That's the title of a book just completed last night by Erik Larson. The "White City" was Chicago's 1893 Worlds Fair display, and the "devil" was H.H Holmes, a physician that murdered scores of women and children. It's a story within a story.

This true time in history takes you back when Chicago was emerging from the great fire, eager to establish itself as one of the great cities of the world. The main character, besides Holmes, was the chief architect, Daniel Burnham. Those that worked under him were the likes of Frederick Olmsted (of N.Y.C. Central Park fame), George Ferris (wheel), Frank Lloyd Wright, and many more.

The book is thoroughly researched and gives us a fascinating account of late 1800s life in Chicago and, of course, the making of the world's greatest fair (up to that time). Did you know the original Ferris Wheel could carry 2160 adults at one time?! Google it sometime.

I was also entertained by "A Death in White Bear Lake", by Barry Siegel. This is about a child abuse "murder" that took place in a suburb of St. Paul (MN) in 1965, but was ignored for 20 years. When the real mother of the adopted boy wanted to discover what ever happened to the son she gave up, she found he had died "accidentally" at age 3. This is an interesting true life history of the case that eventually caught the parents. We've come a long way in the area of battered child syndrome.