Death Walks Skid Row

Sunset Boulevard, 1975: Two men are speeding home from a party on a night that will haunt them forever. Despite the dangerously wet roads, both passenger and driver are very drunk. Thirty years later on Los Angeles's Skid Row, a homeless man is found dead in an alley. Discovering several disturbing connections, reporter Ramona Rios and a man known on Skid Row only as 'the governor' set out on separate paths to unveil the truth, but are brought together to face a perilous web of power, manipulation and deceit.

City blue laws drove the liquor trade and its customers—hard-drinking lumberjacks, pensioners, farmhands, and railroad workers—into the oldest quarter of Minneapolis. In the fifty-cent-a-night flophouses of the city’s Gateway District, they slept in cubicles with ceilings of chicken wire. In rescue missions, preachers and nuns tried to save their souls. Sociology researchers posing as vagrants studied them. And in their midst John Bacich, aka Johnny Rex, who owned a bar, a liquor store, and a cage hotel, documented the gritty neighborhood’s last days through photographs and film of his clientele. The King of Skid Row follows Johnny Rex into this vanished world that once thrived in the heart of Minneapolis. Drawing on hours of interviews conducted in the three years before Bacich’s death in 2012, James Eli Shiffer brings to life the eccentric characters and strange events of an American skid row. Supplemented with archival and newspaper research and his own photographs, Bacich’s stories re-create the violent, alcohol-soaked history of a city best known for its clean, progressive self-image. His life captures the seamy, richly colorful side of the city swept away by a massive urban renewal project in the early 1960s and gives us, in a glimpse of those bygone days, one of Minneapolis’s most intriguing figures—spinning some of its most enduring and enthralling tales.

Violet McNeal ran away from her family’s rural Minnesota farm in the late 1880s and fell under the spell of conman and patent medicine “doctor” Will Archimbauld who hooked her on opium and promises of fame and fortune. Violet soon learned to become Princess Lotus Blossom and was the best pitchman, nostrum seller, and conwoman to roam the west in a torch-lit wagon. Four White Horses and a Brass Band is Violet’s story of life on the road with the medicine show and reveal the secrets of conman’s trade. Sick and nearly dead with addiction by age 30, she submits to the tortures of withdrawal and the “cure” to create a new life. First published in 1947, the Feral House edition features an extensive afterword on the history of the patent medicine trade and evolution of the lure of miracle cures and healers. Also included are a glossary of the grifter’s cant and samples of scripts used by Violet and other infamous “doctors”.

It doesn’t have to be the dark of a rainy night for it to be noir. It doesn’t have to be shadowy rooms of Venetian blinds. It doesn’t even have to be a femme fatale. Noir is somebody tripping over their own faults, somebody who has an Achilles heel, some kind of greed, or want or desire that leads them down a dark path, from which there is sometimes no return. No one is safe. There’s no place to hide in this collection of twelve stories from the dark side of the American Dream. Stories of noir from Coast to Coast. Contributors: Colleen Collins—Denver, Colorado Brendan DuBois—rural Massachusetts Alison Gaylin—Hudson Valley, New York Tom MacDonald—Nashua, New Hampshire Andrew McAleer—Boston, Massachusetts Michael Mallory—Springfield, Missouri Paul D. Marks—Venice Beach/Los Angeles, California Dennis Palumbo—Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania Stephen D. Rogers—Providence, Rhode Island John Shepphird—Los Alamos, New Mexico Jaden Terrell—Nashville, Tennessee Dave Zeltserman—small town Kansas Praise for the COAST TO COAST series: Murder from Sea to Shining Sea “A sterling collection of coast-to-coast crime stories dripping with local color—all of it blood red.” —Chuck Hogan, Hammett Prize winner and international bestselling author of The Strain “Envelope-pushers! A truly WOW collection by the best mystery writers out there—full of surprises only they can pull off.” —Thomas B. Sawyer, bestselling author of Cross Purposes and Head-Writer of Murder, She Wrote “An engaging collection from a stellar cast of award-winning mystery authors guaranteed to keep you awake all night.” —Hannah Dennison, author of the IMBA bestselling Vicky Hill Mysteries “This intriguing collection of stories from these masters of suspense will keep you guessing from cover to cover and coast to coast.” —Raffi Yessayan, author of 8 in the Box and 2 in the Hat Private Eyes from Sea to Shining Sea “A tantalizing array of stories guaranteed to please fans of PI fiction. High fives all around!” —MWA Grand Master Bill Pronzini “Tough, taut and terrific. This cross-country collection of sleuthing stories—from the best writers in the private eye biz—is wonderfully written, always surprising, and completely entertaining.” —Hank Phillippi Ryan, Anthony, Agatha and Mary Higgins Clark Award-winning author “A bang-up read of PI fiction from a gallery of impressive authors. Compelling, fun, and full of clever surprises. A treat.” —Shamus Award-winning author John Shepphird Awards and Nominations Coast to Coast: Private Eyes from Sea to Shining Sea nominated for a 2018 Anthony Award for Best Anthology “Out of Business” by Eric Beetner, nominated for a 2018 Shamus Award “The #2 Pencil” by Matt Coyle, nominated for a 2018 Macavity Award and a 2018 Derringer Award “Gun Work” by John Floyd, selected for the Best American Mysteries of 2018 by Louise Penny and Otto Penzler “The Dead Detective” by Bob Levinson, nominated for a 2016 Shamus Award “King’s Quarter” by Andrew McAleer, nominated for a 2018 Derringer Award “Windward” by Paul D. Marks, winner of the 2018 Macavity Award for Best Short Story; nominated for a 2018 Shamus Award and 2018 Derringer Award, and selected for the Best American Mysteries of 2018 by Louise Penny and Otto Penzler “Kill My Wife, Please” by Robert J. Randisi, nominated for a 2018 Derringer Award “A Necessary Ingredient” by Art Taylor, nominated for a 2018 Macavity Award, a 2018 Malice Domestic Award, and a 2018 Anthony Award

Things Seen and Heard by Many is a collection of poetry based upon the authors observations of people as they go about their daily lives, not knowing they are being observed. Within each observed life is a central problem caused by some outside influence or an internal conflict. Author W. Thomas Love seeks to bring this to light to stimulate all who read the book to examine themselves and their respective lives. This examination hopes to minimize the problems before they become uncontrollable. An uncontrolled problem will disrupt life. From the outward expressions of a cotton pickers life and the authors interpretation of his life to the revelation that the world is a hard place that creates hard hearts, the poetry considers the essence of the human soul in its journey through life. These are many souls we encountered through our walk through this life. Things Seen and Heard by Many chronicles their joy, pain, struggle, disappointments, and their sadness. Our Brother (Dr. Claude) We want you to know that you, our brother, have been the highlight of our lives You came from way down under, but you still reached for the sky. You were born in abject poverty, an environment with defocusing means. You were the exception to the rule because you had big dreams. You were a quiet young man with a deep mind

"When I first came on the Portland PD," says Officer Loren Christensen, "skid row was a Wild West show nearly as insane as Saigon, where I had just spent a year. Its wine-soaked streets were teeming with drunks, dopers, jackrollers, pimps, crazies, fighters and killers, all crammed into a filthy 12-square-block area where violence was an hourly event and death loomed nearly every bloody night." With honesty and flair, Christensen offers a rare curbside glimpse into the gritty urban world of skid row. In this colorful tribute to the cops who have worked skid row, as well as the characters who have lived there, Christensen preserves for all time that place where, for decades, man's inhumanity to man revealed itself in a million sordid stories.

The Long Walk Home – will most likely be the last book I write – I am eighty-three years old – this book is important to me – it goes over to a degree what has been said in my previous books – The End Was A Beginning – the first – the second The Silent Voice – in much more detail – it is threaded with the never- ending presence of loneliness – but more significantly it brings forth the Four Absolutes – Honesty – Purity – Unselfishness – Love – which were given to me in 1986 – I have talked about these principles in my previous books – I made clear that if these principles were incorporated in society at hand – the world would change in an instant – this I believe is the power of these four words – the society that exists at present – the persistence of – selfishness – self-centeredness – permeated with dishonesty – beyond reproach – the distortion of purity – the use of the word – love – as a panacea – to cover the vile of discontent that exists in the world as is lived in – every crime – every murder – every twisted thought – every lie – every selfish act – every thought of hate - would be reduced to the pleasantries of memory – I cannot – predict where society will rest seventy years from now – 2016 – I do know that in 1927 the world population was two billion – 1960 three billion – 2011 seven billion – projection 2083 ten billion – will make up our society – if the culture is not changed – the present will be a reality for the future – this may be a morbid statement – it is a true statement – for sure – society is doing nothing to change the silhouette as is known – the simple life is but a dream of realities – taken from the books well-read – by masters – of the past – what is our destiny –

The horror of loneliness. Over 10 years in prison. Hooked on heroin, cocaine and drugs for 23 years. A chronic alcoholic for 27. Homeless. Eating out of garbage bins. Born into a violent alcoholic home. Molested by a pedophile in a residential school for three years. Surviving on skid row for 10 years. Living with the constant threat of suicide. Now this same person has a University Degree, is a United Pentecostal Church Pastor, an Officer of the Legislative Assembly, a poet, husband and stepdad. This true story will give you a unique front-row look into a world few know about or experience. Once you read this book your heart will be overflowing with hope. You will be left with no other alternative because this story will touch you so deeply it will remain in your heart the rest of your life. If you know a chronic alcoholic or drug addict whose life appears to be totally hopeless, or have a family member living with one, this book is a book for you and for them. I could not stop drinking! I could not stop sticking that needle in my arm! No matter what I tried I always failed…until I learned the TRUTH!

The latest addition to Pocket's McCammon backlist once again demonstrates his multi-faceted talent in this "impressive performance" (Associated Press) which tells of a murdered family, a world of innocence and a world of evil, and of two boys born to a dangerous legacy to walk with the dead.

The street racer meets the shy librarian. Luke grew up on the wrong side of the tracks, but that never stopped him from making his dreams a reality. When Violet stumbles into his shop, Luke knows he’s met his match. But Violet isn’t like most girls. She’s sheltered and quiet, content to live in the world provided by the books she loves so much. Both ruled by the lessons of their pasts, will their relationship ever get a chance at a future?