Posts by Coffeetown Press
Skeleton Key, by Reed Bunzel
Skeleton Key, by Reed Bunzel One year after his world is devastated in Hurricane Blues, Jack Connor is stitching his life back together one thread at a time. He now manages an open-air drinking establishment named The Sandbar across the road from the sand in Folly Beach, a shabby-chic tourist town half an hour from…
Read MoreAmong the Remnants, by Josh Gortler
Among the Remnants, by Josh Gortler When three-year-old Joshua Gortler and his family were forced from their hometown in Poland during World War II, they scrambled for safety across border after border, finding refuge at last in Europe’s Displaced Persons Camps. Undocumented and unschooled, Gortler spent his adolescence learning how to survive. When his family…
Read MoreFragmented, by George Fong
Fragmented, by George Fong FBI Special Agent Jack Paris is called to investigate the murder of a woman. Under normal circumstances, murder is a local crime. But in this case, the victim has a 17 year-old daughter who is missing and the presumption is she’s been kidnapped. That makes it a federal matter. From evidence…
Read MoreShould Grace Fail, by Priscilla Paton
Should Grace Fail, by Priscella Paton On a June morning, Detective Erik Jansson finds the body of a former policeman in a St. Paul dumpster. The victim, Dan, a recovered alcoholic, had been rescuing an addicted teen, Luna, from sex trafficking. With the backdrop of the opioid crisis, the detectives pursue suspects—missing Luna, who has…
Read MorePercentages of Guilt, by Michael Niemann
Percentages of Guilt, by Michael Niemann Faulkner once wrote, “The past is never dead. It’s not even past.” Valentin Vermeulen learns the hard way how true that is. His former employer, the prosecutor’s office in Antwerp, calls him back. There are some irregularities with an old case. Once in his old home town, he finds…
Read MoreJimmy and Fay, by Michael Mayo
Jimmy and Fay, by Michael Mayo It’s March 2, 1933. King Kong is premiering at Radio City Music Hall, and Fay Wray is about to become the most famous actress on earth. So what’s she doing hanging around a rundown Manhattan speakeasy? This Hollywood scream queen has come to see Jimmy Quinn, a limping tough guy who…
Read MoreEveryone Goes to Jimmy’s, by Michael Mayo
Everyone Goes to Jimmy’s, by Michael Mayo Young Jimmy Quinn is delivering a bribe for the infamous racketeer Arnold Rothstein when a bomb goes off on Wall Street, killing thirty people and scaring every banker in the city right down to his spats. Twelve years later, Rothstein is dead, and Jimmy is doing his best…
Read MoreJimmy the Stick, by Michael Mayo
Jimmy the Stick, by Michael Mayo Jimmy Quinn was a gunman, bootlegger, and bagman, running with mobsters the likes of Lucky Luciano, Meyer Lansky, and Vincent “Mad Dog” Coll, until a bullet in the leg and the murder of Arnold Rothstein ended his career. Quinn bought a speakeasy in downtown Manhattan and settled into a…
Read MoreIdeas of Reference at Jesuit Hall, by Matthew Freeman
Ideas of Reference at Jesuit Hall, by Matthew Freeman The basic conflict in the poems is the poet fighting what is real and what is not real in his brain. We see him going around St Louis struggling to come up with a language that would make sense of his experiences. While somewhat confused, he…
Read MoreSome Kind of Justice, by Michael Niemann
Some Kind of Justice, by Michael Niemann In the frigid air of Mount Hermon, in pre-civil war Syria, a shivering Valentin Vermeulen interviews Corporal Waldmüller, young guard who has filed a confidential complaint. Vermeulen’s job as UN fraud investigator has sent him to one godforsaken outpost after another ever since he angered his superiors by making accusations he…
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