Maggie Lynch is caught by police officer Doarty as she is climbing down a fire escape from Farris place. Abe Farris runs a notorious brothel and Doarty is not getting the kickbacks that he thinks he deserves. So he uses Maggie as a pawn in his dispute. Maggie decides that she has had enough with the sleazy red light district and sets out to find a more respectable life.
She finds out that the business world is full of greed and deceit even more than the streets she left behind. She finds a job as a secretary to Odgen Secor a respectable businessman. One night he is hit over the head in a robbery. While incapacitated his business partner runs the company into the ground. He finds himself friendless and starts over in Idaho where he strikes it rich in finding gold.
Maggie now using her real name June Lathrop is arrested for the murder of his father John Secor. Luckily an amateur detective finds the real murderer.
This book was written in 1913 and is one of his realistic books. If my summary is a bit confusing that is because this book was confusing to me. It starts off good but in the second half he sort of crams everything together and it becomes a jumbled mess. It is supposed to be social commentary on the corruption of Chicago. I think that it does portray an accurate picture of the society at that time and the slang is very authentic. It still doesn’t make up for the dull and confusing plot. This is one of my least favorite Burrough’s books.
So unless your a Burrough’s completest I would skip this book.
THE BOOKS THAT TIME FORGOT. 
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