Penns River Series (1-2, 4-7) by Dana King
Requirements: ePUB / MOBI Reader, 6.1MB | Retail
Overview: By day Dana King works at an undisclosed location. It’s not classified; he’s just not going to tell you. He has lived in and around Atlanta, Boston, the Maryland suburbs of Washington DC, Chicago, Northern Virginia, and back to the DC suburbs again. He served three years in the Army, and has worked as a musician, teacher, computer network engineer, pre-sales software consultant, general manager of a coin-operated laundry company, and as a systems administrator. Steady, gainful, employment has long been an issue.
Genre: Fiction > Mystery /Thriller
#1 – Worst Enemies
Penns River rarely sees two homicides in a year. Two in little over a week is almost too much for the police force to handle. The assigned detectives — Ben Dougherty, a former MP and Penns River native, and retired Pittsburgh cop Willie Grabek — find links to bind the two cases, but their investigation is complicated by the involvement of private investigator Daniel Rollison, a retired spy on a suspect’s payroll who is really working for himself.
Pittsburgh mob boss Mike Mannarino also lives in Penns River and has more than a passing interest in the case. The two cops’ savvy competes with the limitations of their small town’s resources and the interference of Rollison and Mannarino in a story that shows identifying a killer and proving it are separate things.
#2 – Grind Joint
A new casino is opening in the rural town of Penns River, Pennsylvania but just where the money is coming from no one really knows. Is it Daniel Hecker, bringing hope to a mill town after years of plant closings? Or is the town’s salvation really an opening for Mike "The Hook" Mannarino’s Pittsburgh mob to move part of their action up the river? Or could it be someone even worse?
When the body of a drug dealer is dumped on the casino steps shortly before its grand opening, Detectives Ben Doc Dougherty and Willie Grabek have to survive their department’s own inner turmoil and figure out not only who’s behind the murder, but what it means to whoever is behind the operation itself. Between the cops, the mob, and the ex-spook in charge of casino security (Daniel Rollison, a man with more secrets than anyone will ever know),
#4 – Ten-Seven
Vicki Leydig thought she was going to have a few drinks with her friend Mary. She didn’t expect Doug Stirnweiss to offer her a ride home, and she sure didn’t expect to watch a stranger blow Doug’s head off in the parking lot. Penns River police don’t have much to go on until Detective Ben "Doc" Dougherty interviews casino employees and learns of drug deals going down in and around the property. Leads show promise and fall apart with depressing frequency until the local prosecutor turns a minor charge into a statement that leads Doc and the rest of the police force to a surprising conclusion, though not before tragedy strikes one of their own.
Meanwhile, Pittsburgh mob boss Mike Mannarino faces increasing pressure from his bosses in New York, so much so he’s thinking of reaching out to Chicago for protection. What the rest of his crew has to decide is whether Chicago is the only other organization Mike might make an arrangement with.
It’s another week in Penns River, with distractions that range from petty vandalism to a bridge jumper keeping the cops’ full attention away from the critical task at hand.
#5 – Pushing Water
Just because Penns River is an economic backwater doesn’t mean it’s immune from current events. An active shooter at a local discount department store leaves several people dead and the shooter in the wind. Maybe. It’s hard to say as the man arrested at the scene definitely shot someone but claims to be a Good Guy with a Gun.
Meanwhile, a Canadian fugitive lands in town and pulls a job to tide him over while his cache of cash makes its way across the border. He and his partner—a local just dumb enough to serve a purpose—see an opportunity and begin a robbery spree while the police focus on clearing the mass shooting.
The usual small-town hijinks still go on: There’s a robbery in the new strip club, an old woman wanders off, a domestic situation that starts as an argument over cookies turns violent, and the widower of a past victim needs attention. The Canadian Mountie who came to town hunting the fugitive may be helpful or more trouble than he’s worth.
Penns River’s economic status may be static, but the level of mayhem seems only to increase.
#6 – Leaving the Scene
The more things change, the more they stay the same in Penns River. Stush Napierkowski has retired, replaced by retired Boston PD captain Brendan Sullivan. Nancy Snyder was promoted to deputy chief over several more experienced candidates. New officers join the department.
Crime pays no attention. A woman dies in a hit-and-run the night before Sullivan officially takes over. Patty Polcyn was seen by plenty of people while in the company of a man no one recognized, who may—or may not—drive a car consistent with tire marks left at the scene. The investigation demands an intensive search that requires manpower Penns River doesn’t have and loses steam as the day-to-day concerns of police work require immediate attention: domestic disputes, petty theft, not so petty theft, armed robbery, a visit from the Dixie mafia to shake down the town’s moonshine dealers, and a few things that are the responsibility of the police only because no one else takes care of them.
Sullivan doesn’t want the first homicide on his watch to be an open file and tasks Teresa Shimp, the most junior detective in a squad already down one, to spend as much time as she can on it. It’s Teresa’s first gig as primary homicide investigator. She sticks with it, going back over things to see what might make more sense as her knowledge of the case’s facts expands until she has a eureka moment.
Sullivan’s approach differs from Stush’s enough to cause friction in the department, and a personal dilemma for lead detective Ben "Doc" Dougherty. Doc also has his parents’ failing health, a dramatic change in the domestic situation of two young men he has become close to, and finding an old friend has colored outside the lines vying for his attention.
Penns River’s cast changes, as do the roles they play. The job is still the job.
#7 – White Out
It’s been a tough winter in Penns River and things aren’t getting any better. A major snowstorm looms as a police officer shoots and kills a man after a bar fight. There are four complicating factors:
1. No weapon is found on the dead man.
2. The cop is Black; the victim is white.
3. The victim is not just white; he’s a white supremacist.
4. A national leader of the movement wants to use Penns River to set an example and create a martyr for the cause.
Fellow travelers from several neighboring states converge on the town for the funeral as an even bigger snowstorm roars in with them.
While the Penns River police try to keep the lid on, the Allegheny Casino holds a poker tournament. One hundred players each put up $10,000 in cash. The winner walks away with all of it. In cash. The situation is fraught enough without the local cops having to answer every call as if it might be the start of a riot.
Meanwhile, business as usual goes on. Domestic calls still require attention. Traffic accidents increase in the snow. The police department is in transition as older officers leave, their slots filled by either new officers fresh out of the academy, or those who followed the new chief to Penns River from Boston and have big-city attitudes about small town situations.
Detective Ben "Doc" Dougherty is still getting used to his sergeant’s stripes as he’s pulled into the streets for riot duty and must confront the idea some of his peers may be more sympathetic to the incoming agitators than they are to some of those they swore to protect and serve.
The weekend will stretch the department to its breaking point as events converge to a violent conclusion.
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