Bøger udgivet af Down & Out Books

Edinburgh's Gus Dury is back...and so are his troubles. After swearing off the drink and reviving his flagging writing career on a webzine, Dury stumbles across a missing person's case that he can't say no to. He thinks the job's a slam-dunk-one missing employee, one decent-sized paycheck-but, when he's woken by police and told the man he'd just found has been tortured to death, Dury realises he's already over his head. Warring drug gangs, corrupt cops and the siren's call of drink all want to see Dury wrecked. Praise for WRECKED: "Wrecked is my novel of the year." -Ken Bruen, bestselling author of the Jack Taylor thrillers

Three Stories. Three Eras. Three Crimes. A 1960s mob fixer is drawn into a Vegas fix that might just put the fix on him. Dead Chinese immigrants wash up on the beaches of 1889 Seattle and one government official refuses to look the other way. An Italian ex-galley slave, sometime thief, and full-time rogue masterminds a one-of-its kind jail break in 1581 Constantinople. Praise for SUICIDE BLONDE: "Brian Thornton's trio of historical novellas-Suicide Blonde-affirms his status as a star of the genre. A true wordsmith, Thornton paints rich, evocative portraits of early 1960s Las Vegas mobsters, nineteenth-century Pacific Northwest racial strife, and sixteenth-century Venetian maritime adventures. These novellas brim with characters full of life and personality, and the storytelling transports the reader to fascinating-and dangerous-times. Top-drawer stuff." -James W. Ziskin, Anthony and Macavity Award-winning author of the Ellie Stone mysteries "Evoking Dashiell Hammett and Phillip Kerr, Suicide Blonde conjures a world of pulp adventure and hardboiled grit. From the Vegas Strip to the Mediterranean, this trio of historical crime tales surges with period precision and Black Mask-worthy thrills. Thornton delivers." -Sam Wiebe, award-winning author of Invisible Dead and Last of the Independents "A trio of tales that span the globe and the centuries, each one told with a historian's eye for detail and a storyteller's gift for pacing. Suicide Blonde is not to be missed." -Renee Patrick, Anthony and Macavity Award-nominated author of Design For Dying and Script For Scandal

In between gigs as a Hollywood movie Teamster, self-proclaimed sailing bum Mike Millek moonlights as a freelance, armed chauffeur to the stars. When Mike arrives one night to pick up his deadbeat client, rap music producer Pays Lee, at his private jet Mike finds him freshly murdered with a satchel full of cash. Mike makes the critical decision to take what is owed him before reporting anything to the police. More money than he ever expected, this turns out to be Mike's biggest payday in his life, but not without consequences. Opening this Pandora's box not only costs him his best friend's life and leads him down a road of deception with his newly found love Molly, but thrusts them both into a dangerous conspiracy entrenched in the sordid underbelly of the Hollywood power elite. Praise for BELOW THE LINE: "If Michael Connolly were an ex-Hollywood agent who knew the cream of show biz and the sour milk of its lowlifes like he knows the back of his brass-knuckled hand, he might have created Mike Millek and his foot-to-the-floor dark ride, Below the Line. Set along the seams of the real movie business-as its street-savvy author Jankowski has lived and savored it-with an A-list casting call of characters so real they're scary, Mike Millek is as hardboiled as a shark in hot water and his Los Angeles is a City of Angles. So if you take your java noir with a double shot of espresso, take just one bite of Below the Line and it will reel you in...hook, line and sinker!" -Rupert Holmes, multiple Edgar and Tony-winning author, creator of the AMC-TV series Remember WENN, and author of Where the Truth Lies "Batten down the hatches for a hard-boiled storm. Below the Line is an impressive debut, a suspenseful Nautical Noir on the fringe of Hollywood's dream factory. Taut, vivid tough-guy pulp in the tradition of John D. MacDonald and Mickey Spillane." -John Shepphird, Shamus Award-winning author "Babes, boats and betrayal! Steve Jankowski's thrilling debut crime novel jets through the gritty sets of Hollywood to the deadly Pacific in a riveting tale worthy of Travis McGee." -Lawrence Maddox, author of Fast Bang Booze

John Headston took a bad step 12 years ago, and it cost him his freedom and his career. But now that he's been pardoned, and has reopened his Headstone Detective Agency, he's ready to start again. But into his office walks the woman who was the reason he lost it all, and she wants to use him again. She wants him to find out who's trying to kill her wealthy, older husband. Will Headston risk it all again, or will he realize the folly of that action and turn her down?

Cut Loose All Those Who Drag You Down by Ross Klavan The story of what turns out to be a very, very bad night. A crooked reporter who fronts for the mob and who's been married eight times is minding his own business at home when he gets a sudden visit from his oldest friend, a disgraced and defrocked shrink. The man is in deep trouble. He needs a place to hide. The problem is, he refuses to admit to exactly what's wrong and so there begins a heated, drunken, drug-fueled discussion that runs through failed marriages, divorces, mistresses, murders, suicides, police raids that went wrong, meetings with strange women in the desert, a child with killing on his mind and more. When it's finished, the answer to what's wrong becomes horribly clear...and somebody is going to pay with his life. Beaned by Tim O'Mara Hours after successfully transporting smuggled maple syrup from Missouri to New York City, and picking up a truckload of maple-syrup related products for the return trip, Aggie and his new partners decide it's more important to help take down a sex-trafficking ring based out of Manhattan. Taking care of business first-trading the maple-syrup products for high-end coffee beans and distributing the new cargo-Aggie takes off for The Big Apple. His mission: help take down the billionaire who's funding the trafficking of under-aged children for the pleasure of other rich folks. His trip takes him to Manhattan's toney Upper East Side to a final confrontation in the US Virgin Islands. The Fifth Column by Charles Salzberg Several months after the shock of Pearl Harbor thrusts America into the war, Jake Harper, a young Connecticut reporter, gets his dream job on a New York City Newspaper. Returning to the city of his birth, Jake meets a young boy who's been bullied and savagely beaten in a schoolyard by a bunch of young toughs wearing Brown shirts and railing against Jews. Jake, who smells a possible story, suspects the resurgence of the German-American Bund on the Upper East Side. As he digs deeper, he begins to suspect that the supposedly disbanded Bund is alive and well and making plans to sabotage the American war effort.

A forty-year-old self-cutting workaholic abandons everything she knows for a stripper with a death wish. Both lives change, only one ends. Scar Tissue is a psychological noir novel that stunningly brings to life a world others dare not dream of. This is a vivid and memorable portrayal of desire as seen through the eyes of two women with dark hearts and very different goals who cross paths at critical moments in their lives. The power of their hopes and despair, their weaknesses and strengths is a testament to the yearning that resides inside all of us. Praise for Scar Tissue "This persuasive and dizzying novel grabs you and doesn't let go. It is sexy, disturbing and relentless. What it says about human nature will keep you up at night. It's also constantly entertaining and unnervingly passionate. Scar Tissue is amazing and weird in all the best ways." -Fred Leebron, author of Six Figures, Out West, and Welcome to Christiania "Scar Tissue?\ has all that we've come to expect from Jeff Hess's crime fiction-sweat-soaked Florida settings, uncompromising authenticity, and wild plots with hairpin turns-but adds yet another layer of ground-in grit. Hess's new protagonists, Dylan and Abby, are damaged goods-selfish, yet sympathetic, slick cons, but also lost souls-and, most importantly, complicated women who are written and treated by Hess as such. In his latest, Hess spills just as much blood as in his previous novels, but it's in the scars still healing where the real story lies." -Steph Post, author of Miraculum, Lightwood, Walk in the Fire, and Holding Smoke "This gritty novel is the redheaded stepchild of Martyrs mated with Thelma and Louise-layers of darkness, vengeance, and chaos wrapped tightly together into a ball of sinuous fury." -Richard Thomas, author of Disintegration and Breaker (Thriller Award nominee)

On the surface, a small, remote island in the Pacific Northwest looks quaint and placid. However, trouble brews deep below the water when the island is rocked by an unexpected, brief and violent earthquake, and Jamie Michael's husband, Larry, who has dementia, goes missing. Det. Sgt. Rob Rimmler along with Search & Rescue deploy forces. They scour the grounds and neighborhood only to find a widening gorge on Jamie's property-a heavily wooded, five-acre rural country plot. After giving up the search for Larry, three months later, Rimmler begins to track Jamie's every movement-appearing wherever she ends up whether in town or while alone at home. One night, he admits he suspects her. Now, she must prove her innocence or end up indicted on murder charges. Sometimes when you think all seems lost, it usually is. Praise for WHEN YOU LEAVE ME: "A twisty mystery about love, betrayal, and obsession. In a small town, everyone's a murder suspect. The ending packs a punch and remains in the reader's mind long after turning the final page. Thriller aficionados will devour this story." -Robert Dugoni, New York Times bestselling author of the Tracy Crosswhite series "A cup of hot coffee at my side, I dove into Susan Wingate's When You Leave Me. The coffee was cold when I reached for a sip, so enthralled I was by the storyline. Artfully constructed, melodic, and insightful, When You Leave Me is not just a complex, captivating mystery-it's a poignant reminder to never take love for granted." -Christopher Rosow, author of the bestselling False Assurances and the Ben Porter thriller series "Susan Wingate grabs you from the very first sentence of When You Leave Me and never lets you go. This thriller is a roller coaster ride of tension and suspense, delivered in punchy, elegant prose and with dialogue that provides a window into the personalities of the author's characters. You're going to love this one." -Joseph Badal, award-winning author of The Carnevale Conspiracy "What Susan Wingate does best in When You Leave Me, as in her previous novels, is to make human pain palpable to the reader. In this newest offering, threads of pain run through every page. On San Juan Island off the coast of Washington, a husband with dementia goes missing. Then a foot in a sneaker washes ashore amidst a rash of such grotesque discoveries. Thus begins, for Jamie Michaels, the missing man's wife, a tormented journey as she claws her way through a sea turgid with grief, guilt, and fear. Is Jamie responsible for her husband's fate? The police seem to think so, and so does she. But that, in the end, isn't the question. The real questions, as every person knows who has ever cared for a loved one with dementia, are how long must this punishment last? And how can I possibly survive it?" -Randall Silvis, author of the critically acclaimed Ryan DeMarco mystery series

After twenty-five years in prison for murdering a couple of cheerleaders, a quarterback, and the class president, "Hackin'" Howard Rheinhart gets discharged. His case is assigned to Schlitz-drinking, Elvis-loving social worker and pro boxer Duffy Dombrowski. Soon, local high-school VIPs start showing up dead and Howard is nowhere to be found. Duffy throws himself into Howard's defense while juggling a few problems of his own―like a huge upcoming boxing match, a new hormonal girlfriend, the unsolicited devotion of a goofy karate kid, and the ongoing misadventures of Al, Duffy's basset hound. Praise for TKO: "Fresh, intense and funny, Schreck's second mystery to feature unrepentant Elvis fan and dog lover Duffy Dombrowski packs a knockout punch." -Publishers Weekly "Refreshingly iconoclastic." -Kirkus Reviews "TKO is fast-paced, authentic, and funny as hell. Social worker and journeyman boxer Duffy Dombrowski is a workingman's hero, and I want him in my corner!" -Sean Chercover, author of Trinity Game "Not for the faint of heart, I doesn't let up. No holds barred, insightful characterization makes this series a stand-out." -Mystery Reader "No sophomore slump here. I am now really excited about the planned continuation of this series. Hand me another Schlitz, would you." -Book Bitch

"She wasn't pretty but she was ours..." Sandwiched between seedy businesses in the scorching east LA suburb of Glendale, The Damned Lovely dive bar is as scarred as its regulars: ex-cops, misfits and loners. And for Sam Goss, it's a refuge from the promising life he's walked away from, a place to write and a hole to hide in. But when a beautiful and mysterious new patron to the bar turns up murdered, Sam can't stop himself from getting involved. Despite their fleeting interaction, or perhaps because of it, something about her ghost won't let go... Armed with the playbook from the burned-out ex-cops, Sam challenges the police's theory on the killing, butting heads with hardened detectives and asking questions nobody wants to answer. As his obsession takes hold so does his sense of purpose-as if uncovering the truth about the killer might heal some part of his own broken life. But the chase sets him on a collision course with a crooked charity, violent fundamentalists, corrupt cops, brazen embezzlers and someone dangerously close to home-all who want to make sure the truth never comes out. Praise for The Damned Lovely: "The Damned Lovely is the LA crime story born anew, an addictive mystery and a love letter to the careworn and forgotten places of Los Angeles-Los Angeles as it is right now. Adam Frost is a crime writer with a sharp new voice, telling a tale about the one thing everyone in Los Angeles has: desire. Desire for truth, for justice, for love, or maybe just a place to call home. Highly recommended." -Jordan Harper, Edgar Award-winning author of She Rides Shotgun "Frost's crackling debut novel belongs on the shelf right next to Joseph Wambaugh and Michael Connelly. Crisp prose. An intricate plot worthy of Raymond Chandler, packed with scruffy, lovable, and lived-in characters that leap off the page. Frost brings a fresh voice and much-needed new blood to LA crime fiction." -Will Beall, author of L.A. Rex and creator of CBS's Training Day "An unputdownable and suspenseful whodunnit: anchored in the quandary of manifesting destiny in grief and lost opportunity." -Blake Howard, producer and host of the One Heat Minute podcast "Every bourbon-soaked sentence in this endlessly entertaining first novel proves Joseph Wambaugh dipped Adam Frost by his ankle into the L.A. river. Roll over Michael Connelly, tell Raymond Chandler the news." -Adam Novak, author of Rat Park and Take Fountain

Homeland Insecurity is, on one hand, the story of two men accused of taking the lives of three fellow human beings-a fifteen-year-old girl in Mahwah, New Jersey and two young police officers in El Segundo, California. Two men born 8 days apart in 1934. Two men who died 57 days apart in 2017. Crimes that were committed 140 days apart in 1957. At a time when Americans were beginning to feel less and less confident about the safety of their families. One convicted murderer spent nearly fifteen years on death row at New Jersey State Prison in Trenton, one-time home of Lindbergh baby kidnapper Bruno Hauptmann and Rubin 'Hurricane' Carter, where he continually professed his innocence. The other perpetrator escaped arrest and conviction for more than 45 years. At the same time, this is an account of the hits and misses of the law enforcement agencies and legal institutions which-over the course of nearly five decades-eventually stumbled upon justice. Finally, it is a look at the post-World War II American experience leading up to the murders in 1957, and the profound changes to come after. When Rock & Roll, rebels without a cause, and catchers in the rye burst upon the American scene. When the fear of nuclear annihilation and real-life scary monsters crept into the national consciousness. And when those three murders in 1957, and a growing sense of national insecurity, may have had mutual effect.

Two young women on a road trip to California. But nothing has been heard from Jay and Nicole for three days - their last contact a phone call to Jay's father from New Mexico.The cops aren't worried: three days is hardly an eternity. But Jameson Walker is not taking any chances and hires Joe Hunter to find his little girl.The Arizona desert is badlands country and the friends have fallen foul of a sadistic bunch of men who are as brutal as their surroundings.But Joe is on their trail and he'll do anything to free the women. Even if it means dying, there'll be no going back.

Homicide detective Joe Hampton and his wife, Joyce, had planned to move to Clearwater Beach, Florida, once he retired from the Philadelphia Police Department. After Joyce unexpectedly passes away, Joe goes ahead with the move. Once he's settled into the Crimson Conch condominiums, his hopes of starting over are realized-until a series of murders upends his plans for a peaceful retirement. The Gray Detective begins with Joe discovering a body in the channel behind the condominiums after a night of Bingo. When Detectives Carly Truffant and David Sizemore arrive to investigate, Joe gives his account of the discovery. Joe is summoned to the police station days later at the request of prime suspect, Gary Burgess, the condo maintenance man. Burgess admits to having sexual encounters with the victim and other female residents and begs Joe for help. Joe's curiosity pushes him to investigate the matter, prompting Truffant to order him not to interfere. After finding Burgess dead by the condo pool after his release, and later learning of another murder, Joe uncovers a secret circle comprised of residents. Their purpose is not only illegal but deadly. Dark Arrival finds Joe acquiring the position of building manager and meeting Victoria Combes, a tough-talking, no-nonsense woman looking for a condo in the Crimson Conch. Still missing his wife, he finds comfort in their friendship though her manner is gruff. When a pair of residents are murdered, Joe encounters Truffant and Sizemore once more. Joe's exemplary career as a homicide detective persuades them to enlist his services. The arrival of Victoria's daughter provides Joe with a welcome diversion from the difficult investigation. Another murder occurs leading Truffant and Sizemore to conclude that a connection to the other murders exists. What isn't apparent is how close Joe is to the killer. Deadly Separation has Truffant struggling with a divorce and Joe agreeing to help her. Trouble arrives when Sizemore calls and tells Joe that Truffant's soon to be ex-husband has been found dead in a Dunedin townhouse. And worse, Truffant is considered the leading suspect. Truffant's troubles worsen when a woman is murdered and evidence proves she had an affair with her husband. Joe gets sidetracked by the arrival of his former neighbors from Philadelphia. When both are murdered, a man named Rogan Cavanaugh enters the picture. Joe discovers that Cavanaugh could be involved in the murder of his friends-plus the death of Truffant's husband's lover-and the mind game between the two begins.

Actor Paul Wilkinson is in a world of hurt. The cops are sure he murdered his new girlfriend's abusive ex, and a vicious drug dealer is after him for a batch of stolen narcotics. Paul sees a chance to escape the heat when he's offered the bizarre role of an eccentric billionaire's long-lost friend. He accepts the part and takes on a new identity, allowing him to hide in plain sight while he searches for the missing drugs and the real killer. When the trail leads Paul to where he least expects-back to himself-he must risk losing his identity, his freedom, and even his life to end the drama he's been unwittingly cast in. Praise for Mark T. Conard: "Dark as Night is a funny, violent, and damn near perfect noir. If you like your heroes flawed, your villains amoral, and your body count high, you might well think that Mark T. Conard has been reading your mind. A fantastic debut." -Tod Goldberg, author of Living Dead Girl "If you crossed Anthony Bourdain's Bone in the Throat with Abel Ferrara's Bad Lieutenant and threw in a little bit of Carl Hiaasen for good measure you might get something like Mark T. Conard's funny and brutal Dark as Night. He's one to watch." -Scott Phillips, author of The Walkaway

"PI Pete Fortunato, half-Italian, half-Jewish, who suffers from anger management issues and insomnia, wakes up one morning with a bad taste in his mouth. This is never a good sign. Working out of a friend's downtown real estate office, Fortunato, who spent a mysteriously short, forgettable stint as a cop in a small upstate New York town, lives from paycheck to paycheck en a beautiful woman wants to hire him to find her husband, he doesn't hesitate to say yes. Within a day, Fortunato finds the husband in the apartment of his client's young, stud lover. He's been shot once in the head. Case closed. But when his client's check bounces, and a couple of Albanian gangsters show up outside his building and kidnap him, hoping he'll lead them to a large sum of money supposedly stolen by the dead man, he begins to realize there's a good chance he's been set up to take the fall for the murder and the theft of the money. In an attempt to get himself out of a jam, Fortunato winds up on a wild ride that takes him down to Texas where he searches for his client's lover who he suspects has the money and holds the key to solving the murder."--

The Sixties were a time of great cultural upheaval, when long-established social norms were challenged and everything changed: from music to fashion to social mores. And the Leave It to Beaver households in Middle America didn't know what to make of it all. In the midst of this, private eyes tried to understand and bridge the generational divide while providing their clients with legal and extra-legal detecting services. From old-school private eyes with their flat-tops, off-the-rack suits, and well-worn brogues to the new breed of private eyes with their shoulder-length hair, bell-bottoms, and hemp sandals, the shamuses in Groovy Gumshoes take readers on a rollicking romp through the Sixties. With stories by Jack Bates, C.W. Blackwell, Michael Bracken, N.M. Cedeño, Hugh Lessig, Steve Liskow, Adam Meyer, Tom Milani, Neil S. Plakcy, Stephen D. Rogers, Mark Thielman, Grant Tracey, Mark Troy, Andrew Welsh-Huggins, and Robb White.

Duffy Dombrowski is not your average social worker. When he's not counseling sex addicts and drug users in a town outside of New York City, you can find him digging Elvis tunes, getting "Schlitzed" with his quirky friends, or fighting ex-Olympians in the boxing ring. Our less-than-perfect hero occasionally uses his mean left hook on pimps and other lowlifes, too. But at least he cares about his clients. When Walanda, a schizophrenic, crack-addicted prostitute, is murdered, Duffy pledges to take care of her basset hound and find her missing stepdaughter, Shony. He's horrified to discover the teenager is ensnared in a web porn ring-a vile enterprise that enslaves crack-addicted women and their children. On the verge of losing his job-and his life-Duffy also gets mixed up with a creepy doctor with ties to Pakistani extremists. Still, nothing will stop this conflicted Robin Hood from trying to save Shony and foil a terrorist plot. Praise for On the Ropes "The funniest book I have read in a long time. This is a genuine good read." -Harold Lederman, HBO Sports "Not since Carl Hiassen's Tourist Season debut has there been a novel with such superb comic timing and laugh-out-loud lines." -Ken Bruen, Shamus Award-winning author of The Guards "An Everyman with a big heart and a wicked jab, Duffy Dombrowski may well be the new Spenser. I can't wait for Round Two." -Marcus Sakey, author of The Blade Itself "On the Ropes is sly, funny, irreverent, and one hell of a good time. Read it or be sorry you didn't. It's just that simple." -Laurien Berenson, author of Hounded to Death "It'll put you down for the count with laughter. Tom Schreck is a contender for funniest author working in the crime genre today." -William Kent Krueger, author of Thunder Bay "If you've ever despised your boss or secretly wanted to save the world, On the Ropes is a novel you'll devour." -Steve Farhood, Showtime Boxing "Duffy Dombrowski-a loose-cannon social worker and a boxer-has a lot more heart than is healthy for a guy. Give him an orphaned sidekick who hasn't been housebroken (literally), jam them into the middle of a sinister murder plot that packs a surprising wallop, and you've got a winning combination." -Lee Charles Kelley, author of Like a Dog With a Bone "One of my favorite writers...Can't wait for Duffy's next adventure." -Nancy Claus, Westchester Magazine "It won't take long to realize Duffy doesn't run to type...occasionally over the top, but warmhearted, tough, funny Duffy makes a promising debut." -Kirkus Reviews "Pure delight. The sharp-edged humor peppers you like a boxing master's jab, and the poignant undercurrent of theme delivers with the power of a left hook. Duffy Dombrowski is a major new contender in the world of private eye fiction." -Michael A. Black, author of A Killing Frost and A Final Judgment "Get ready to rumble with lovable losers, misguided misfits, and a disgustingly adorable dog." -Michael "Let's Get Ready To Rumble" Buffer, the Voice of Champions

The only time Guy McCann stops talking is when he's downing scotch. Guy was a hot-shot attorney for the West Coast mafia until he got cold feet and split town, earning a target on his head. Now he's lying low in Las Vegas, giving back-room legal advice to second-rate crooks while pining over his old girlfriend Blair, a syndicate working girl with a razor wit and zero inhibitions. When Blair is committed to a psychiatric ward, Guy is drawn back to the dangerous underworld of Los Angeles. Next thing he knows, Blair has escaped from the hospital and Guy's former mafia associates are on her trail, with Guy caught in the crossfire. Enter Dr. Happy, a mob physician dissatisfied with performing hotel room surgeries. Suspecting Blair holds a secret that might be their ticket to freedom from the syndicate, Dr. Happy forces his unsolicited assistance and callous bedside manner onto Guy. With the not-so-good doctor in tow, Guy follows Blair's demented trail of breadcrumbs through nightclubs and major league ballparks, pursued by a switchblade-happy mafioso with a penchant for disembowelment. All Guy wants is to survive long enough to find Blair, but she may not want to be found.

Dirty ex-cops Robert "Diggy" Diggs and Dwayne "Stick" Figgers have found themselves in hot water. After Kansas city drug lord Benny Cordella discovers that they have wronged him, he devises an insane plan: he will force them to commit suicide. This, he believes, will send them to hell, where they will track down Dread Corbin, the man who killed his daughter. Of course, Diggy and Stick don't believe this is possible, but they will soon discover that hell is real. Diggy and Stick quickly find that hell is quite different from the world they're used to. It's one giant, endless urban landscape populated by liars, cheats, and murderers-and those are the good ones. But hell isn't the pit of fire they expected. It's dark and rainy around the clock, and almost everyone there is a member of one of the many criminal organizations. Worst of all, there are no women. With the help of infamous Deadwood pimp and killer Al Swearengen, Diggy and Stick will hunt for sadistic, disfigured killer Corbin. Hell to Pay: Diggy and Stick Book One is unlike any crime novel you've ever read before. It's dark, dangerous, edgy, and laugh-out-loud hilarious. Buckle up for one hell of a ride! Praise for Hell to Pay "I haven't read all of Andy's books, but I've read several, and I like that he writes whatever he likes. He's got some damn good stuff." -Joe R. Lansdale, author of Cold in July "Rausch's writing is like a serpent. It's lean. It's clever. It coils around you...and then it strikes. It's glorious, but be warned-there is no anti-venom." -Chris Miller, author of Dust

Former Irish mafia hitman Brock Sheehan lives quietly on a boat fifty miles from Cleveland. His "retirement" angered the mob boss and his former job caused the Sheehan family to disown him. But when his long-lost nephew, Linus Callahan, tracks him down and asks him for assistance, he agrees to help. A few days earlier, the nephew got into a push-and-shove bar argument with a multimillion-dollar basketball player just released from prison for running a high-level dog-fighting ring. Then the athlete is murdered, and Linus becomes the Cleveland police department's "person of interest." So while Brock Sheehan asks questions regarding the illegal dogfight community, the athlete's crazed fans subject him and his live-in girlfriend to a beating, and rapes one of his co-workers at the local animal shelter. In his travels all over NE Ohio, Brock finds himself in Youngstown where he discovers the woman he's loved all his life, Arizona Skye, who walked out on him years ago and disappeared because of his violent profession. Now she works as a TV news reporter in Youngstown and he hopes to somehow rekindle that love from ten years ago. Investigating the athlete's former dogfight ring, Brock gets most unpleasant with the remaining partner-and winds up with a pit bull of his own, which he names Conor, after an Irish saint. And eventually, with Conor's instincts, he discovers and turns over to the police the real killer of the dog-killer turned sports legend.

The first day of summer is the last day of a young accountant''s life. Colin McHenry is out for his regular run when an SUV crosses into his path, crushing him. Within hours of the hit-skip, Cleveland Homicide Detective Jesus De La Cruz finds the vehicle in the owner''s garage, who''s on vacation three time zones away. The setup is obvious, but not the hand behind it. The suspects read like a list out of a textbook: the jilted fiancée, the jealous coworker, the overlooked subordinate, the dirty client. <br><br>His plate already full, Cruz is assigned to a "special project," a case needing to be solved quickly and quietly. Cleveland Water technicians are the targets of focused attacks. The crimes range from intimidation to assault. The locations swing between the east, west, and south sides of the city. This is definitely madness, but there is a method behind it. <br><br>The two cases are different and yet the same. Motives, opportunities, and alibis don''t point in a single direction. In these mysteries, Cruz has to think laterally, yanking down the curtain to expose the master minding the strings.

Hollywood is just another word for Hell on Earth! When Dick Moonlight PI and his professional impersonator sidekick, Fat Elvis, uncover the head of a decapitated, long blond-haired woman under the floorboards of an under-construction luxury home, they come into contact with a husband-and-wife construction team who also fancy themselves Hollywood filmmakers. Only, it turns out that the filmmakers aren't interested in making romcoms, but instead, snuff films. With Fat Elvis the perfect candidate for a starring role in their new film, Moonlight is hired by the police to go undercover and expose the snuff film operation which, it turns out, is also partly financed by Mexican drug cartel gang members. The stakes and the body count in this hard-boiled thriller are higher than a box office smash hit, and far more deadly. For fans of Joe R. Landsdale, Michael Connelly, Ace Atkins, Robert B. Parker, and more, New York Times and USA Today bestselling ITW Thriller and PWA Shamus Award-winning author Vincent Zandri delivers another novel in the gritty, fast-paced Dick Moonlight PI series that promises to keep you up all night.

There''s a taco truck in Chicago known among a certain segment of the population for its daily specials. Late at night and during the wee hours of the morning, it isn''t the food selection that attracts customers, it''s the illegal weapons available with the special order. <br> <br>Each episode of <i>Guns & Tacos</i> features the story of one Chicagoland resident who visits the taco truck seeking a solution to life''s problems, a solution that always comes in a to-go bag. <br> <br>Episode 13: <i>Two More Tacos, a Beretta .32, and a Pink Butterfly</i> by Dave Zeltserman <br>Episode 14: <i>Two Tamales, One Tokarev, and a Lifetime of Broken Promises</i> by Stacy Woodson <br>Episode 15: <i>Chimichangas and a Couple of Glocks</i> by David H. Hendrickson <br><br>Episodes 16-18 are featured in Guns + Tacos Vol. 6.