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In the spring of 1968, twenty-six-year-old Vietnam vet and newspaper writer, Tom Williams returns to his hometown in rural Florida to visit his ailing grandmother and soon comes face to face with the horrors he’d fled the night he graduated from high school, the lynching of a childhood friend and the mysterious deaths of his parents. His search for justice brings him up against an assortment of organized crime figures and corrupt local officials who will stop him by any means necessary. Not knowing whom he can trust, Williams makes the mistake of turning to two of his oldest friends. Before long, he learns things about them he wishes he’d never known. In Unfinished Business, Ray Dan Parker weaves a story of violence and deception that is as timely today as in the turbulent sixties.
When Tom and Colleen Williams accept an invitation from a close friend for an evening concert at Atlanta's Chastain Park, little do they suspect that they'll soon become witnesses in an alleged date rape case. What seems at first to be a blossoming romance between the handsome and promising young artist Liam Sanstrom and his date, the beautiful and mysterious Dina Savage, quickly turns ugly. Spiraling accusations lead to a campaign of character assassination and, ultimately, murder. This collision of power and wealth on the one hand and blind, vindictive ambition on the other leaves in its wake the ruined lives of dozens of people, including family and friends stretching from the suburbs of Atlanta to a small, dusty town in the Mississippi Delta. Drawn into this Greek tragedy by such powerful personalities, Tom fights to uncover the truth ... all the while hearing echoes of his own past.
Suburban homemaker Allison Embry believes she has gotten away with killing her young boyfriend… until she gets a call from his drug supplier with a proposition that threatens to destroy her family and the comfortable life she has built. Atlanta Police Lieutenant Paxton Davis, nearing retirement, must find the Midtown Murderer before he strikes again. For Davis, this case is all too reminiscent of the 1979-1980 child murders that marked the beginning of his career. Widowed newspaper writer Tom Williams plans to pursue his lifelong dream, to travel the US and chronicle his experiences. Then Tom receives word that an unknown assailant has killed a third lawyer nearby. As he ponders what else can go wrong, his daughter, a criminal defense attorney, calls to say she’s leaving her husband and moving home with her two sons. For Parker, storytelling is all about the characters. Here we meet an assortment of eccentric people, from the affluent to the destitute, the good, the bad, the unforgettable. Pronounced Ponce, Book Three in The Tom Williams Saga, takes us on a high-speed chase through some of Atlanta’s most colorful neighborhoods.
A young man must face the horrors of his past in Ray Dan Parker's enthralling debut novel, Unfinished Business. April of 1968 finds twenty-six-year-old Tom Williams returning to his small-town roots in Monrovia, Florida, after covering the funeral of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. for his Tampa newspaper. But returning home brings with it memories he'd rather forget…memories of ten years before when, as a reckless teenager, Tom had a brief but passionate affair with a married woman. When she is found murdered, Tom's best friend, a black teenager named Jimmie Lee Johnson, quickly becomes the sole suspect in their racially charged town. Before Jimmie can be brought to trial, however, he is lynched by an enraged mob. The time has come for Tom to find out who really murdered his old lover—and to clear Jimmie's name once and for all. His search for the truth ultimately brings him face to face with dangers that lurk in the most unexpected of places.
Eddie Gianelli is helping Joey Bishop's TV wife, Abby Dalton, get out from under a blackmailer, when the news comes through that JFK has been assassinated. Frank Sinatra was a close friend of JFK, and the Rat Pack—including Eddie—rally round Frank to give him moral support. His buddies are the only ones who can really offer Frank any real comfort and after a while they all drift back to making their new movie. Eddie returns to his case, but then he soon hears that Sinatra's son, Frank Jr, has been kidnapped. Eddie continues to search for the blackmailer while trying to help Frank get through his second—and intensely more personal—traumatic experience, all of which eventually leads to murder . . . PRAISE FOR RAT PACK MYSTERY NOVELS “If you remember the Rat Pack era fondly . . . then you won’t stop smiling.”—Booklist on I’m A Fool To Kill You “This breezy caper is unalloyed fun.”—Booklist on I’m A Fool To Kill You “Randisi gives a lively sense of Vegas’s glitz and the glittering, feckless people who flourished in the spotlight.” —Publishers Weekly on I’m A Fool To Kill You
Before 11 priceless pieces of art were stolen from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, a respected Italian violin maker visited the museum to inspect a rare musical instrument requiring restoration. He took measurements and photographs and reported his findings to the museum’s director. Then, he disappeared. Was the innocent invitation to the violin maker the first step in a complex plot to rob the Gardner? The museum director thinks so and hires Theo R. Perdoux, an expert in worldwide art thefts, to investigate. Inspired by the actual unsolved robbery of Boston’s Gardner Museum, Maness spins a plausible web that races ahead like a shot. The brisk pace and clever twists offer an intriguing explanation why masterpieces worth millions have never been found.
After Dean Martin saves Eddie G. from being hit by a car, Eddie's torpedo buddy Jerry arrives from Brooklyn with the news: somebody's put an open contract out on him. As anybody can cash it in, pros and amateurs alike are coming out of the woodwork to have a shot. So when Eddie is asked by Frank Sinatra to go to LA to help his friend Judy Garland with a problem she's having, Eddie and Jerry seize the opportunity to leave Vegas. Unfortunately the contract follows Eddie there. While doing his best to stay alive long enough to find out who hates him so much they want him dead, Eddie must also solve Judy Garland's problem of a possible stalker and blackmailer. PRAISE FOR RAT PACK MYSTERY NOVELS ...
Parker's got a couple of rules that have helped keep him alive throughout his long career. One of those is never to work on a boat. But with a gambling boat cruising down the Hudson, stuffed to the gunwales with cash, Parker’s got a plan, a team, and a new rule: a shot at a big enough score makes any rule worth breaking. Parker and his crew hit the boat, hard, but as always, there are a lot of complications—and a lot of bodies—before this one's in the bag.
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