Earlier this year, Carmen Amato and Jeanine Kitchel introduced us to Narco Noir, a literary gamechanger that continues to grow, and now they return with a follow-up account of the women in Narco Noir and the various roles they play in both real life and fiction. They are cops and… Read more
Dave Richards reviews 1987’s comically action-packed Miami Connection, in which a rock band whose members are proficient in Taekwondo stand up against a band of motorcycle ninjas who have tightened their grip on Florida’s narcotics trade. Feudal Japan’s ninja may have a reputation for being invisible warriors, but in the 1980s they… Read more
Meet narco noir, the new category muscling to the top of the mystery mountain, fueled by drug cartel violence, layers of corruption, and the jagged line between justice and revenge. Narco noir is rising fast and hitting hard with gritty tales ripped from today’s headlines. Real events and real people… Read more
I was late to the party on Sons of Anarchy, FX’s hit series that ran from 2008-2014. I watched the pilot and wasn’t super impressed by it, and I was also wrongly under the impression that a show about a biker gang wasn’t for me. Thankfully, enough buzz built up… Read more
What is money, exactly? Back in the day, before coins and cash and credit cards, we used to exchange goods and services based on perceived value. A bucket of corn for a day’s work. Two potatoes for a head of lettuce. A dime-bag of marijuana for a drink? According to… Read more
Leadfoot by Eric Beetner is the 2nd fast and furious thriller featuring the McGraws—a family who will transport anything you require and won't ask any questions. The Dukes of Hazzard. “Thunder Road.” White Lightning. The moonshine-running driver hitting the backroads with suped-up Detroit iron and a trunkful of corn liquor,… Read more
The More They Disappear by Jesse Donaldson takes us to the front lines of the battle against small-town drug abuse in an unnerving tale of addiction, loss, and the battle to overcome the darkest parts of ourselves (Available August 2, 2016). When long-serving Kentucky sheriff Lew Mattock is murdered by a confused,… Read more
The More They Disappear by Jesse Donaldson takes us to the front lines of the battle against small-town drug abuse in an unnerving tale of addiction, loss, and the battle to overcome the darkest parts of ourselves (Available August 2, 2016). I grew up in the 80's during the “Just Say… Read more
The Jones Men was a thrilling novel to discover. A lost “cult” novel from the 1970s, written by veteran journalist Vern E. Smith, it is a story of the drug trade on the streets of Detroit, and it absolutely blew me away when I read it forty years after its… Read more
In 1970, TV gave us the tale of a spunky, single young woman who moves to the big city and finds career success, friendship, and love, while rising through a cutthroat business and having to navigate the many men in her work and private lives. Her name was Mary, and… Read more
