Tell us about The Champagne Ladies.

Its  theme is patriotism and religion run amok. In the summer of 1968, two young women (Rita and Sandra) move into a conservative neighborhood of Chicago called Little Village, once dominated by Eastern European families but now changing as Mexican families move in. The more bigoted residents are appalled, and plot how to get the Mexicans out of the neighborhood. Against this backdrop of changing race relations is the tension caused by the Vietnam War and the plans by Yippie demonstrators to disrupt the upcoming Democratic Convention.

Rita and Sandra are the catalyst for a series of events that end in a murder, which isn’t solved for ten years. The person most affected by that summer is 15-year-old Ben Podlowski, who adopts the two Champagne Ladies as his mentors. Suffering at home at the hands of his father, a religious zealot, Ben learns from them the importance of staying true to his ideals as the only sure way to achieve happiness.

What genre is it?

Mystery. I don’t classify as “hardboiled,” however, but the action is driven by an unsolved murder.

What kind of readers will it appeal to?

Although my novel is a mystery, readers of general fiction will enjoy its messages: respect other ethnic groups and their culture, keep an open mind as you go through life, don’t fear change, love thy neighbor, and show a little understanding for the problems of others. We’re all in this together.

Anyone interested in the politics and racial culture of Chicago in 1968 will also find it appealing, especially if they lived there during that time. I think high school students will like it as well, since many of them could probably relate to the problems of Ben Podlowski, who’s a high school sophomore.

How long did it take to write?

It took exactly one year and 12 days. The first draft was completed in six months, and I spent the next six months revising and rewriting. Eight drafts in all until I had the final version. Even now when I look at it I think: I wish I had used a different word in that sentence. Or: that paragraph is a little too long.

What was the most challenging part of your creative process?

Making sure that every character had a logical motivation for everything he or she did and said. A chaarcter who acts “out of character” is not believable and destroys the story. As I wrote I constantly asked myself: Would Rita and Sandra play on the swings at the park?” Would Ben talk back to his father? Would Joey Baloney (Ben’s closest friend) concoct a plan for finding a neighbor who went AWOL from the army? If I wasn’t satisfied with their motivation and the way they had developed as characters, I wouldn’t put them in a situation that wasn’t believable. Another challenge was ensuring that the political events and references to movies, songs and TV shows I included in the novel were historically accurate. I spent a lot of time on research, but that was necessary to evoke the mood of the time I wanted to achieve.

Tell us a bit about yourself.

I’ve been a journalist for nearly 40 years, working at various newspapers and magazines in the Chicago area. As a print journalist I suffered the fate of thousands of other writers and editors in a dying industry: I was laid off. And so I decided it was now or never to get serious about my fiction. As a reporter and editor I worked long days, traveled, and never had enough time to write what I always wanted to: novels. It’s odd, given how long I’ve been a journalist, but I never thought I’d get into the news business. When I became a writer I wanted to be a novelist.

I was born and raised in Chicago’s Little Village, where my novel takes place, and now live on the city’s North Side.

Have you got a blog where readers can keep up with your work?

Sure do: http://greggceb.wordpress.com/

Where can we buy The Champagne Ladies?

It’s available on Amazon.

What’s next?

I’m currently writing a novel, The Coffin Haulers, about a gang of Polish thieves. One of their members is murdered. The character of Joey Baloney, a private detective in “The Champagne Ladies,” is called in to investigate. The setting is Chicago in the early 1970s as “independent wholesalers,” as my thieves call themselves, are being forced out of business by the powerful street gangs, who want to expand their criminal activities.

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Enjoyed this interview? Then check out our conversation with Peggy Edelheit.