The Charlestown Connection

By Tom MacDonald

Dermot Sparhawk, a former All American Boston College football hero, is stacking cans in a parish food pantry in Boston's Charlestown, when his godfather, Jeepster Hennessey, shows up with a knife in his back and dies at Dermot's feet. Once slated for a professional football career, now a recovering alcoholic, with a torn-up knee, Dermot sets out to solve the murder of his godfather with the help of his Micmac Indian cousin, his paraplegic tenant, and a former teammate. Dermot's investigation has him tangling with members of the IRA, FBI, and the Boston mob. He also is forced to contend with Charlestown's code of silence and the norms of the neighborhood where he grew up. Feeling like he did at the height of his game, Dermot uses his Native American intuition and Irish good looks to help him uncover clues. Dermot stumbles upon bits and pieces of information that he cobbles together into an unlikely theory which leads him on an unexpected trail and to a new mystery that could cost him his life.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Oceanview Publishing
• Release date: Aug 1, 2011
• ISBN: 9781608090259

Reviews for The Charlestown Connection

[psychdoc66 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This was an entertaining book that was enjoyable from beginning to end. The main characters were interesting and had believable human flaws. I love a good mystery and thought it was ingenious how the museum heist was done.

[readerbynight · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Our unlikely hero is from the projects in Boston's Charlestown. He is a permanently sidelined All-American Boston College Football hero, due to a mangled knee, and a recovering alcoholic. He runs the food pantry for Saint Jude Thaddeus Church. A pretty low-key guy, Dermot Sparhawk is a survivor of his past.His evening shift is shockingly interrupted by pounding on the door, then his godfather Jeepster stumbling across the room and into his arms. Jeepster is a Viet-Nam veteran and best friend of Dermot's father, also a Viet-Nam vet, both men were marines. Jeepster has spent most of the intervening years in prison. While trying to hold Jeepster up, he is told to "take it" meaning the key he held. Unable to carry on, he gasps "it opens..." then collapses, at which time Dermot sees a deeply imbedded knife in his back. With his last gasp, Jeepster breathes "Oswego" and dies. The only clue Dermot has is the word McSweeney on the key and Oswego, which means nothing to him. Author Tom MacDonald knows how to catch our interest.As if this weren't enough, Dermot starts getting callers, mostly Irish, trying to find out what Dermot knows. In the meantime, Dermot is anxious to get to the bottom of who killed his godfather. What is going on? What do all these people want? How could Jeepster have anything of value anywhere? There is so much action in this book, so many threats, so few clues none of which make any sense. And what does the art world have to do with anything at all? Everyone seems to be owed big money, but from what? Throughout the journey the reader will venture into rough places and high class places looking for a sign, a clue, and what the words McSweeney and Oswego have in common.A little-known concept of coding becomes a turning point, but not very easily. Not all people are who Dermot thinks they are, nor are they all after the same thing in the beginning. I thoroughly enjoyed following Dermot through his journey of discovery, his integrity, and with the help of friends, how the code gets broken. Still there is a lot more to this and I encourage the reader to enjoy this fascinating trip to learn the full story. An exciting, action-packed mystery evolves over what happened in the food pantry. This is a very interesting book, well-written and well-worth reading. I found myself captivated by what would happen next, who else may get killed, what will happen about the money owed, and the humour of the situation some of the characters find themselves in. Great job! I will be interested in reading other books by Tom MacDonald.

[romonko · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Art theft, beautiful women, a great neighbourhood (Boston's Charlestown district), a wonderful, larger than life hero in Dermot Sparhawk, great second characters, and a cracking good storyline. This is a first book by this author and I was priviiged to be given the opportunity to review it. I couldn't put the book down from the moment that I picked it up. Sparhawk is a great protagonist, and a wonderful character. Part Micmac Indian and part Irish. A big guy who finds himself on the right side of the bottle finally after many years of addiction. He works in a charity food pantry in his beloved neighbourhood of Charlestown, Boston. One night, while working late at the pantry, Dermot gets a knock on the door, and when he opens it, in falls his Godfather Jeepster Hennessey with a knife in his back. With a few dying words and a mysterious key, Jeepster dies in Dermot's arms. And he sends Dermot on a whirlwind journey trying to find out who killed his Godfather and why, whilst dodging bad guys all over the place. This book is full of many surprising twists and top drawer suspense. What a tout-de-force for an author with his first book. Tom MacDonald even borrows from a real-life mystery and uses this to weave his mesmerizing story. Unforgettable.

[tomray_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Great story, the robbery actually did happened.Being from the area though not a townie the book very real.I hope Mr. MacDonald will be coming out with a follow-up.Once you start you will not be able to put it down.

[jastbrown · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This book was a surprise. I'm not sure why I was selling it short before reading it, but it turned out to be a real pleasure. The only annoyance being the few times that Dermot Sparhawk, the likeable, AA attending, loyal, altruistic, cobbled up ex-jock, slipped from an apparent IQ of about 150 to double figures, inexplicably!The Charlestown Connection is just intricate enough to be enjoyable without straining your brain.. a top o'the heap beach book. It's got the Boston Irish, a big-time Art heist, shades of the mob and the IRA.. and centering the plot are a group of 'dinged up by life' everymen who team up to solve a bigger mystery than they started to... I look forward to a sequel to this first novel. My order will be in, sight unseen! Great job, Tom MacDonald!

[aztwinmom · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The Charlestown Connection is built around a real crime....then it throws in a twist. Interesting characters and a good mystery make a good read.

[readanon · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Good, interesting read. The fact that it is centered around an actual crime just adds to the appeal. Fast-moving plot with believable characters made this a very enjoyable read. I look forward to future books by this author.

[bjmitch_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I won a signed copy of this book from LibraryThing. It's set, of course, in Charlestown/Boston, Massachusetts. I seem to be in a Boston frame of mind and these books set there are making me want to go for a visit. I hadn't heard of Tom MacDonald before but I'm certainly glad I received this novel. He's a good old-fashioned storyteller in my eyes.The best part of this story is the characters, especially the protagonist, Dermot Sparhawk who is half Micmac Indian and half Irish. He is a recovering alcoholic thanks to AA and a strength of character he apparently hadn't realized he had. The story begins when his godfather, Jeepster Hennessey stumbles into the food pantry Dermot runs and dies at Dermot's feet. He mumbles a few words as he is dying from stab wounds. The words don't make any sense to Dermot, nor do the keys his godfather presses into his hand.Dermot owns a house and lives on the second floor while his Boston College football friend Buck who is a paraplegic lives on the first floor. His Uncle Glooscap's son Harraseeket Kid lives in the basement. The three of them team up to solve the puzzle and find themselves in danger from several fronts. It all seems to have something to do with valuable paintings. There is also an attractive FBI agent involved, but is she who she claims to be?This is a great story with characters who are so well depicted you'll remember them for a long time, particularly Dermot. He has a good heart but he's a realist; he is handsome but has a bad knee that kept him out of pro football and is only just maintaining his sobriety. You'll cheer for him throughout the book. Personally, I hadn't heard anything about Micmac Indians since we moved out of Maine. I highly recommend The Charlestown Connection. It doesn't matter if you know Boston or not, MacDonald makes the scene come alive for you.

[darcia_10 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

The Charlestown Connection has an intricate, well-developed plot with multiple layers to keep a reader involved. Being from the Boston area, I enjoyed the city references. Tom MacDonald does a great job of capturing the feel of certain Boston areas and cultures.While the plot entertains, for me, this one lacks character development. The story has a lot of characters, most introduced quickly with little explanation. The relationships felt superficial, since I knew next to nothing about most of them. Even Dermot, the main character, felt more like a pawn being used to play out a role than a 'person' living through a chaotic and difficult period in his life. I didn't feel the connection to the characters necessary for me to truly get lost in a story.** I received this ebook as an early review copy from Oceanview Publishing, through NetGalley. **

[macygma · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Dermot Sparhawk, recovering alcoholic, football player with a blown knee, son of an alcoholic and wannabe detective is in a tight spot. His godfather, stabbed in the back; died in front of him. Dermot and his crew of boarders (Buck in a wheelchair and Harraqskeet Kid the mechanic) set out to find out why. They may be in over their heads as Dermot is visited by several individuals all wanting to know what Jeepster Hennessey’s last words were. Did he give Dermot anything? Inquiring minds with guns want to know. Yes, he did as a matter of fact – but it’s no one’s business but Dermot’s at the moment.Seeking answers takes him to Boston’s richest, poorest, finest, the IRA, the Mob and to the MicMac’s up north. It leads him to get a Malamute for Buck because whoever needs to know what Dermot knows doesn’t play fair. It leads him to Church, the Gardner Museum and places no one would want to travel.Tom MacDonald has a true gem in the Charlestown Connection. If you like Boston, or just a great mystery, this is the book for you! The characters are most believable, the footprint of Boston most accurate and you are in for a most enjoyable tale which has an ending you won’t suspect at all. I hope we can hear more from Dermot and friends, they’re great!

[delphimo_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This is an interesting fictional account of the 1990 art heist from Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston. The event did happen and has been labeled “the holy grail of art crime" due to the unsolved status of over $500 million in art. MacDonald's characters are vivid from the wheelchair bound African American computer geek and the half Canadian Indian ex football player. Sometimes, I felt confused with the various minor characters. The transition from chapter to chapter at the beginning of the book lacks continuity. MacDonald presents street hard characters that have seen the bad times, but are struggling to live each day. Dermot Sparhawk fights alcoholism each day, but underneath the gruff exterior is a heart of gold. The insertion of the Oulipo business distracted from the story. The business of art forgery was amazing in showing that some forgeries can almost pass as the original art.

[dirtylowdown · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Equal parts whodunit, murder mystery and caper novel, with a dash of conspiracy thriller elements, a la The Da Vinci Code. But that's where any equality ends. The Charlestown Connection goes beyond all of those to reach new heights in crime fiction. And this is a debut novel? Tom MacDonald, where have you been hiding? Imagine debuting in the major leagues by pitching to Ted Williams, Carl Yastrzemski and Jimmie Foxx, sticking with the Boston theme. Now, imagine you struck out the side on nine pitches. That's what Tom MacDonald has done by choosing to walk the hallowed grounds of Boston's Charlestown neighborhood, the turf of such super stars as Robert B. Parker, Dennis Lehane and Chuck Hogan, you fellas can move over and make room at the top, because Tom MacDonald deserves a seat. I'm not sure I have ever read a better debut novel. Mr. MacDonald set the bar high, then cleared it in Superman fashion. This book just jumped the turn stiles to move to the front of the line for best crime fiction of the year. Both hardboiled and noir, without using the usual clichés. It achieves a hardboiled "feel" through setting, an edginess, a sense of realness and the development of the characters. It gets it's "noir-ness" not through the usual morally bankrupt cast of characters (indeed, even the bad guys have a certain shady attractiveness) nor through the commission of evermore despicable and lewd crimes until the protagonist is so irredeemable that the devil considers retirement. No, it gets that feeling of noir through a certain sense of stoicism by the main players, a sense of darkness in the setting inside one of America's largest public housing neighborhoods and in Charlestown's colorful, troubled, and criminal past as well as the mix of cultures. Where most hardboiled fiction is dialog driven , "Charlestown" has full grown characters and is more developed through the internal dialog, and observations of the protagonist, than on snappy one liners and tougher than tough tough guys. Although some of the life situations of the main characters will be familiar i.e. a recovering alcoholic hero, a paraplegic side kick, they are either not over done or are used in such an original and fresh way as to avoid any thoughts of cliché. And where noir tends to have a reliance on dark, brooding themes, a certain decay in the souls of the characters and a reliance on sex and sexual themes, or at the very least degenerate crimes and sins to drive the plot, this novel achieves that familiar sense of darkness without resorting to sensationalism, melodrama or gothic language. From the opening paragraph, one of the best I have read in awhile, MacDonald establishes his debt to the greats of both those genre, while resolutely pointing the way towards the future and where, with a bit of artistry and a masters creativity, the genres can go. The plot twists and red herring abound, but even the most experienced and adept at figuring out the puzzle, will be surprised, yet all the clues are there. Employing all of the best elements from multiple branches of the crime fiction/thriller family tree against a historical backdrop of Charlestown and one of the most daring true crimes ever perpetrated, in addition to craftsmanship not usually found in a first time author, MacDonald has carved out a spot for himself at the very top. He is not an up and coming author, he arrived in style. Get used to seeing his name, because this author is going to be around for a long, long time. The Dirty Lowdown

[terk71 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Large and well-spaced typesetting help pace a reader’s sprint through this novel that begins with a seemingly random murder in a derelict area of Boston and dashes through criminal underworlds to solve the murder and a 20-year-old museum heist.The first several pages contain a superfluity of commas that could make a reader woozy. Technically, however, this interior device can aid in a psychological description of a 30-day wonder’s mental capacity. Unfortunately, Dermot Sparhawk, a newly chaired member of Alcoholics Anonymous, is astonishingly clear-headed, displaying little white-knuckle anxiety or pink-cloud euphoria throughout the story. That’s amazing serenity for a newbie who purportedly was a rampaging, blackout drunk one month ago.The murder victim, Jeepster Hennessey (top-shelf cognac for high-bottom drunks), is touted as Sparhawk’s godfather; but their spiritual relationship isn’t clearly detailed. Jeepster is cast as Sparhawk’s father’s best war buddy, not Sparhawk’s baptismal guardian. This suggests that Jeepster serves allegorically to a Mario Puzo definition. Nice touch. There’s an enormous cast of characters here. We almost need a playbill to keep them fresh—or maybe a score card similar to the Red Sox games periodically scattered in the story. Sparhawk seeks anonymity and justice as he runs into members of the Boston PD, the Irish Mob, Homeland Security, the FBI, the IRA and Somali terrorists, a mysterious prison literary society, as well as purveyors in forged art, and native South Boston bigots. I’ve never understood the Southie prejudice in Boston and this book doesn’t explain why, only that it exists. Sparhawk seems immune to Townie intolerance. With an Irish mother and a Canadian Indian father, he is denigrated only once as “half breed” by one character (cabby, page 103).The novel will be more appealing to a mature audience or at least to trivia buffs. Otherwise remarks about John Updike, Warren Spahn, Joe Namath, or Allen Funt might be baffling. Plus, the book’s title should suggest some parody of the plot in The French Connection for anyone who has read that novel.A splash of local color usually adds a smidgeon of charm in any writing, but this book has a tsunami of Bean Town geography. A non-resident visitor needs a city plat on the cover pages or an inserted map to judge the significance of each locale’s importance. Furthermore, a speed-reader may need to slow down to scamper through the textbook explanations on paintings, the processes in art forgery, and the Homovocalism code. Nevertheless, an apprentice thug might gobble up the descriptions of the levels of IRA punishment in criminal deterrence.The book is a refreshing, fast-paced serving for any beach reader’s kit. Well done, Tom MacDonald—a good Scotsman—not McDonald for the Boston Irish (see page 6 for that explanation).