And, of course, a special thanks to Eric Campbell, the founder of Down & Out Books, a writer’s dream. Eric has given a home to so many crime writers, and created a community I’m proud to be part of. Thanks to Lance Wright, a self-proclaimed obsessive-compulsive when it comes to finding errors in logic and lets me know when something just plain doesn’t make sense, and Chris Rhatigan, who did a great hands-on edit.
And finally, I want to thank Mystery Writers of America, who not only provide a safe haven to crime writers, but also emotional support.
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Charles Salzberg is the author of the Shamus Award-nominated Swann’s Last Song as well as the sequels Swann Dives In, Swann’s Lake of Despair and Swann’s Way Out. He is also author of Devil in the Hole, which was chosen as one of the Best Crime Novels of 2013 by Suspense Magazine. He lives in New York City and teaches writing at the Writer’s Voice and the New York Writers Work-shop, where he is proud to be a Founding Member.
CharlesSalzberg.com
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BOOKS BY CHARLES SALZBERG
Henry Swann Mystery Series
Swann’s Last Song
Swann Dives In
Swann’s Lake of Despair
Swann’s Way Out
Stand Alone
Devil in the Hole
Second Story Man
Novella
Triple Shot (Twist of Fate)
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OTHER TITLES FROM THE
DOWN & OUT BOOKS PUBLISHING FAMILY
See DownAndOutBooks.com for a complete list
By J.L. Abramo
Catching Water in a Net
Clutching at Straws
Counting to Infinity
Gravesend
Chasing Charlie Chan
Circling the Runway
Brooklyn Justice
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Hard Bite
Bite Harder
By Jonathan Ashley
South of Cincinnati
The Cost of Doing Business
By E.A. Aymar and Sarah M. Chen, editors
The Night of the Flood
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Bitter Water Blues
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2,000 Miles to Open Road
Road Gig: A Novella
Exit Blood
Death is Not Forever
No Harder Prison
When the Lonesome Dog Barks
By Richard Barre
The Innocents
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Christmas Stories
The Ghosts of Morning
Blackheart Highway
Burning Moon
Echo Bay
Lost
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Corrosion
Factory Town
The Disassembled Man
The Incurables
The Blade This Time
By Eric Beetner
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Leadfoot
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The Devil Comes To Call
The Devil at Your Door
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Unloaded
Unloaded 2 (*)
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Murder at the Beach: Bouchercon Anthology 2014
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Full House
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Back to Brooklyn
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Screen Test
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Worst Enemies
Grind Joint
Resurrection Mall
Bad Samaritan
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Nothing You Can Do
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Triple Shot
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Over Their Heads
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Crosswise
Crossed Bones
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Killing Malmon
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Coast to Coast
Coast to Coast 2
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The Devil Dogs of Belleau Wood
The Bank Heist, editor (*)
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May
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bsp; By Bill Moody
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The Man in Red Square
Solo Hand
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Blind Eye
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Treacherous: Grifters, Ruffians and Killers
3 the Hard Way
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Hustle
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Bad Boy Boogie
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Upon My Soul
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Swann’s Lake of Despair
Swann’s Way Out
Second Story Man
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By Linda Sands
3 Women Walk Into a Bar (TP only)
Grand Theft Cargo
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Volume 1 Issue 1: Reed Farrel Coleman (featured author)
Volume 1 Issue 2: Bill Crider (featured author)
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By Max Sheridan
Dillo
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The Place of Refuge
(*) Coming soon
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Here is a preview of Accidental Outlaws by Matt Phillips, published by All Due Respect, an imprint of Down & Out Books…
“Mesa Boys”
Part One
“Saylor is my uncle,” Ronnie said. He pulled the tab on a tallboy. Beer suds floated to the surface. “You know, like, part of my family. He’s my mom’s brother.”
“What’s he ever done for you?” Marl said.
Ronnie shifted in a rusted lawn chair. He took a nervous sip from his tallboy. Next to him, Marl reclined on a black pleather couch and chewed a hand-rolled cigarette. They were out front of Marl’s prefab h
ome talking get-rich-quick schemes. “He ain’t done shit for me.”
“My point,” Marl said. “There it is.” They both stared westward. The sun, deep in its pendulum arc, tinted the desert purple and pink. “My favorite time of day, fucking sundown.”
Ronnie scraped the dirt with his Vans. He was cash-strapped. They both were, but Ronnie didn’t care for this scheme. Steal from family? Shit. Still, he wondered. “What do you think we could get for that Bronco?”
“Part it out, shit. We’d get top dollar over the internet—no questions asked either,” Marl said. “It’ll take some time, though. We part it out piece by piece. The sooner we steal the fucker, the sooner we start making money.”
“But how much?”
Marl shrugged. He scratched his month-long beard with dirty fingernails and yawned. “Ten Gs, probably. Over six months to a year.”
Ronnie took another sip from his tallboy. He didn’t like the family part, but the money part sounded pretty good. Ten Gs in six months. Split that two ways and it’s still half as much as he made last year at Cheap Subs—fucking sandwich art. “Five Gs each, that’s pretty fucking good.”