Hi, this is Josh Levine, host of Slate's podcast mini-series The Queen.

Thanks to everyone who listened to our four episodes and our two bonus episodes for Slate Plus

members.

If you'd like to learn more about Linda Taylor's life,

you should check out my book, The Queen, The Forgotten Life

behind an American Myth.

Today, we're going to give our podcast listeners

a preview of the audio book, which is narrated by January

Lervoy.

Chapter 1 A New Victim

Jack Sherwin tossed his day's work on the front seat of his unmarked Chevy.

He'd fished five or six burglary reports from his pigeonhole after roll call,

enough to keep him and his partner occupied all morning and for a good chunk of the afternoon.

Sherwin didn't need any more assignments. He had at least a half dozen more reports jammed inside his briefcase.

The Chicago burglary detective turned on the police scanner and peeled off his sport coat.

August 12th, 19 sunny, hot, and unbearably humid.

The sky felt heavy, but it wouldn't rain all day.

Sherwin headed east from his unit's headquarters on 91st Street and South Cottage Grove,

past the Jewel Food Store, where a group of armed men had recently made off with a thousand dollar hall.

He parked his car in South Chicago, a working-class, mostly black and Latino neighborhood,

bordered on the west by the Skyway, a toll road that carried suburban commuters

above a part of town they'd rather not drive through.

...