• by Ray Schultz , May 20, 2025

The Chicago Sun-Times has confirmed that a summer reading feature titled “Heat Index: Your Guide to the Best of Summer” recommended fake books.

"To our great disappointment, that list recommended books that do not exist," the Sun-Times acknowledged. 

The Philadelphia Inquirer also ran the section, which included books that famed authors Isabel Allende and Percival Everett never wrote. In fact, only five of the 15 books listed in the section are real, NPR says.

The Washington Post reports that the section was “syndicated by King Features, a service from the Hearst media company.”

“I’m very responsible about it,” the author, a Chicago-based freelance writer named Marco Buscaglia, told the Post. “I do check things out, but in this case, I mean, I totally missed it.”

The Sun-Times states: “We are actively investigating the accuracy of other content in the special section. We will provide more information on that investigation when we have more details.”

The story was first reported by 404 Media.