By Judy Carmack Bross
Here is a plotline set in Chicago that lives up to the intriguing titular toast to old—dusty—money: Two riveting redheads, love and inheritance, North Side and South Side, and the clubs, institutions, and watering holes you love will have you turning the pages of Grove Mower’s newly released Dusty Money late into the night.
First of a trilogy, which he calls his love note to Chicago, Mower sets Dusty Money downtown. The other two, Amos and Ike and A Christmas Storm, are set in Lake Forest and Winnetka respectively, and will be released in 2025 and 2026. A tempest plays prominently in each book, stirring up characters to make bold moves in their lives. “After all,” Mower says, “in Chicago everyone always talks about the weather. If we didn’t have our weather, we wouldn’t talk to each other as much and our lives would be so much more dismal. So why not fire off Chicago
stories with massive storms?”
Grove Mower with his dog Vino
Mower, who is Managing Partner at Hummer Mower Associates, explained why he chose the title, Dusty Money. “The phrase ‘dusty money’ first came to me from my grandmother’s mouth as she described another family to my mother: ‘Dear, they’re dusty money,’ meaning old wealth. I thought the phrase amusing, enlightening, and descriptive. Ironically, I ended up being a financial advisor in a firm where we manage old family wealth. After writing my first two novels, I thought it would be fun to write a Chicago story that incorporated my background in finance. So, I did, producing what I call fun, fast fiction that is meant to entertain and have you turn the page.”
Flipping the book over is almost as fun as viewing its cover. Mary Ross Houghton, widow and grand dame, looks out into the future, daring you to challenge her matriarchy and money, while a plot summary tantalizes with what is transpiring on the front cover:
Clare Reynolds is an ambitious South Side girl struggling to climb the ladder of a downtown bank. After a once-in-a-century storm hits, she is presented with an opportunity to advance her career by securing the gold ring of a Chicago family with dusty money. But Clare must step carefully and not let love supersede money as she is swept up in a romance with the matriarch’s son. Also caught in this maelstrom is Margaret Carlson, a high-powered, quick- tempered technology lawyer whose life is turned upside down and inside out when her hot college flame shows up the day of the storm and she is forced to sleuth out why he is in Chicago while not falling back in love. Clare Reynolds and Margaret Carlson are strong willed redheads. Both are wrestling with love and money. Both need to succeed.
Though the characters are fictitious, there are “shout outs to the Arts Club, Ragdale, and Marie’s Riptide Lounge.” The Arts Club is the setting for a gala supporting Ragdale, the nonprofit artist community in Lake Forest, which turns up the heat on the plot, with two of the characters fresh from a makeover at the Chanel Boutique. “Rosy’s” Riptide Lounge is modeled on the legendary Marie’s Riptide Lounge in Bucktown. “Years ago, we’d meet there at ten o’clock for beers and the place would be dead. Then at midnight—poof—the place would explode with Marie and her
beehive hairdo holding court with all the kids drinking and dancing in the aisles until 4am.”
To make the reading even breezier, Mower includes Spotify playlists for all his novels, “so that you can be transported back in time, immerse yourself further in the plot, or just hum along.” Previous Mower novels are Forty Rod Road and Hope, a mature coming-of-age series set in the 1970s and 80s in the West, Midwest, and East.
“I’m a romantic at heart. I prefer happy endings and like to laugh. I set out to create characters that you care about and would like to go out and have a beer with. Let’s face it, there is a lot of dystopia and dyspepsia floating around out there—and we’re tired of it. We are all exhausted by the digital intrusion, the vitriol, and the nonsense. We need a break. An escape. More fun in our lives—think Ted Lasso. That’s why I’m asking my readers to take a break with fun, fast fiction. A humorous beach read you can pass along to a friend. Think bubble gum with a pop, two Butterfingers and a Coke, a second glass of wine with your feet up. That’s my goal.”
More can be found on Mower’s website snafupublications.com
Forty Rod Road, Mower’s coming of age novel
Hope, the sequel to Forty Rod Road, 10 years out
“This town has given so much to me, and it really bothers me that the city gets a bad rap. In all the communities of Chicago, you see how much our citizens care and want this city to thrive. I feel that we are on a very special island out here in the Midwest, and I want everyone to visit our island. This is a great American city. My hope is that readers around the country will recognize that fact.”
