Monday, September 29, 2025 at 7:00 PM
Skylight Books, Los Angeles
 CLICK HERE TO RSVP _**RSVP is recommended but not required. Entry and seating are first-come, first-served. RSVPs do not guarantee entry to a full event.**_ Elijah Mendes was hoping for a more triumphant return to Chicago. His mother, Eve, is dying of cancer, his business flamed out, and he has nowhere else to go. So he returns to Chicago feeling listless and shattered, worried about how he’s going to help his mother despite their chilly relationship. He finds some inspiration when he discovers that their family owns a Jewish cemetery and that a man he’s never heard of, his great-uncle Solomon Kaplan, is buried in a plot there. With a new sense of purpose—and an excuse to talk more deeply with his mother—Elijah begins pursuing a family mystery of extraordinary proportions. Elijah discovers his grandfather Yitz, Eve’s father, was a powerful gangster in the 1920s. She was ashamed and never spoke about him to Elijah. As secrets unravel, the past and present become intertwined, and Yitz’s story forces Elijah and Eve to bond in ways they never have before and begin to accept each other, not as who they wish they were but as they both are. _Kaplan’s Plot_ is an astonishing balancing act between the ruthless and the tender, the superficial and the truth, by a writer with tremendous promise. **Jason Diamond** is the author of _Searching for John Hughes_, _The Sprawl_ and co-author of _New York Nico's Guide to NYC_ (with Nicolas Heller). His work has been published by the _New York Times_, _Esquire_, _The New Yorker_, _GQ_, _The Paris Review_, and many other outlets. He publishes the newsletter _The Melt_, was born in Skokie, Illinois, and currently lives in Brooklyn with his wife and daughter. _Kaplan’s Plot_ is his first novel.