Thomas O'Malley

Douglas Graham Purdy

In 1950s Boston, the best way to survive is keep your head down and your mouth shut. But Cal and Dante prefer to do the right thing, not the sensible one. When a body is discovered tarred, feathered and shot, it is dismissed as a gangland killing. But Cal O'Brien's cousin, detective Owen Lackey, recognises the murder as the typical retribution for IRA informers. Owen knows that no one in the tight-knit Boston Irish community will talk. He turns to Cal and Dante for help, sending them into the city's shadowy underbelly. But there's a war on its way - and they're walking straight into the middle of it.

We Were Kings

A serial killer stalks the streets of 1950s Boston--and two friends take it upon themselves to bring him down. Post-war Boston is down on its luck and looking for change. A year after the Great Brink's Robbery--the largest robbery in the history of the United States--Boston is known more for its seedy underbelly than for its rich, historical past. The winter of 1951 is the worst in recent memory, and the Bruins are suffering another losing season. Like Boston itself, lifelong residents Cal O'Brien and Dante Cooper are struggling to find their identities after World War II. Cal has built a mildly promising life for himself as an employee of a company providing private security, whether to an honorable businessman who needs a night watchman or to an Irish mafioso who needs to have someone's legs broken. Dante is everything Cal is not. A heroin addict trying and failing to stay clean, Dante feels the call to do good after he discovers that his sister-in-law was the latest victim of a serial killer targeting disadvantaged women. Woefully unqualified, but determined to help, Cal and Dante take it upon themselves to track the killer--but their daunting quest takes on dangerous consequences when the trail leads them to the highest ranks of city government. There are a few well-placed men who don't want Cal and Dante to solve this case. An absorbing mixture of history and suspense, told with a meticulous eye for detail and character, Serpents in the Cold is a moving exploration about two men battling for second chances.

Serpents in the Cold

In 1950's Boston, the Irish Republican Army is running guns and killing witnesses. Cal and Dante are committed to stopping them. When a body is discovered at the Charlestown locks -- tarred, feathered and shot to death -- it appears to be a gangland killing, and is almost immediately dismissed. However, Cal O'Brien's cousin, Boston PD detective Owen Lackey, recognizes the murder style as the typical retribution for IRA informers. Combined with a tip-off about a boat coming into Boston weighed down with stolen guns and ammunition, the body in the locks hints that much more may be at stake than a one-off hit. Serpents in the Cold introduced us to Cal and Dante, whose previous investigation brought them to the highest ranks of Boston's political elite. This time, Cal and Dante descend into the city's shadowy underbelly -- a world of packed dance halls, Irish wakes, and funeral parlors. There they discover a terrorist plot that will shake the city to its core and bring them head-to-head not only with Cal's past, but with the IRA Army Council itself.

Douglas Graham Purdy

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