Book description
Boo Malone lost everything when he was sent to St. Gabriel's Home for
Boys. There, he picked up a few key survival skills; a wee bit of an
anger management problem; and his best friend for life, Junior. Now
adults, Boo and Junior have a combined weight of 470 pounds (mostly
Boo's), about ten grand in tattoos (mostly Junior's), and a talent for
wisecracking banter. Together, they provide security for The Cellar, a
Boston nightclub where the bartender Audrey doles out hugs and
scoldings for her favorite misfits, and the night porter, Luke,
expects them to watch their language. At last Boo has found a family.
But when Boo and Junior are hired to find Cassandra, a well-to-do
runaway slumming among the authority-shy street kids, Boo sees in the
girl his own long-lost younger sister. And as the case deepens with
evidence that Cassie is being sexually exploited, Boo's blind desire
for justice begins to push his surrogate family's loyalty to the
breaking point. Cassie's life depends on Boo's determination to see
the case through, but that same determination just might finally drive
him and Junior apart. What's looking like an easy payday is turning
into a hard bounce--for everyone.
"In this dynamic hard-boiled quasi-PI novel...William 'Boo'
Malone, with his bouncer friend Darrell 'Junior' McCullough...wrap up
their first case, neither tidily nor predictably, leaving enough setup
for what may become a sturdy new crime fiction series."
--Publishers Weekly
Todd Robinson is the creator and chief editor of the
multiaward-winning crime fiction magazine THUGLIT. His short
fiction has appeared in Blood & Tacos; Plots with
Guns; Needle Magazine; Shotgun Honey; Strange,
Weird, and Wonderful Magazine; Out of the Gutter; Pulp
Pusher; Grift; Demolition Magazine; and
CrimeFactory. His writing has been nominated for a Derringer
Award, short-listed for Best American Mystery Stories, selected for
Writer's Digest's Year's Best Writing 2003, and won the
inaugural Bullet Award in June 2011.
