"Flashpoint"
Political Consultant Devlin Conrad had the feeling that his very married
client Senator Robert Logan was a lot more involved with the beautiful
and mysterious Tracy Cabot than he wanted to admit.
But he learned too late that the Cabot woman was a spy working for a shadowy right-wing organization – too late because by then she'd been found murdered in Senator Logan’s fishing cabin, and the police are certain that he killed her.
Conrad finds numerous suspects in the Senator's mansion and in the somewhat comic but dangerous figure of political saboteur Howie Ruskin.
He must find the real killer if he is to win the election for a client whose vanity and arrogance make him right at home in the United States Senate.
"Stranglehold"
 |
 |
The author is a
liberal -- which
wins me over
right away. The
book is also good.
|
But he learned too late that the Cabot woman was a spy working for a shadowy right-wing organization – too late because by then she'd been found murdered in Senator Logan’s fishing cabin, and the police are certain that he killed her.
Conrad finds numerous suspects in the Senator's mansion and in the somewhat comic but dangerous figure of political saboteur Howie Ruskin.
He must find the real killer if he is to win the election for a client whose vanity and arrogance make him right at home in the United States Senate.
"Stranglehold"
 |
| All Gorman's books were mediocre in my opinion. |
When Dev Conrad agreed to work with Congresswoman Susan Cooper, member of a prominent political family, he didn’t know that the worst threat her reelection campaign would face would come from Cooper herself.
The congresswoman has a secret she’s not willing to share with Dev, forcing him to follow her the way a detective would. But the campaign is burdened with other problems as well, starting with the murder of scandal-plagued political consultant Monica Davies.
Rumor has it she had some information that would destroy Susan Cooper’s campaign. In the wake of another murder, another blackmailer, and two or three suspicious relationships,
Dev must figure out who is trying to sabotage the campaign. A rip-roaring ride, "Stranglehold" will win your vote.
"I was the kid in school who always had a science fiction or thriller paperback hidden behind my textbook while class was in session. I was not exactly a gifted student but I did read all the classics (my classics) from Edgar Rice Burroughs to Jack London to Ray Bradbury to Raymond Chandler before I finished high school.
 |
| Ed Gorman |
I wrote my first story in third grade. I still remember the first paragraph--I wanted to make sure that my vast readership (me) got the idea that this was a science fiction story. "Johnny Mars walked down Mars Street on Mars one day." I don't know about you but I think that should be studied in every writing class ever taught.:)
About my stories and books:
"Ed Gorman has the same infallible readability as writers like Lawrence Block, Max Allan Collins, Donald E. Westlake, Ed McBain, and John D. MacDonald." Jon Breen, Ellery Queen
Kirkus called Ed Gorman "One of the most original crime writers around."
Gorman's novels "The Poker Club" and "The Haunted" have both been filmed. Author of more than 30 novels and ten collections of short stories, The Oxford Book of Short Stories noted that his work "provides fresh ideas, characters and approaches."
"Branded"
When Andy Malloy returns home to find his stepmother murdered, his first instinct is to blame his no-good father.
But when Tom Malloy returns home, protesting his innocence, Andy's heart no longer agrees with his head.
Andy can't imagine the sherrif believing his father's tale—not when he himself couldn't. The only choice for Tom Malloy is to run—with a posse hot on his heels.
(This book was a disappointment.)
"Bad Moon Rising"
A hippie commune has invaded Black River Falls.
While the majority of the townspeople believe that the bohemians have the right to stay despite how bizarre some of their ways can seem. As always, there is a minority that constantly accuses them of everything from criminal activities to satanism.
As usual, lawyer and private investigator Sam McCain finds himself in the middle of the controversy, especially when the teenage daughter of Paul Mainwaring, one of the towns wealthiest men, is found murdered in the communes barn.
A deeply troubled young man (and Vietnam vet) named Neil Cameron is immediately charged with the crime, but Sam has serious doubts. In this lively and poignant new novel, Ed Gorman offers listeners his richest portrait yet about Black River Falls and its people.
This book made up for "Branded." An excellent read.
"Blindside"
Jeff Ward is a liberal Illinois politician seeking reelection to the U.S. House of Representatives, and he's in the fight of his career against a millionaire conservative businessman.
Ward may be his own worst enemy, what with his massive ego and his barely concealed reputation as a womanizer. As a favor to Ward's father, political consultant Dev Conrad reluctantly joins Ward's staff. Shortly after signing on, Conrad is faced with a campaign worker's worst nightmare: Ward's most trusted adviser and lifelong friend is murdered behind the candidate's headquarters.
Of course, the opposition does its best to portray the crime as a byproduct of liberal immorality. Conrad's strategy is simple: find the killer and get in front of the story.
In the third Dev Conrad mystery, veteran Shamus Award winner Gorman does what he does best. His characters are never less than fully realized, his dialogue crackles, and the plot is clever and credible.
Using his past experience as a political speechwriter, Gorman provides a fascinating glimpse inside a bruising election campaign replete with ambitious staff, odious candidates, and idealistic volunteers.
A hippie commune has invaded Black River Falls.
While the majority of the townspeople believe that the bohemians have the right to stay despite how bizarre some of their ways can seem. As always, there is a minority that constantly accuses them of everything from criminal activities to satanism.
As usual, lawyer and private investigator Sam McCain finds himself in the middle of the controversy, especially when the teenage daughter of Paul Mainwaring, one of the towns wealthiest men, is found murdered in the communes barn.
A deeply troubled young man (and Vietnam vet) named Neil Cameron is immediately charged with the crime, but Sam has serious doubts. In this lively and poignant new novel, Ed Gorman offers listeners his richest portrait yet about Black River Falls and its people.
This book made up for "Branded." An excellent read.
Jeff Ward is a liberal Illinois politician seeking reelection to the U.S. House of Representatives, and he's in the fight of his career against a millionaire conservative businessman.
Ward may be his own worst enemy, what with his massive ego and his barely concealed reputation as a womanizer. As a favor to Ward's father, political consultant Dev Conrad reluctantly joins Ward's staff. Shortly after signing on, Conrad is faced with a campaign worker's worst nightmare: Ward's most trusted adviser and lifelong friend is murdered behind the candidate's headquarters.
Of course, the opposition does its best to portray the crime as a byproduct of liberal immorality. Conrad's strategy is simple: find the killer and get in front of the story.
In the third Dev Conrad mystery, veteran Shamus Award winner Gorman does what he does best. His characters are never less than fully realized, his dialogue crackles, and the plot is clever and credible.
Using his past experience as a political speechwriter, Gorman provides a fascinating glimpse inside a bruising election campaign replete with ambitious staff, odious candidates, and idealistic volunteers.
"Cavalry Man:The Killing Machine"
The first book in the new Noah Ford Western series by Spur Award winner Ed Gorman. A blend of the classic television series The Wild, Wild West and the USA show Peacemakers.
Noah Ford made a serious mistake in the eyes of his family when he joined the Union forces—and his Rebel brother David took it the worst of all. And to make matters worse, now that the war was over, Noah had taken up as a federal agent, working for the very government that his southern family fought tooth and nail.
Now a powerful new weapon, a souped-up Gatling gun—a prototype being developed by the U.S. Army—is missing, and all signs point to David Ford, a notorious black market weapons dealer. And even with the bad blood between them, the last thing Noah wants is for his brother to be killed by federal agents, so he volunteers to track him down and return the weapon to its rightful owner, and let his brother live to die another day.
But when Noah attempts to ambush his brother and reclaim the gun, things quickly spiral out of control. Bullets fly and now his partners AND his brother end up dead, and Noah narrowly escapes with a near-fatal gunshot wound. It turns out the gun means more to someone else than it did even to his brother, and when new bodies turn up around every corner, Noah must think fast and act even faster if he wants to come back from this assignment alive.
"Fools Rush In"
"Lost April", a song Sam McCain liked.
Sam McCain is back, with all "the rueful wisdom and charm of an exemplary hero who"—says the San Francisco Chronicle—"is curious not only about whodunit but also about some of the more elusive riddles of human existence." It's 1963, June. All spring Freedom Riders have been advancing the cause of civil rights in the South. While no one's marching in Black River Falls, Iowa, except maybe the high school band, the sleepy heartland town is showing signs of racial unease.
For the body of a black college student—David Leeds—has turned up dead. The evidence points to blackmail, and to a scandal that could ruin the already encumbered campaign of the very white Senator Lloyd Williams for reelection, if photos exist to prove rumors that romantically link the senator's daughter to the handsome, bright, ambitious—and black—David Leeds.
Prejudice runs mean and deep in Sam McCain's hometown, as the amiable young attorney and sometime detective discovers in an investigation that takes him from the unlit backstreets of Black River Falls to the cliquey precincts of the martini-fortified rich.
"Guild"
"Guild" is Ed Gorman’s first Western. The protagonist is a former lawman turned bounty hunter with a past—one terrible incident—that haunts him. He shot and killed a young girl and can’t forgive himself. He now resides on society’s fringes and survives by his wit and strength.
The novel opens with Guild dragging a bounty into the town of Danton. The man’s name is Maloney and he is friendly and likable. He is so likable he convinces Guild to purchase a bucket of beer to share before they hit the Sheriff’s office and jail. Once Maloney has been safely turned over and Guild has the chit in his pocket he decides to find a place to stay. He chooses a boarding house in town where he meets an angry young man that has a much larger affect on Guild’s life than expected.
Shortly thereafter, the young man is charged with a bank heist and his partner—a beautiful young woman that Guild becomes very protective of—drags Guild into the fray. It turns out Danton isn’t the town it seems to be on the surface. The law is crooked, and the town's founding family will do anything to keep their power and wealth. And Guild quickly finds the center of everything.
The protagonist is a dark and melancholy figure who is equal parts brawn and brain. He is a tough and violent man, but he is also self-aware. He understands human nature and while his view of the world is dark, his cynicism is never quite proven out and the blackness is never allowed to overtake him. He always finds something to admire about humanity, whether it is the beauty of a sincere woman or the hard fought integrity of a man taking the correct action no matter the consequences.
"Guild", like all of Gorman’s Westerns, is a hybrid—it is as much hardboiled noir as it is Western. The mystery is the centerpiece of the story, and the setting—the old West atmosphere and its dusty and wild towns—are the playground where it takes place. The true power of this novel is the sturdy portrait Gorman paints of the past. He creates believable characters that behave very much as our own generation—they are tired, scared, lonely, naïve, brutal, horny, indifferent, kind and courageous; sometimes all at once. Which is most likely exactly how our ancestors behaved.
