Ever wish you could be a fly on the wall during prohibition days? A guided tour awaits the reader in Wetter than the Mississippi: Prohibition in St. Louis and Beyond, published by Reedy Press. Old newspaper stories and oral history accounts bring to life this fascinating period, when the St. Louis area was awash in saloons and scandals. Author Robbi Courtaway has uncorked vintage reserves of anecdotal stories and lively narratives that focus on the greater St. Louis area, and span a 150-mile radius into Missouri and Illinois: Boonville, Jefferson City and Cape Girardeau, Mo., to Nauvoo, Decatur, Springfield, and deep southern Illinois. A double-length chapter at the center of the book details the 1920s-era gangs who specialized in bootleg booze and bloodshed in St. Louis and southern and central Illinois. Also featured are the brewing and wine industries, law enforcement, elected officials, the Ku Klux Klan, home brewers and amateur bootleggers, nightspots around town, a failed whiskey-siphoning scheme, a high-profile beer protection scandal, historical background of prohibition and more.