Libby Fischer Hellmann didn’t come to Chicago to write mysteries. When she wheeled her Corvair Monza off the Skyway, headed north, and hit Lake Shore Drive for the first time 30 years ago, the D.C.

Reader, I have a confession to make: I’m from Vancouver. Four years into my nearly 20 living in Portland, my residency was officiated at the now-defunct Hamburger Mary’s in Old Town. The host asked if ...