Issue four closes our exciting first year with the very talented debut of Arthur Klepchukov. His intelligent "A Damn Fine Town" is followed by film director and writer John Shepphird and a prequel to his award-nominated "Shill" trilogy, a bit of a teaser for those of you who may not have discovered Jane Innes…yet. Brian Silverman is up next with a story set on his fictional Caribbean island of St. Pierre featuring his characters, Leonard and Tubby. The featured story this issue is of the most excellent Inspector Kubu by the writing team of Michael Stanley. If "Shoot to Kill" is your first Kubu tale, believe me, he's only better when he's in a novel. Our featured historical story is by the very prolific, very good Frederick C. Davis, who became one of Harry Whittington's "St. Pete Boys," the group of writers like Gil Brewer, Day Keene, and occasionally John D. MacDonald, that met on Sunday afternoons at Harry's house. Davis's story is the first Secrets, Inc. installment, "Blood on the Block." We close out the issue with an offbeat heist story by Robb T. White called "Inside Man," and a short piece by the always terrific Lissa Marie Redmond, who first appeared in issue two, called "We Don't Talk About Lester Anymore." There's a good reason for that.
We know a healthy appetite for well-written short stories exists and we want to help make things better. Our goal with Down & Out: The Magazine is to be a little different than other magazines by standing on the shoulders of the giants that have come before us, or at least tiptoe along the arrows in the backs of the pioneers of modern magazine publishing. Each issue will feature a story based on a series character like this issue's brand-new Moe Prager story by Reed Farrel Coleman. If you're a fan of Moe, who is now retired, you'll want to read this fantastic story. We also have new tales by established and well-known writers. This debut issue includes series stories by Eric Beetner, Michael A. Black, Jen Conley, Terrence McCauley, Rick Ollerman, and Thomas Pluck. J. Kingston Pierce, fresh off his former beat from Kirkus Reviews, introduces "Placed in Evidence," his non-fiction column only to be found here. Finally, we'll take a bit of the long road as we answer the question of what happened to crime fiction after Dashiell Hammett and Raymond Chandler moved on from the pulps in "A Few Cents a Word." This issue we re-introduce Frederick Nebel with the first of his Donahue series, "Rough Justice." This is a fun one. For fans of good writing, good literature, and good crime...welcome.
"With his finger firmly placed on sailors' wartime experiences, Hess delivers a potent, thrilling collection of sharply drawn tales." -Kirkus Reviews The stories in Cold War Canoe Club are like vertical launch missiles that explode to reveal a darker side of the US Navy in a time when most of the action took place away from the headlines. Welcome to the period between World War II and the Desert Storm, when enemies were just as likely to be seen on radar as aboard the same ship. The characters who populate the stories Hess has written face their own doom through dangers-foreign and domestic, including shipmates, spouses, secrets, lies, greed, lust, and bad decisions. As Cold War Canoe Club unfolds, we witness the darkest recesses of war ships and the men who sail aboard them as well as the women who wait for them in port and at home. There's a submarine sinking in frigid waters, a pregnant Navy wife distraught over the Cuban Missile Crisis, a race riot aboard an air craft carrier, fist fights, loose women, bad luck, and bad decisions. Hess's sailors and veterans haunt deeply with the authentic sense of people being on ships at sea or at the ends of their ropes as civilians. These stories bristle with noir intrigue and energy, while transporting readers to worlds few have ever seen. A dark exploration of service men, officers, gentlemen, lowlifes, and those trying to navigate troubled waters across oceans and on land. Praise for Cold War Canoe Club... "Jeffery Hess combines a flair for gripping storytelling with a powerful lyrical sensibility to produce that rarest of birds: a book full of page-turners that read like literary fiction. Like Tim O'Brien and Kevin Powers, Hess writes with absolute authority about the military men whose lives he sees with utter clarity and intimacy." -Pinckney Benedict, author of Miracle Boy, The Wrecking Yard and Town Smokes. "Eerily timely and rendered with gritty realism, Cold War Canoe Club beckons us to recall a time when actions and attitudes appeared motivated by an entire world perpetually hovering along the brink of utter destruction. Each tightly woven gem of a short story represents a microcosm of the Cold War macrocosm, and dares to expose Hess as a genius for his artful juxtaposition of humanity's brash boldness with humanity's amnesic naiveté." -Tracy Crow, author of Eyes Right: Confessions from a Woman Marine and editor of Red, White, & True: Stories from Veterans and Families, WWII to Present. "Hess is one of those rare talents who tells a great story with compelling characters, pacing and action." -Terrence McCauley, author of Sympathy for the Devil and The Devil Dogs of Belleau Wood. "Cold War Canoe Club presents an eclectic array of situations and stories all tied together by Hess's hard-edged prose style and deeply-developed characters. In the smart, snappy tradition of Elmore Leonard and James Lee Burke, Hess is a writer who pulls no punches and delivers authenticity in rapid-fire doses." -Steph Post, author of Lightwood and A Tree Born Crooked. "Smart, poignant, often slyly funny, these are stories that will both take your breath away and take you places you've never been before. A true and honest salute to much more than those who serve in the Navy, rich with history real and imagined." -Fred Leebron, author of Welcome to Christiania and Out West. "Jeffery Hess reminds of the glory days or noir: wayward women, brawling sailors, and shadow-lurking heroes who were too hung over when redemption dawned. If you want a quick literary jab to your heart, any of Hess's short fiction will do. Just finish burying that body, pal, and read." -James R. Duncan, author of Blood Republic.
When a top-secret weapon goes missing on Colonel Maggie Black's watch, her honor and her career are on the line. There were airmen who said the Air Force's best female combat pilot would never be the same after losing her arm in Iraq, but state-of-the-art prosthetics have made Maggie better than new, and she's not about to lose what she battled so hard to regain. But finding her experimental missile won't be easy-thanks to the revenge-fueled ambitions of Asdrubal Torres, whose hallucinatory encounter with the Great Spirit challenges him to refill Lake Cahuilla, the ancient inland sea that once covered much of southern California. To fulfill his blessed mission, Torres needs wizardry and weaponry, and the Great Spirit provides both: Magic, in the form of a celebrated shaman's basket returned to the tribal museum by San Diego reporter Jordan Scott; Might, in the form of Maggie Black's top-secret weapon that falls from the sky. From that moment, it's a race against time for Maggie and Jordan, who together must stop Torres from destroying Hoover Dam-and turning the Colorado River into a tsunami that would kill hundreds of thousands and wipe out the Southwest's water supply. In the final showdown, it's Maggie who must disarm the stolen missile's trigger-one-handed or not-and save the day. Praise for THE BLACK KACHINA: "Jack Getze's newest novel, The Black Kachina, marks the arrival of a new star in the international thriller pantheon. Move over, Jack Reacher and make a place at the table for Colonel Maggie Black and her Robin, journalist Jordan Scott. Getze has just hit it out of the park, a gargantuan tape-measure of a clout with this, his best novel to date. My hope is that he's hard at work writing the second of what is sure to be a hugely-successful series. Movie people should be all over this one." -Les Edgerton, author of The Bitch, The Rapist, The Genuine, Imitation, Plastic Kidnapping, Lagniappe and others "With an intriguing mix of Native American folklore and the latest in leading edge weapons technology, Jack Getze takes you on a journey that has possible written hard across the storyline. A thriller that chills. He asks what if a lethal weapon fell into the hands of someone who was obsessed with fulfilling the wildest wishes of his ancestors? Then he throws together a local reporter and a rebellious ace flyer and sets them both against a clock that is racing towards one of the worst disasters in the history of America." -Gordon Brown, author of four crime thriller novels set in Scotland and the US and a co-founder and director of the crime writing festival Bloody Scotland "The Black Kachina shows Jack Getze is not a one-trick pony. A major departure from his Austin Carr series-which is also excellent-with all the elements required to be a mainstream bestseller." -Dana King, Shamus-award nominated author of Resurrection Mall "Getze has that uncommon ability of being able to tell a hell of a story with just the right amount of dark humor. Always a winner!" -Terrence McCauley, award-winning author of The James Hicks Series "It's a daunting task to keep a story complex and suspenseful while making the key players come across so colorful and convincing. Jack Getze makes it seem effortless." -Erin Williams, The Paperback Stash
Need an escape for a few minutes? Don't care if that escape smells like spent gunpowder or could fit into a chalk outline? Then look no further. In this new collection of short fiction, Ryan Sayles continues his streak of no holds-barred grit. An old hit man sharing a last drink with the ghost of one of his first victims. A grieving mother who knows exactly to whom she wants to give all her love. A college student more dangerous than the active shooter event in which he's trapped. A couple's last resort against terminal cancer that might be worse than the disease. Be glad these folks are the ones making-and paying for-the mistakes and you're only getting to read about them. If you've got a few minutes to kill, come on over. Killing is a guaranteed thing around here.
Stray Dogs: Interviews with Working-Class Writers delivers a portrait of contemporary working class authors in America. Editor Daniel M. Mendoza engages with "some of the best in contemporary literary fiction." These one-on-one interviews seek to uncover how each writer has developed their working-class aesthetic. A young writer himself, Mendoza encourages the author's to discuss their craft, their upbringing, their socio-political beliefs, as well as the state of contemporary literature. Stray Dogs: Interviews with Working-Class Writers, is an insightful study of an often overlooked literary genre.Rolando Hinojosa-Smith on the novel in America:"...to show a world as seen by the writer, as experienced (with certain changes) by the writer and to hold whatever it is that the writer holds as his truths..."Richard Burgin on the self and society:"In terms of real metaphysical truth, however, there's been a shift since Dickens and more people are less sure than ever about the origins and purpose of the universe."Eric Miles Williamson on style:"I believe that there is no personal style; writers don't come out original like Athena from Zeus's head. Everybody steals or learns a writer's style and does the opposite. The best writers are the best anthologists..."Stephen Gutierrez on the reader:"I hope that they experience being alive as another person in another time and place and learn (again) that we're all pretty much the same facing the same shit, sometimes nobly, sometimes ignobly..."Ron Cooper on what writer's read:"I have sought out work by authors who write about real people, people who know what true struggles are, people who often do not know how they are going to pay their bills."
Hardboiled. Softboiled. Noir. East Coast. West Coast. And all points in between. Whatever you call them, gumshoe, shamus, Pinkerton, detective, private eye, P.I., shadow, tail, investigator, and wherever you need them, from East to West, North to South. They're all here. From the hard pavement of Brooklyn, New York, to the mean dusty streets of Carson City. Down to sultry New Orleans and the freak show that's Venice, CA. From the flim-flammers of Waco, Texas to DC, Las Vegas to San Berdoo and LA. And from Iowa City to San Diego and small town North Carolina-not to mention the low-life drug dealers in a little place called King's Quarter, Maine. No one is safe in this impressive collection featuring fourteen original private eye stories plus one previously published bonus story. Crime fiction connoisseurs will visit one major crime scene after another with some of today's best-of-the-best crime writers serving as tour guides. Poisoned-pen masters like: J.L. Abramo, Eric Beetner, Michael Bracken, Meredith Cole, Matt Coyle, Thomas Donahue, John Floyd, Gay Toltl Kinman, Terrill Lee Lankford, Janice Law, Paul D. Marks, Andrew McAleer, O'Neil De Noux, Robert J. Randisi, Art Taylor. COAST TO COAST: PRIVATE EYES FROM SEA TO SHINING SEA features suspense stories ranging from hardboiled to psychological to thrillers. And while these stories differ in locale, climate, mood and tone, they all resonate with the dark underbelly of crime. Praise for COAST TO COAST 2 ... "Tough, taut and terrific. This cross-country collection of sleuthing stories-from the best writers in the private eye biz-is wonderfully written, always surprising, and completely entertaining." -Hank Phillippi Ryan, Anthony, Agatha and Mary Higgins Clark award-winning author of Say No More "A tantalizing array of stories guaranteed to please fans of PI fiction. High fives all around!" -MWA Grand Master Bill Pronzini on Coast to Coast: Private Eyes from Sea to Shining Sea "A bang-up read of PI fiction from a gallery of impressive authors. Coast to Coast: Private Eyes from Sea to Shining Sea is compelling, fun, and full of surprises. A treat." -Shamus Award-winning author John Shepphird Praise for the COAST TO COAST crime fiction series ... "Envelope-pushers! A truly WOW collection by the best mystery writers out there-full of surprises only they can pull off." -Thomas B. Sawyer, bestselling author of Cross Purposes, head writer of Murder, She Wrote "A sterling collection of coast-to-coast crime stories dripping with local color-all of it blood red." -Chuck Hogan, author of The Town and Devils In Exile "An engaging collection from a stellar cast of award-winning mystery authors guaranteed to keep you awake all night." -Hannah Dennison, author of the IMBA bestselling Vicky Hill Mysteries "This intriguing collection of stories from these masters of suspense will keep you guessing from cover to cover and coast to coast." -Raffi Yessayan, author of 8 in the Box and 2 in the Hat
Nominated for the 2017 Anthony Award for Best Anthology/Collection Bestselling novelists David Morrell, Alison Gaylin and Elaine Viets headline a new anthology of 22 tales exploring the unique an aura of mystery of New Orleans and the surrounding bayou country. Blood on the Bayou is published in conjunction with Bouchercon, the World Mystery Convention, which is being held in New Orleans. As with the convention itself, the anthology spreads a broad canopy across a wide variety of crime writers from across the country and around the world-including both veteran writers and the brightest up-and-coming talents in the field. These stories range from the light-hearted and fun to the darker side of crime; just as New Orleans and the bayou country can show both to the unsuspecting. All participants contributed their efforts to support our charity-the New Orleans Public Libraries-and by extension readers and writers everywhere. ALL PROFITS GO TO THE LIBRARY. Edited by Greg Herren. Introduction by Heather Graham. Stories by: Kaye Wilkinson Barley, Eric Beetner, G. J. Brown, Sheila Connolly, O'Neil De Noux, Barbara Ferrer, John Floyd, Alison Gaylin, Greg Herren, BV Lawson, R. T. Lawton, Deborah Lacy, Edith Maxwell, Liz Milliron, Terrie Farley Moran, David Morrell, Dino Parenti, Michael Penn, Gary Phillips, Thomas Pluck, Paula Pumphrey, Elaine Viets.
BROOKLYN JUSTICE is a wild ride through the streets of the Borough of Churches. Private investigator Nick Ventura knows trouble-but not how to keep his nose out of it. A pool of blood spreading across a casino poker table, a Buick plowing through a storefront with a dead detective aboard, a fatal rendezvous in the shadow of a Coney Island landmark, a childhood friend gunned down walking his dog in the wrong place at the wrong time, a film distributor who thinks he can get away with murder through intimidation and violence, a mob boss assassinated leaving a neighborhood restaurant, and the particular brand of retribution necessary to level the playing field in the fourth largest city in America-J.L. Abramo serves it all up with a vengeance. "In BROOKLYN JUSTICE, award winning author J.L. Abramo again demonstrates his firm grasp on the language and morality of his native streets, with as many surprises as there are casualties. An ideal follow-up to his acclaimed novel GRAVESEND." -The Denver Review "If grit, hard guys, and the rhythm of the mean streets is your thing, BROOKLYN JUSTICE has got them in spades and J.L. Abramo is your man." -Reed Farrel Coleman, New York Times Bestselling author of WHERE IT HURTS "J.L. Abramo writes noir the way God and Hammett intended-tough, terse, and smart. BROOKLYN JUSTICE is a great read with razor-sharp prose and a compelling cast. Nick Ventura is my kind of PI." -Michael Koryta, New York Times Bestselling author of THOSE WHO WISH ME DEAD "J. L. Abramo's 'Walking the Dog' weaves a seemingly loose collection of conversations, reflections, and memories into a suddenly tight narrative-no stray threads, no unnecessary details, nothing wasted." -Art Taylor, author of ON THE ROAD WITH DEL & LOUISE
Tales from the Blue Line by Rob Riley is a compilation of twenty-nine separate police investigations conducted by Rob Riley and his partners, while they were Milwaukee Police officers. Riley was sworn in as a police officer in 1971 and retired as a detective in 2001. His career was unique even from the beginning, when with only a few months on the job he was recruited to be an undercover narcotics officer. After seven extremely intense years undercover and one year in uniform, Riley was promoted to the rank of detective where he spent the rest of his career. From purchasing illegal drugs from people on the streets to executing nearly a hundred search warrants, his time in the Narcotics Squad seemed like more than a lifetime of police experiences. Twenty-two years as a major crimes detective, Riley connected with high ranking officials in the District Attorney's office, as well as some of the most highly regarded defense attorney's in the country. He was a private investigator for two years after his retirement.
Carolina Crimes: 21 Tales of Need, Greed and Dirty Deeds is a collection of short stories by crime writers living in North and South Carolina, members of Sisters in Crime. The Triangle (Chapel Hill, Durham, Raleigh, NC) Chapter of SinC issued the challenge to members to write stories about addiction or obsession and crime. Who knew that the responses would be so varied or that ice cream, a game of Solitaire, or silk fabric could provide motives to commit murder? Or that golf clubs, stiletto-heeled shoes, and microwave ovens could provide the means? These stories remind us why we love crime fiction, and why it matters. They provide us with the cold revenge of imagination, the hot passion someone could kill for, and the sense of justice a community demands. They remind us we never know exactly what our next-door neighbor may be capable of, or for that matter, what we ourselves harbor in the deepest corners of our hearts and minds. The humor is dark. The suspense is shudder-producing. The horror delivers goosebumps. And by the time we turn the last satisfying page, we know more about what it means to be human. "The Carolinas boast some of the finest crime writers ever to set ink to paper and pixels to disk, as this Sisters in Crime anthology attests. Just like a Carolina Sunday supper, these stories dish up a variety of styles, tones and tastes, from procedurals to cozies to dark psychological thrillers. Pour yourself a tall sweet tea or a couple of fingers of bourbon, sit back and dig in." -Jeffery Deaver.
Shadow towns, smugglers and secret notes-this trio of New York authors are a TRIPLE SHOT of twists and turns in three novellas Payback leads to an unmarked grave in Ross Klavan's Thump Gun Hitched. A freak accident forces two L.A. cops to play out a deadly obsession that takes them from back alley payoffs to hard time in prison, then deep into the tunnel networks south of the border to a murderous town that's only rumored to exist. Before the last shot is fired, everything they thought was certain proves to be a shadow and everything they trusted opens into a trap. Life was so much simpler for Tim O'Mara's marijuana-selling narrator in Smoked when all he had to worry about was keeping his customers, now ex-wife, and daughter satisfied. When he forges a reluctant alliance with his ex-wife's new lover, he realizes there's lots of money to be made from the world's number one smuggled legal product-cigarettes. Unfortunately, his latest shipment contained some illegal automatic weapons. Now he's playing with the big boys and finds the price of the game way over his head. Murder was never part of his business model. And finally in Twist of Fate, Charles Salzberg follows Trish Sullivan, an ambitious TV reporter working in a small, upstate New York market. She receives a note from Meg Montgomery, a beautiful young woman convicted of murdering her husband and two children. Montgomery claims she's innocent and Sullivan, smelling a big story that may garner some national attention, investigates and turns up evidence that the woman has, indeed, been framed. What happens next changes the life of both women in unexpected ways.
MWA Grand Master Margaret Maron, Edgar Award winner Tom Franklin, and New York Times bestselling novelist Ron Rash headline a new anthology of 21 tales spanning from traditional detective stories to comic capers to darkest noir and more-something for all tastes. Murder Under the Oaks is published in conjunction with Bouchercon, the World Mystery Convention, held in 2015 in Raleigh, North Carolina-the City of Oaks. As with the convention itself, the anthology spreads a broad canopy across a wide range of crime writers from across the country and around the world-including both veteran writers and the brightest up-and-coming talents in the field. Several of the stories in Murder Under the Oaks draw on the region's history and culture-including the birth of a secret society at the University of Virginia, a mystery from Edgar Allan Poe's childhood days, and a series of less-than-welcome visits by everyone's favorite hometown sheriff. All participants contributed their efforts to support our charity-the Wake County Public Libraries-and by extension readers and writers everywhere. All profits go to the library. Edited by Art Taylor Including Stories By J.L. Abramo J.D. Allen Lori Armstrong Rob Brunet P.A. De Voe Sean Doolittle Tom Franklin Toni Goodyear Kristin Kisska Robert Lopresti Robert Mangeot Margaret Maron Kathleen Mix Britni Patterson Karen Pullen Ron Rash Karen E. Salyer Sarah Shaber Zoë Sharp B.K. Stevens Graham Wynd
While the storm rages over California's notorious anti-illegal alien Proposition 187, a young woman climbs to the top of the famous Hollywood Sign-and jumps to her death. An undocumented day laborer is murdered. And a disbarred and desperate lawyer in Venice Beach places an ad in a local paper that says: "Will Do Anything For Money." Private investigator Duke Rogers, infamous for solving the case of murdered starlet Teddie Matson, feels he must do "penance" for his inadvertent part in her death. To that end, he takes on the case of Carlos, the murdered day-laborer, as a favor to his sister Marisol, the housekeeper down the street from Duke's house. Duke must figure out what ties together Carlos' murder, the ex-lawyer's desperate ad and the woman jumping from the sign? And who is the mysterious "coyote"? Amid the controversial political storm surrounding California's Proposition 187, Duke and his very unPC sidekick Jack are on the case. They slingshot from the Hollywood Sign to Venice Beach. From East Hollywood to the "suicide bridge" in Pasadena, and from Smuggler's Gulch near the Mexican border back to L.A. again. Their mission catapults them through a labyrinth of murder, intrigue and corruption of church and state that hovers around the immigration debate in this searing sequel to the explosive Shamus Award-winning novel White Heat. Praise for BROKEN WINDOWS: "Fans of downbeat PI fiction will be satisfied…with Shamus Award winner Marks's solid sequel to 2012's White Heat." -Publishers Weekly "Paul D. Marks' Broken Windows is extraordinary. While the plot is both fascinating and timely, the real beauty of Broken Windows lies in his gorgeous authorial voice." -Betty Webb, Mystery Scene "Marks expertly drops readers (returning and new) into Duke's world-1994 Los Angeles-from the start, and the prologue is a doozy. In it, a young woman climbs to the top of the Hollywood sign and jumps off. The scene isn't exploitative, but it is realistic and heart-wrenching in its realism. Although it's set in 1994, it's eerie how timely this story is. There's an undeniable feeling of unease that threads through the narrative, which virtually oozes with the grit, glitz, and attitude of L.A. in the '90s. I'm an ecstatic new fan of Duke's." -Kristin Centorcelli, Criminal Element "This electrifying novel will jolt your sensibilities, stir your conscience and give every reader plenty of ammunition for the next mixed group where the I-word is spoken!" -John Dwaine McKenna, The Mysterious Book Report "[T]his entertaining tale, has the sly humour of a modern-day Philip Marlowe and a similar penchant for attracting trouble. Marks writes with an easy style that carries you through the story and creates engaging characters to spike your interest." -Vicki Weisfeld, Crime Fiction Lover "What I really enjoyed in addition to a joined-up, coherent and satisfying case, was the backdrop of the city, depicted both physically in Marks' referencing of cultural hot spots and emotionally in the depiction of the attitudes and mood of the time. You can sense Paul D. Marks is an Angeleno." -Col's Criminal Library
When Almario "Go Go" Gato, a handsome young Cuban baseball player, goes missing mid-season, his agent Veronica Craven hires a private investigator to track down her best client. No police. No press. Enter Eli Sharpe, an Asheville, North Carolina-based ex-ballplayer turned private detective who specializes in investigating professional athletes. Eli begins by questioning Maria Gato, Almario's roommate and fraternal twin. Maria watched while both her parents drowned on the boat ride from Cuba to America, so she is naturally desperate to get her only brother back. She tells Eli a secret: Almario may have a problem with drugs and alcohol. Eli tracks down Almario's supposed girlfriend, a rich sorority girl, but is soon led to another woman in his life, Sheri Stuckey, his cocaine supplier and fiancée who works in tandem with a gay bartender named Dantonio Rushing. Stuckey, a drug abuser and single mother, claims Almario split because she wanted the two of them to check into rehab. But Rushing, dazzled by Almario's boyish good looks, tells a different tale: Almario has taken out a $500,000 life insurance policy on himself and named Stuckey as the primary beneficiary. With the help of his mentor-a former homicide detective-and five ex fiancées who still care about him, Eli follows Go Go's trail, determined to locate the elusive ballplayer before one of the nasty people in his life-or his own bad habits-do him in. Praise for GO GO GATO: "From its hero to its milieu to its eccentric, three-dimensional characters, Max Everhart's Go Go Gato is a terrific read. The North Carolina minor-league baseball scene feels authentic and beloved, and I was always rooting for protagonist Eli Sharpe. The best news is that this excellent mystery is first in a series. Fans of Harlan Coben will want to check out Max Everhart, a major new talent!" -Steve Ulfelder, Edgar Award-finalist author of Wolverine Bros. Freight & Storage "Go Go Gato is the debut entry in a promising new series by Max Everhart, and it's a fast-paced, entertaining tale. Eli Sharpe is a very appealing character who combines just the right amounts of wit, humor, intelligence and courage, and it will be fun to watch him in action as the series continues to grow and develop." -James L. Thane, author of Until Death and No Place To Die "Max Everhart scores a homerun with this first novel in his new Eli Sharpe mystery series. Eli finds much more than he bargained for in his search for a missing baseball player in this fast read, best enjoyed with a glass of George Dickel in hand since that's Eli's favorite "poison". Like a good curveball you won't see the twist ending coming at you." -Paul D. Marks, author of the Shamus Award-winning novel White Heat "This is an excellent read and the author's characters are very real; in particular, Eli Sharpe and his friend Ernest Carpenter. Readers will enjoy the plot, and root for Eli to discover the criminal before a more serious crime occurs." -Suspense Magazine
An innocent math professor runs for his life as teams of hitmen try to prevent publication of their government's dark history… College professor Sam Teagarden stumbles upon a decades-old government cover-up when an encoded document mysteriously lands in his in-box, followed by a cluster of mini-drones programmed to kill him.That begins a terrifying flight from upstate New York, to Washington, to Key West as Teagarden must outfox teams of hitmen equipped with highly sophisticated technology. While a fugitive, he races to decode the journal, only to realize the dreadful truth-it's the reason he's being hunted because it details criminal secrets committed by the U.S. in the 20th Century.If he survives and publishes the decoded diary, he'll be a heroic whistle blower. But there is no guarantee. He may also end up dead.Praise for FLIGHT OF THE FOX:"Flight of the Fox is an explosively paranoid thriller that pays homage to classics of the genre. Basnight delivers nonstop action and an everyman hero to root for." -Joseph Finder, New York Times bestselling author"Basnight's novel does double duty. It's both a fast-paced and furious thriller and a thought provoking commentary on a government gone wild. Read it." -Reed Farrel Coleman, New York Times bestselling author of What You Break"Gray Basnight has written a clever, inventive, gripping, suspenseful tale that'll have you up nights until you reach the final page. Skillfully weaving fact with fiction, Flight of the Fox taps into our worst nightmares about the potential excesses of power." -Charles Salzberg, author of the award-nominated Henry Swann mysteries and Second Story Man"Intriguing...Jason Bourne fans will have some fun." -Publishers Weekly"The ultimate paranoid thriller, an entertaining read that flies by faster than its own predatory drones. Part chase story and part political thriller, it is the perfect summertime read." -Foreword Reviews"Flight of the Fox is a quick-paced story that puts you in the passenger seat of a thrilling adventure featuring, cyber and techno villains, and a fight for justice. Great action thriller!" -Jerri Williams, retired FBI agent and author of Pay To Play
The "black car" has appeared both conspicuously and inconspicuously throughout the annals of fiction-its presence both mysterious and menacing, its appearance enough to pause your heart. It's the sedan just within sight that seems to be mimicking your speed and movements as you walk down the dark deserted street late at night. As the hairs rise on the back of your neck you wonder, Who is behind the wheel and what is the driver's intent? It's The Black Car Business and its presence means your life is about to abruptly change. You try to assure yourself there's nothing wrong, but your pace quickens nonetheless, and soon you're running, desperate for that narrow sliver between two buildings to slip through, the one too narrow for the black car to pass through. It's that car parked just down the block that sends chills down your spine and keeps you awake throughout the night. It's the sanctuary you race toward when you're being chased, only to explode when you turn the key. It's the one that skids off the icy mountain overpass and plunges into the cavernous grotto. It's where Clemenza garrotes Carlo just as he's about to be driven to the airport. It's The Black Car Business. Turn the pages as ten masters of the noir art befuddle and frighten you with their stories. We promise a read you're sure to enjoy. Contributors: Eric Beetner, J. Carson Black, Cheryl Bradshaw, Diane Capri, Jeffery Hess, Lawrence Kelter, Dana King, Allan Leverone, Simon Wood, and Vincent Zandri.
A blackjack 21 of stories of people caught up in crime, facing bleak horrors, or spun in the whirlpool of human absurdity, this collects the best stories of Thomas Pluck. Take a ride on the neuter scooter in "The Big Snip", selected as one of the best crime stories of 2016. Follow a mountain man who's not what he seems into a snowbound frontier town where evil has sunk its claws. Dine at the most exclusive restaurant in New York, where "Eat the Rich" takes on a whole new meaning. And meet Denny the Dent, a hulking 350 pounds of muscle who wouldn't harm a fly…but who'll glad crush a bully's skull. And read the Jay Desmarteaux yarn that takes off where Bad Boy Boogie ends. Read the stories readers call "hard-hitting bombs" full of "gut punches and belly laughs"…and be ready to get Plucked. Praise for Thomas Pluck: "Thomas Pluck is a crime writer to watch. Steeped in the genre's grand tradition but with heart and bravado all his own, his writing is lean, smart and irresistibly compelling." -Megan Abbott, author of You Will Know Me and Queenpin "He writes those quick, hard-hitting bombs as well or better than anybody on the scene today. Keep 'em coming." -Wayne Dundee, author of the Joe Hannibal PI series and creator of Hardboiled Magazine "If you don't know who Thomas Pluck is, you will soon enough. His short fiction is all over the internet and he combines jabs of clever humor with full-impact gut shots." -Johnny Shaw, author of Dove Season and Big Maria
This third issue of Down & Out: The Magazine features a new Jim Brodie story by Barry Lancet, whose novel Japantown has been optioned by J.J. Abrams and Warner Brothers for the Hollywood treatment. Here we have Brodie on a trip to his home in Japan and a quest to find out what's going on with the yakuza and a perplexing kidnapping.But first up is a story by Canadian favorite Peter Sellers; he delivers a nasty little crime story of love and loyalty in the workplace in his own unique style. Patti Abbott gives us a searing story proving once again how nothing torches the human soul like that of another person's expectations. Art Taylor, one of the best and most prolific short story artists working today, makes his first appearance here with a relatively short tale reminiscent of the late great Richard Matheson. Speaking of legends, Robert J. Randisi shares a story from his "Rat Pack" series. Next a writer who makes words look as though they fit together far more easily than they actually do is S.A. Solomon with her tale of corporate Big Business and other vices. Writing partners Frank Zafiro and Jim Wilsky debut separate stories from their Ania series, actual prequels to the novels, the first of which, Blood on Blood, will be released in April by Down & Out Books. A fine noir tale by prolific author Michael Bracken helps round us out.As usual we have another fantastic column by J. Kingston Pierce on the novels of the late Stanley Ellin, and for our "A Few Cents a Word" feature we present a discussion and a story by one of the hard-boiled school's originators, Raoul Whitfield.
Joe Collins used to be Joey Connolly, alias Joey Kotex, an infamous enforcer for the Petucci crime family. He left that world behind to run a blues club in Chicago, but Carl Petucci finds Joe and forces him to do one last job. Joe's assignment takes him to Wesserunsett, a small Maine town that has seen better days. With a friend's life at stake, Joe must kill a porn director and recover a video starring Petucci's niece. Easier said than done, as the target's girlfriend, Wanda, is a Wesserunsett cop. Then there's Hag, a wannabe hitman, and his buddy Earl. Hag's looking to make a killing in the killing business. As Joey, Wanda, and Hag each pursue their own agenda, they move ever closer to a bloody showdown. Praise for BITTER WATER BLUES: "A glorious boilermaker of noir and East Coast gothic. The action is as taut as a sprung snare and Bagley tightens the screws with every page." -Laird Barron, author of Swift to Chase "There ain't much quaint and cuddly about Patrick Shawn Bagley's Maine, where the only folks more dangerous than the thugs and gangsters From Away are the locals. Bagley sandblasts the chipped veneer of small-town charm to expose the rot beneath. Bitter Water Blues is a vivid, unflinching portrait of desperate people struggling at the margins of society to survive." -Chris F. Holm, author of The Collector trilogy and The Killing Kind "Bagley's debut novel is pitch perfect crime fiction, as dark and raw as it gets with a rich tapestry of intersecting characters who bring a beleaguered blue collar New England community to life with the style and powerful punch of a seasoned veteran…a story of redemption and revenge, second chances gone awry, double-crosses and finding loyalty where it counts, even if a little too late…a refreshingly masterful new voice in noir, and highly recommended." -Ed Kurtz, author of Nothing You Can Do
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