NORTHCOAST SHAKEDOWN
In 2005, I released my only print novel, Northcoast Shakedown, with a small press in the Greater Baltimore area. (OK, it was eastern West Virginia.) It did well enough for a small press with no distribution or budget. But the press collapsed, and Northcoast and its follow-up fell into limbo.
Now it’s back, this tale of sex, lies, and insurance fraud. Freelance insurance investigator Nick Kepler has a sweet gig. Scoring office space and secretarial help from his former employer, they send him three cases that look like softballs – a dubious life insurance case meant more to save the underwriter than any company money, a worker comp cheat, and a referral to a politician’s wife with suspicions. What he does not expect is how they all tie together.
When the connection becomes apparent, Kepler finds himself suspecting there is more to this than a cheating spouse and an ill-timed heart attack. He soon finds himself entangled in a web of sexual deviance, fraud, and even a decades-old murder, all uncomfortably close to Cleveland’s elite.
Noir master Ken Bruen has written the introduction to this new edition. He describes Northcoast Shakedown in his own unique poetic style:
“Sit back
Relish
Cherish
And be blown to hell and gone in the best way.”
WEST COAST CRIME WAVE
Edited by Brian Thornton
A trip through the West Coast’s dark side from bstsllr.com. From San Diego to LA to the Bay Area up through the wilds of Oregon, the coffee houses of Seattle, and far flung Alaska, Brian Thornton serves up tales of revenge, mistaken identity, double dealing, murder, and fraud.
My story, “Bad History,” tells the story of an ex-con whose carefully crafted new life starts to unravel when a corrupt prison guard comes looking for an undeserved share of the loot.
Introduction by Ken Bruen.
ROAD RULES
The road trip to hell begins with a stolen car. Hapless repo man Stan Yarazelski is looking for easy money. Luckless insurance man Mike Blake is looking to get away. Delivering a collectable 1962 Cadillac seems like the perfect solution to their problems.
Only Sharon Harrow wants the car. Save the car, save her job. And Carlo Estevez wants the car. It’s his last case in major crimes.
And Tim Mason wants the car. Because he engineered the theft of something now residing in the Caddie’s trunk. If it doesn’t get to Florida, Tim loses millions.
So does Andre the Giant, a used car salesman on the south side of Cleveland.
But someone else doesn’t care what any of these people want. Julian Franco wants only four things: His massive drug fortune, lots of cocaine, lots of sex, and the bones of a cherished Polish saint.
Road Rules is a bizarre romp from the heart of the Rust Belt to the sleepy live oaks of Savannah, Georgia. And Savannah will never be the same as the law, the Church, and Franco’s thugs collide one quiet Sunday morning in the city’s historic tree-lined squares.
“…[I]t’s more like the way evil gets taken down in real life. But funnier.” – JD Rhoades, author of the Jack Keller series
“Reading the novel again brings to mind discovering a book I hadn’t heard about by a favorite author, not a series book, but a standalone in which the author stretches himself creatively.” – Gerald So, editor of The Lineup and former fiction editor of The Thrilling Detective Web Site
“We’ve got blood, beatings, bullets, crooked Bishops, tough, sexy broads, and a bunch of rat bastards laying down a rat bastard routine. It’s fast, it’s wild, and it is frequently laugh-out-loud funny. In short: Road Rules is one HELLUVA ride!” – Nathan Singer, author of A Prayer for Dawn and In the Light of You
Kindle | Nook | Smashwords
“A WALK IN THE RAIN”
My first published short story. Cleveland PI and part time musician finds himself entangled in the accidental killing of a friend’s abusive boyfriend. She doesn’t want to take her chances with the law, so Nick finds himself walking a lonely rural road in the middle of the night, pondering what he’d just done with a dead body.
Intro by Anthony Neil Smith, who originally edited the story for Plots With Guns way back in 2001.
