This Chicago-born author's life reads like that of one of his characters - a fellow who, in his mid-fifties, has seen a bit more reality than is often healthy but come away with P. J. O'Rourke's sense of humour instead of angst.
Charlie Newton has built successful restaurants and hotels, raced thoroughbreds that weren't quite so successful and sold television and film in the Middle East to gentlemen who often weren't. Generally speaking, he's lived a life in the borderlands (literal and figurative) where stories like CALUMET CITY happen. And survived to enjoy it.