Black Snow
by
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Walking a beat in the freezing cold of December was bad enough, but pushing through snow and against that wind was cumulatively exhausting. … Twenty minutes ago things went from unpleasant to miserable as he fought his way through the weather. That he had seen the figure lying there by the curb in this blizzard was primarily due to a red neon sign in the window of Becker’s Furniture Store … At first sight Jack figured it was probably just another drunk, someone that had slipped on the ice and had passed out in the new snow. As he approached the body, he considered the distinct possibility that it may have been a pedestrian that had been struck by an automobile or perhaps hit by a streetcar. Stranger things had happened along this street on stormy nights … Jack was very surprised when he recognized the man … it was good old Myron, alias “Hymie,” and the poor soul was laying flat on his back in the fresh snow … a surprised expression on his face and two very large bullet holes in his chest.
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About the Book
Chicago patrolman Jack Kelly comes on duty one cold December evening and begins muddling through the same old boring routine of shaking doorknobs and peering into the dim interiors of businesses. But monotony suddenly transforms to much more unpleasant when he stumbles upon the body of small-time hustler Myron Howard. The young cop finds himself neck-deep in an investigation that leads him on a wild chase through dirty Chicago politics straight to the trail of a killer. What should have been a simple case of murder deepens into a mire of graft and blackmail as Kelly becomes immersed in a political mystery that escalates all the way to Washington, DC. As the body count rises, Kelly soon realizes that those who know too much are the ones being assassinated at close range. It is up to Kelly to figure out what the victims could have known that was so deadly—so threatening—that a killer will stop at nothing to ensure the truth is never revealed. In this hard-boiled 1930s mystery, Jack Kelly knows that crime is solved the hard way—if it is ever solved at all—but even so he will stop at nothing to find a murderer bent on revenge.
About the Author
J. T. O’Brien has written two college-level textbooks on forensics, a history of military aviation reconnaissance history from 1940 to 2000, and four novels centered on various military campaigns. He now resides in sunny Surprise, Arizona, far from winter snows and the rampant crime of the big city.