CCLaP: Milwaukee Mayhem, by Matthew J. Prigge
This week Karl Wolff reviews “Milwaukee Mayhem,” by Matthew J. Prigge, a collection of lurid tales of the Cream City’s dark side. Continue reading CCLaP: Milwaukee Mayhem, by Matthew J. Prigge
Tag: organized crime
Reviews in Brief: Deconstructing Organized Crime: a historical and theoretical study, by Joseph L. Albini and Jeffrey Scott McIllwain
A review of Deconstructing Organized Crime, a uncommonly readable academic text about the intersections of organized crime, terrorism, and globalization. Continue reading Reviews in Brief: Deconstructing Organized Crime: a historical and theoretical study, by Joseph L. Albini and Jeffrey Scott McIllwain
The Reckoning by Howard Owen
In Howard Owen’s ninth novel, The Reckoning, the lives of George James and Freeman Hawk meet again after decades of separation. Freeman was an African-American civil rights activist who fled to Canada to avoid getting drafted. George James was a scion of the old money South and an heir to the Old Dominion Ham Company. Owen shifts between past and present, reflecting the tense relationship between George James, widowed and alcoholic, and his son Jake. Freeman Hawk returned to George, but George’s idealization of Freeman makes the opaque circumstances harder to pick up. George tells Jake how Freeman led the … Continue reading The Reckoning by Howard Owen
To Account for Murder by William C. Whitbeck
If Permanent Press had a prestige novel, To Account for Murder by William C. Whitbeck would it. The novel presents a fictionalized version of real life events that happened in Michigan. In 1945, Senator Warren G. Hooper was murdered in a gangland-style slaying. To this day, the murder case has never been solved. William C. Whitbeck, the author of the novel, also works as Chief Judge of the Michigan Court. He presents us with the tale of one Charlie Cahill, a disabled vet, prosecutor, and son of an Irish bootlegger. Set in Lansing during 1945 and into 1946, Whitbeck paints … Continue reading To Account for Murder by William C. Whitbeck
Isabel at Midnight @ Joe Bob Briggs
Isabel at Midnight by Ken Knight offers a fascinating world of organized crime, white supremacists, and “psycho-kink.” The novel centers on Isabel Marcano, a scion of a Virginia-based Mafia family. She suffers from helios-porphyria, meaning she would get serious burns if she exposed her skin to sunlight. With this ailment, Isabel worked various night shift jobs. The novel opens with Isabel winning a wrongful termination suit thanks to the work of an arrogant lawyer named Diego Tanner. Knight throws in a few more characters. Isabel’s friend Danielle Kenyon, a successful escort, has a hidden agenda. There is the corrupt cop … Continue reading Isabel at Midnight @ Joe Bob Briggs
The Driftless Area Review 