Mystery author David Hagerty will be at Bookshop Benicia to read a passage from his new book, “They Tell Me You are Crooked,” the second in a series of murder mysteries about the dark side of Chicago politics.

Hagerty is the manager of Disability Support Services at Diablo Valley College and has also worked as an instructor at Sacramento City College and ran a literacy program at the Alameda County Jail. Working with criminals played a major part in inspiring Hagerty to write short stories about crime. This, coupled with having grown up in the tumultuous political climate of Chicago in the ‘70s and ‘80s, inspired him to write his first trilogy of novels about a Windy City politician and the criminal activity he faces.

The first book in the series, “They Tell Me You are Wicked,” was released in August 2015 and centers around Duncan Cochrane, a Chicago businessman who aspires to become the governor of Illinois. Six weeks before Election Day, his daughter is murdered and he uses his campaign to focus on fighting crime. The book was inspired by the real-life murder of Valerie Percy, the daughter of future Illinois Sen. Charles Percy, the events of which similarly took place shortly before Election Day.

The followup, “They Tell Me You are Crooked,” was released in September and takes place two years after the events of “Wicked.” Cochrane is now governor and is dealing with both a sniper targeting people in Chicago’s Cabrini Green housing project and a blackmailer threatening to reveal his family secrets.

As with “Wicked,” Hagerty says the events of “Crooked” were inspired by real Chicago incidents.

“This was based upon an incident that happened when I was 14 years old,” he said. “The mayor of Chicago at that time, Jane Byrne, was responding to a series of sniper shootings in Cabrini Green, which was a big housing project near where I lived. She moved into the complex for about three weeks as a way to, depending on your point of view, stop the violence or garner some publicity around it.”

Just like Byrne, Cochrane also moves into the complex, his goal being to locate both the sniper and the blackmailer.

Hagerty said the biggest challenge throughout writing the books has been getting period details right.

“I wanted it to be as authentic as possible in both the time and the setting,” he said. “I had to do quite a bit of research on everything from fashion to popular TV shows to the architecture of the buildings. You never want someone to call you up and say ‘You missed something in the details.’”

Hagerty is currently working on a draft for the third book, which he hopes to have completed in early 2017 with a release date scheduled for fall of that year. He hopes the books will allow readers to examine how politicians handle criminal matters.

“I hope they’ll see a little bit of how crime is portrayed in the news and also in the political arena,” he said. “I also hope they see some of the ways crime is used by politicians for purposes other than public safety. There’s a lot of politicians who try to use it to their own benefit in ways that don’t necessarily benefit the public.”

The author will be at Bookshop Benicia at 5 p.m., Saturday, Dec. 18 to read a chapter from “Crooked” as well as discuss the origins of the story and answer questions. Bookshop Benicia is located at 636 First St. For more information, call the store at 747-5155.

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