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New in the Down & Out Bookstore This Month
CONEY ISLAND AVENUE, the sequel to GRAVESEND by Shamus Award-winning author J.L. Abramo.
 The dog days of August in Brooklyn and the detectives of the 61st Precinct are battling to keep all hell from breaking loose.
Innocents are being sacrificed in the name of greed, retribution, passion and the lust for power—and the only worthy opponent of this senseless evil is the uncompromising resolve to rise above it, rather than descend to its depths.
The dramatic account continues of the professional and personal struggles that constitute everyday life for the dedicated men and women of the Six-One—and of the saints and sinners who share their streets.
THE LOGAN TRIAD, Three Bullet-Riddled Novellas by Nathan Walpow.
 Sometimes those who do terrible things to good people slip through the cracks. That’s where Logan comes in. He tracks down the guilty and holds them accountable. He specializes in those who mistreat women and children. He works with a team of three young crime-fighters who’ve benefited from his efforts. And none of the four is above letting a little thing like the law get in his or her way.
The Logan Triad includes three novellas:
In “Logan’s Young Guns,” a young woman shows up in the emergency room, and Logan sets out to find the man responsible and make sure he doesn’t do it again.
In “Logan Shoots First,” the team must balance a forced-prostitution ring with a lead on the case that’s haunted Logan for seven years.
In “Logan Gets Caught,” a young woman from Logan’s past reappears, insisting he investigate the murder of her mother.
Plus the bonus stories “Daughters” and “Johnny and the Warehouse Women.”
BAD BOY BOOGIE, a Jay Desmarteaux Crime Thriller by Thomas Pluck.
 When Jay Desmarteaux steps out of from prison after serving twenty-five years for murdering a vicious school bully, he tries to follow his convict mentor’s advice: the best revenge is living well.
But questions gnaw at his gut: Where have his folks disappeared to? Why do old friends want him gone? And who wants him dead?
Teaming with his high school sweetheart turned legal Valkyrie, a hulking body shop bodybuilder, and a razor-wielding gentleman’s club house mother, Jay will unravel a tangle of deception all the way back to the bayous where he was born. With an iron-fisted police chief on his tail and a ruthless mob captain at his throat, he’ll need his wits, his fists, and his father’s trusty Vietnam war hatchet to hack his way through a toxic jungle of New Jersey corruption that makes the gator-filled swamps of home feel like the shallow end of the kiddie pool.
SHOOTING CREEK AND OTHER STORIES by Scott Loring Sanders.
 Dark, gritty, disturbing. Those are the types of characters you’ll encounter in the award winning stories within this collection. Tough people in a tough world. But also real people, struggling with difficult decisions when faced with unthinkable circumstances. What happens when you discover a dead body but can’t go to the police because of your own dark past? Or your father’s dark past? What might a woman resort to when her husband doesn’t hold up his end of a bargain? What frightening surprises lie buried beneath the beaches of North Carolina? Or in the desolate hills of Virginia’s Blue Ridge Mountains? Or in the swamps of the New Jersey Pine Barrens?
These are stories that are as dark, gritty, and disturbing as the characters who inhabit them, yet there is a pervasive humanness which forces us to empathize. That asks us to understand why people sometimes do what they do. Perhaps that’s the reason these stories have been chosen for the Best American Mystery series, honored by The Atlantic Monthly’s Student Writing Contest, not to mention various other awards and honors. Perhaps that’s why these stories will stick with you well after the reading has commenced. Always gnawing at you, unrelenting, asking, “What would you have done in that situation? Would you have behaved any differently?”
THE PLACE OF REFUGE by Albert Tucher. Published by Shotgun Honey.
 Detective Errol Coutinho of the Hawaii County Police has a serial killer of prostitutes to catch and a shortage of leads to pursue. Office Jessie Hokoana of the Honolulu P.D. has an undercover assignment that tests her loyalties and takes her to the brink of death.
When their cases collide in the rainforest of the Big Island, family ties turn deadly, and there may be no pu’uhonua—no place of refuge—for anyone. |
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Our Featured 99¢ Crime Novels for March
We're featuring two ebooks this month for 99¢ …
 From March 1st through March 15th, CZECHMATE: THE SPY WHO PLAYED JAZZ by Bill Moody can be purchased for just 99¢ on Kindle, Nook, Kobo, and iBooks. Also available from the Down & Out Bookstore in both .mobi and .epub formats.
The year is 1968. The liberal reforms of Czechoslovakia’s new leader, Alexander Dubcek, have outraged the Kremlin and now, 250,000 Warsaw Pact forces are amassed on the borders.
For American intelligence, the situation is worsened when their prime source, Josef Blaha, threatens to cut them off unless one demand is met: a totally safe contact. For CIA veteran, Alan Curtis, jazz musician Gene Williams seems the ideal choice. His invitation to the Prague Jazz festival gives him perfect cover and access to Prague.
But Williams is a musician, not a spy and has other ideas that force Curtis to resort to blackmail to get the young musician to accept what Curtis calls a simple pickup and delivery. It starts to go wrong when Williams finds Blaha murdered by the KGB and he’s left to unravel the puzzle on his own. What he finds is even more than Curtis bargained for. With the help of Blaha’s beautiful granddaughter Lena, Williams races against time to warn Dubcek of the impending invasion and uncover a traitor in the US Embassy.
 And from March 16th through March 31st, the collection of short stories from Keith Gilman, BAD HABITS, is just 99¢ on Kindle, Nook, Kobo, and iBooks. Also available from the Down & Out Bookstore in both .mobi and .epub formats.
Praise for BAD HABITS…
“The best fiction has this feeling that someone’s just leaned close to whisper in our ear, ‘I’ve something important to tell you.’ Keith Gilman’s debut novel has and sustains that quality from the first page. You know right away that you’re in the hands of a natural and very fine storyteller. Authenticity, voice, the sense of lives beyond the page, all those things we crave as readers and for which we work so hard as writers, tossing the bones, hoping the magic will work—all are solidly, soundly in place.” —James Sallis, author of Drive.
“Dark, gritty, and hauntingly lyrical, Keith Gilman writes Noir with the authenticity of a cop who has actually worked the mean streets.” —Robin Burcell, author of Face of a Killer.
“…grabbed me by the collar and wouldn’t let go. Gilman’s voice is a powerful new addition to the crime fiction community.” —Reed Farrel Coleman, Shamus, Barry and Anthony Award-winning author of the Moe Prager series.
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Our Featured Author: Nathan Walpow
In a continuing series of features from our authors, Nathan Walpow tells us how he approaches writing a new book.
 Some writers can envision a book’s plot before they sit down to write it. They can visualize characters and twists and red herrings and dramatic denouements, and arrange them into a story with a beginning, a middle, and an end.
I envy these people. I can’t do what they do. I start with the first scene and see what happens. Characters show up willy-nilly; plot twists are as big a surprise to me as they are to the reader. I write and write until I think there’s enough good stuff in the amorphous manuscript for a book. What I’ve got is 30-40% longer than the final product.
Only when this “zero draft” is done does my storytelling side come to life. I look at the pages and pages of manuscript and piece together a narrative. I cut and paste sections wholesale, discard storylines, add what needs adding. Only then do I have a reasonable first draft, approximately the length it needs to be.
Is this a good way to write? Heck, no. I spend weeks on stuff that doesn’t make it into the book. Sometimes I toss it without a regret. Sometimes I’m so attached to a chunk that I save it in a separate file, hoping that someday I’ll find another story it fits into.
Continue reading ...
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Down & Out Authors on the Net
• G.J. Brown
The author has a new short story exclusively on Crime Thriller Girl featuring Sarah Tracy, who first appeared in his story "ebgdea" in BLOOD ON THE BAYOU.
He was also a guest on Criminal Minds, where he talks about "speed learning".
• Eric Campbell
The Down & Out Books publisher was interviewed on the premiere episode of Writer Types, hosted by Eric Beetner and S.W. Lauden.
• J.J. Hensley
The crime novelist writes about "How to Kill People While Still Enjoying Your Family Vacation" on ITW Presents: The Thrill Begins.
• Paul D. Marks
The editor of the COAST TO COAST anthology series talks about the editing process on SleuthSayers.
• Edith Maxwell
The author's story from BLOOD ON THE BAYOU: BOUCHERCON ANTHOLOGY 2016, "The Mayor and the Midwife", was nominated for a 2016 Agatha Award!
• Thomas Pluck
The author of the Jay Desmarteaux crime thriller BAD BY BOOGIE writes about AC/DC Noir on Pulp Curry.
• Charles Salzberg
The author of the popular Henry Swann mysteries was a guest on Mystery Fanfare with a post titled "Why I Write What I Write".
He was interviewed on BookHive, where he talks about the new Henry Swann mystery SWANN'S WAY OUT and his work with the New York Writers Workshop.
And he was also interviewed on Carole's Book Corner, where he revealed the title of the next Henry Swann mystery!
Finally, he was featured in an Up Close article on The Big Thrill.
• Albert Tucher
The author of this month's new book from Shotgun Honey, THE PLACE OF REFUGE, was profiled on Creative Minds.
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New This Month on NetGalley ...
 Down & Out Books is featuring CROSSED BONES, the second Tommy and Shayna Crime Caper by S.W. Lauden, on NetGalley this month. The book is scheduled to be published in May 2017.
If you are interested in obtaining an eARC of any of our available titles for review, visit the Down & Out Books page on NetGalley and submit your request.
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The Down & Out Bookstore
 Did you know you can buy books directly from the Down & Out Bookstore?
There are several advantages to ordering your books from us.
• Our prices are competitive. We charge the same amount as other online retailers. If you find a lower price for one of our new books, let us know and we'll match it.
• For US customers, if your total print book purchase is over $100, shipping is free.
• eBook purchases include BOTH the .mobi and .epub formats. If you have a Kindle and an iPad, there is no need to purchase two copies!
• Signed copies of several of our titles are available exclusively from us. You won't find them on Amazon or Barnes & Noble.
The next time you're in the market for a strong plot-driven, character-centric literary or crime novel, check out the Down & Out Bookstore.
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