Private detective Harold Bergman stood as a testament to his former life as a Wichita Kansas policeman. Having endured the brutalities of World War II, he carries a slight but noticeable limp, a constant reminder of the battles fought on distant shores. As a Jew, his identity is woven into the very fabric of his being, but he cannot fulfill his father’s wishes that he become a rabbi, and instead faces a world where the laws of God and the laws of man don’t make sense, taking it upon himself to find the Truth and perhaps himself. Harold finds himself entangled in the lives of a spoiled daughter, and the wayward husband of a devout colored woman. Their cases take Harold on a perilous journey into the depths of a dark underworld, where shadows dance with malicious intent and faith emerges as his sole weapon. Failure to wield it will usher in a day of calamity.
Baron Witherspoon, facially scarred WWI veteran turned beat cop in Arkansas City, KS, finds himself immersed in two different murder investigations that span the course of three years. Each case is heinous and filled with twists and turns. To catch the killers, he must go deep into their demented minds. What he doesn't count on are the secrets—the ones that will be revealed and the ones he must keep. Will the knowledge he gains give him the answers he seeks or will it instead destroy him in the end?
It's 1943 and World War II rages overseas. However, for Baron Witherspoon, beat cop, his sole concern is keeping his city safe. Yet that seems impossible when two FBI agents show up, claim a German POW soldier has escaped and is on his way to Arkansas City, Kansas. The threat is no longer "over there". The stakes rise when the agents accuse one of their own as an accomplice. Now everyone Baron encounters, even old acquaintances, could be a Nazi sympathizer. It will take a lot of digging to get to the truth.
For close to thirty years, Baron Witherspoon has lived another man's life. Now, he's been pushed out of his job as a beat cop in rural Ark City, Kansas. He should be looking forward to some kind of a future but instead there is too much from his past forcing him to face many hidden truths. An unsolved murder demands justice. An unknown threat results in a lengthy journey. His health is in decline. What he doesn't realize is the answers are right there in front of him.
Baron Witherspoon, a disfigured WWI vet, now a beat cop in a small Kansas burg, is on a collision course with Jake Hickey, a volatile Chicago gangster. While Baron wants merely to provide residents with a safe place to live and escape the memory of the horrors of war, Jake is looking to recapture the glory of Prohibition. Forced to hide out in Arkansas City, Baron’s town, Jake’s impatient nature drives him to put together his own gang. The local crime outfit is wary of Jake’s dealings and lack of cooperation. Baron has his own suspicions but can’t prove anything. A mutual acquaintance from the past, a dead war hero, holds a secret that raises the stakes even higher. Baron has too much to lose, but the town’s future is in the balance.
You better check on your brother. I think he's dead." It took one anonymous phone call to send Walt Hardy on a long journey back to Wichita, KS. Back to the city where he was kicked off the police force on charges of corruption. He knew he would run into Lt. Dickey, his old boss who still wants to nail him to the cross; Gayle, the perennial good-time girl always on the lookout for a meal ticket; and Liebovitz, the crass Eastern European whose dirty money buys a lot in a sluggish economy. "Swan Song" is neo-noir hard-boiled fiction where there are no good guys-just different degrees of bad guys. Walt Hardy is going to come face to face with the past in an effort to save his brother. This could be his one last chance at vengeance or his swan song. "Modern noir full of intrigue; impressive debut novel" --Professor Bruce Lindsay at the University of New Hampshire.
Private detective Harold Bergman stood as a testament to his former life as a Wichita Kansas policeman. Having endured the brutalities of World War II, he carries a slight but noticeable limp, a constant reminder of the battles fought on distant shores. As a Jew, his identity is woven into the very fabric of his being, but he cannot fulfill his father’s wishes that he become a rabbi, and instead faces a world where the laws of God and the laws of man don’t make sense, taking it upon himself to find the Truth and perhaps himself. Harold finds himself entangled in the lives of a spoiled daughter, and the wayward husband of a devout colored woman. Their cases take Harold on a perilous journey into the depths of a dark underworld, where shadows dance with malicious intent and faith emerges as his sole weapon. Failure to wield it will usher in a day of calamity.
It's 1943 and World War II rages overseas. However, for Baron Witherspoon, beat cop, his sole concern is keeping his city safe. Yet that seems impossible when two FBI agents show up, claim a German POW soldier has escaped and is on his way to Arkansas City, Kansas. The threat is no longer "over there". The stakes rise when the agents accuse one of their own as an accomplice. Now everyone Baron encounters, even old acquaintances, could be a Nazi sympathizer. It will take a lot of digging to get to the truth.
Baron Witherspoon, a disfigured WWI vet, now a beat cop in a small Kansas burg, is on a collision course with Jake Hickey, a volatile Chicago gangster. While Baron wants merely to provide residents with a safe place to live and escape the memory of the horrors of war, Jake is looking to recapture the glory of Prohibition. Forced to hide out in Arkansas City, Baron’s town, Jake’s impatient nature drives him to put together his own gang. The local crime outfit is wary of Jake’s dealings and lack of cooperation. Baron has his own suspicions but can’t prove anything. A mutual acquaintance from the past, a dead war hero, holds a secret that raises the stakes even higher. Baron has too much to lose, but the town’s future is in the balance.
For close to thirty years, Baron Witherspoon has lived another man's life. Now, he's been pushed out of his job as a beat cop in rural Ark City, Kansas. He should be looking forward to some kind of a future but instead there is too much from his past forcing him to face many hidden truths. An unsolved murder demands justice. An unknown threat results in a lengthy journey. His health is in decline. What he doesn't realize is the answers are right there in front of him.
Baron Witherspoon, facially scarred WWI veteran turned beat cop in Arkansas City, KS, finds himself immersed in two different murder investigations that span the course of three years. Each case is heinous and filled with twists and turns. To catch the killers, he must go deep into their demented minds. What he doesn't count on are the secrets—the ones that will be revealed and the ones he must keep. Will the knowledge he gains give him the answers he seeks or will it instead destroy him in the end?
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