The Case
October 1936. On a rain-black night at Pier 9, patrolman Frank Reilly is gunned down in a warehouse by a shadowy figure. The only brass on the floor comes from his partner's .45, and the department is glad to bury Elias Thorne under a rigged corruption charge.
Two years later Thorne works the other side of the glass door: a railroaded ex-cop turned private eye, taking whatever trouble walks in off the street. Then a nervous, sweaty fat man offers him cash to forget a client named Victor Lang, an import-export man who vanished after Thorne's tail job caught his partner meeting foreigners. There are threats with no names on them, a note that may or may not be Lang's, and somebody with pull digging up Thorne's old file. As Europe slides toward war, the ships on the waterfront are carrying more than their manifests say.
The World of 1938
The Waterfront
Forced locks, after-hours warehouses, and a precinct that smells of wet wool and stale coffee. The piers are where things go missing, and where men do too.
A War Next Door
Spanish-flagged ships with tight-lipped crews load steel, chemicals, and machine parts that match no manifest, while Europe slides toward the edge.
The Man
A railroaded ex-cop with a .45 under his coat and a case file somebody won't let stay closed.
The Soundtrack
Every chapter takes its name from a song of the day: Stormy Weather, In a Sentimental Mood, St. James Infirmary.
Stay on the Wire
No spam, no sales pitch. Just word when the book is out, and maybe an early chapter for the folks who signed up first.