A Taco, A T-Bird, A Beretta and One Furious Night

By Ann Aptaker

Assassination is Maureen Eckles’ business. Vengeance is her quest.

When Maureen learns that Leo “Riddles” Ridley is back in Chicago, the screaming harridan of violence and vengeance is unmuzzled in Maureen’s troubled head. The harridan only quiets when fed steady doses of death, which Maureen is only too happy to provide, especially if Riddles is the on the menu. She’ll make him suffer for his betrayal, for abandoning her to the fate of prison for her work as a member of Riddles’ outfit.

But first she has to find him.

Maureen’s furious night of violence and vengeance begins at a mysterious, gun-selling taco truck in a dark vacant lot and ends in the broken quiet of a dark alley. In between, she hunts down past associates who could help her find Riddles: the lawyer who wronged her, the failed comic with the analytical mind, the racketeer who runs a shadowy poker game, the woman who shares Riddles’ bed. But Riddles is slippery, always just ahead of Maureen’s Beretta. With each close call of finding Riddles, the harridan in Maureen’s head screams louder, the demand for death more insistent.

As Maureen guns her T-Bird through Chicago’s crime haunted shadows, her hunt for Riddles grows desperate, her need for vengeance claws deeper. Her wild quest ends in a climax of exploding emotions, memories, heartbreak and violence.

Vengeance has its price.

Praise for A TACO, A T-BIRD, A BERETTA AND ONE FURIOUS NIGHT:

“Ann Aptaker’s latest noir masterpiece grabs you by the throat on the first page and doesn’t let go. Stylish and unputdownable, written with an edge sharp enough to make Dashiell Hammett wince.” —John Altman, bestselling author of False Flag

“Ann Aptaker’s A Taco, A T-Bird, A Beretta and One Furious Night is a fun, welcome dose of classic noir with plenty of bite. I enjoyed the hell out of this one.” —Alex Segura, author of Blackout and Miami Midnight

• Language: English
• Publisher: Down & Out Books
• Release date: Oct 1, 2020
• ISBN: 9781005204389

Ann Aptaker

Native New Yorker Ann Aptaker’s Cantor Gold Crime series has been the recipient of Lambda Literary and Golden Crown Literary Society Awards. Her short stories have appeared in two editions of the crime anthology Fedora, Switchblade Magazine’s “Stiletto Heeled” issue, and the Mickey Finn crime anthology. Culminating a career as a curator for museums and galleries and a professor of Art History, Ann is currently an art writer for various New York clients.

Book preview

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