Part mystery and part romance, The Legacy is a commentary on the legal profession as well as a vivid picture of a city that has always been divided between an elite upper class and waves of aspiring immigrants. While unraveling the puzzle of an oddly worded Last Will, Adam Chauncey and Sally Warren seek to uncover the secrets of the legacy left by an enigmatic Chicago financier. Their search for answers takes them from the elite mansions North of the city to the Latino neighborhoods of the South Side. What they discover is a dysfunctional family troubled by a strange adoption and a second family related to the deceased. As they explore one lead after another, they begin to realize the complicity of the senior partners of their law firm in a cynical cover-up. Whether or not they reveal the existence of a second, more recent will, presents them with a desperate choice.

James Gilbert

After an academic career during which he authored ten works on modern American History, (one of them a New York Times notable book), James Gilbert turned to fiction. He has now written a book of short stories and five novels, three of them a mystery series set in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.

The Legacy is his sixth published work.

He has twice won awards from the annual F. Scott Fitzgerald short story contest.

Born in Chicago, he grew up in a small suburb just to the south of the city. He graduated from Carleton College in Minnesota and earned a doctoral degree in history at the University of Wisconsin. While a professor at the University of Maryland, he taught at several universities in Europe and Australia as a visiting professor. He currently resides in Silver Spring, Maryland.