Illinois Authors

St. Martin's Griffin 2022

This true story is the basis for the hit APPLE TV series, BLACK BIRD, starring Taron Edgerton, Paul Walter Hauser, Greg Kinnear, and Ray Liotta. Jimmy Keene was offered an impossible mission: Coax a confession out of a fellow inmate, a serial killer, and walk free. James Keene grew up outside of Chicago. Although he was the son of a policeman and rubbed shoulders with the city's elite, he ended up on the wrong side of the law and was sentenced to ten years with no chance of parole. Just a few months into his sentence, Keene was approached by the prosecutor who put him behind bars. He had convicted a man named Larry Hall for abducting and killing a fifteen-year-old. Although Hall was suspected of killing nineteen other young women, there was a chance he could still be released on appeal. If Keene could get him to confess to two murders, there would be no doubt about Hall's guilt. In return, Keene would get an unconditional release from prison. But he could also get killed. A story that gained national notoriety, Black Bird is Keene's powerful tale of peril, violence, and redemption.

St. Martin's Griffin 2011

This true story is the basis for the hit APPLE TV series, BLACK BIRD, starring Taron Edgerton, Paul Walter Hauser, Greg Kinnear, and Ray Liotta. Jimmy Keene was offered an impossible mission: Coax a confession out of a fellow inmate, a serial killer, and walk free. Jimmy Keene grew up outside of Chicago. Although he was the son of a policeman and rubbed shoulders with the city's elite, he ended up on the wrong side of the law and was sentenced to ten years with no chance of parole. Just a few months into his sentence, Keene was approached by the prosecutor who put him behind bars. He had convicted a man named Larry Hall for abducting and killing a fifteen-year-old. Although Hall was suspected of killing nineteen other young women, there was a chance he could still be released on appeal. If Keene could get him to confess to two murders, there would be no doubt about Hall's guilt. In return, Keene would get an unconditional release from prison. But he could also get killed. A story that gained national notoriety, this is Keene's powerful tale of peril, violence, and redemption.

Silly Goat Media 2023

Before Larry Hall and the events of Black Bird, Jimmy Keene already had a life that most people couldn’t begin to imagine. As the athletically gifted son of a beauty queen and a decorated police officer, it appears that young Jimmy Keene’s promising future may take him all the way to a professional sports career. But then, his family is torn apart and everything changes. Jimmy begins secretly running a dangerous marijuana business at thirteen years old to claw his way out of his poverty-stricken environment and to support his family. At a young age, Jimmy weathers shootouts, brawls, and robberies and even foils a heist or two. Survival is never guaranteed. Jimmy’s business thrives for two decades as he builds an empire in a glamorous world of power, money, and corruption. But in 1996, he is federally charged for his involvement in an illicit conspiracy during Operation Snow Plow and sent to prison. Less than a year and a half later, Jimmy earns an early release and a clean record for aiding the FBI as an undercover operative—but his future has still gone up in smoke. Newly freed from his perilous prison life, Jimmy is left with nothing but the memory of his former financial success and a blazing determination to redeem his past mistakes. This thrilling, all-new follow-up to the critically acclaimed AppleTV+ series Black Bird spills all the stunning details of Jimmy's action-packed early years and his rise from the ashes to rebuild a better life as a successful businessman who forges his own path all the way to Hollywood.