behind The New Reich, along the way meeting maverick automaker Preston Tucker and getting a chance to drive his revolutionary new car. Finally, one week before the election, Truman arrives in Chicago for a parade, and Malek comes face-to-face with the would-be assassin, laying his own life on the line in a desperate attempt to stifle the deadly plot."

A Call from Rockford

Robert Goldsborough

Echelon Press

2010

A Snap Malek novella published electronically.

"A young girl, a neighbor of Chicago tribune police reporter Snap Malek, has gone missing. Frantic, her parents enlist Snap's aid. Hoping to help locate the girl and bring attention to the plight of other missing children, Malek writes a feature story for the Trib about the girl's disappearance. Aid comes in an unusual way. A phone call from Rockford with an apparent tip takes Snap on a trip to the Northeast Illinois city and a surprising discovery. What is the truth?"

Terror at the Fair

Robert Goldsborough

2011

A Snap Malek novel.

"It's the summer of 1949 and Steve 'Snap' Malek has been assigned by his editors to cover the Chicago Railroad Fair. For three months this sprawling and lavish event will draw visitors to the showcase on the city's beautiful Lakefront. Malek, used to getting his headlines covering the gritty Police Headquarters, sees this as the first step in being put out to pasture. Deciding that a man's got to do what a man's got to do, he accepts the assignment, grumbling all the while. However, violence has a way of finding the intrepid Snap Malek, even in this least likely of locales. Striking indiscriminately, a killer bearing a grudge against railroads in general, threatens to shut down the highly publicized and well-attended national exposition with a series of bizarre murders. Before this reign of terror ends, famed filmmaker Walt Disney enters the scene with a theory about the killer, and Malek himself, bloodied and wounded, becomes a target of the madman’s wrath."

Stairway to Nowhere And Other Stories: A Snap Malek Reader

Robert Goldsborough

2017

A Snap Malek novella and five short stories.

"Stairway to Nowhere is only one of Snap’s dramatic encounters. This bonus companion book to the Snap Malek Mysteries offers several more of his unique experiences."

• Stairway to Nowhere
• A Phone Call To Rockford
• The One-Eyed Man On The Elevated
• A Blaze In The Night
• The Iron Sergeant
• The Reporter And The Frantic Wife