Friday for Death

A Manhattan skip tracer’s job takes a dangerous detour when he discovers his duplicitous wife has a double life.   Lawrence Lariar was one the most popular cartoonists of the twentieth century. But from the 1940s through the 1960s, he also crafted a line of lean and mean detective and mystery novels under his own name as well as the pseudonyms Michael Stark, Adam Knight, Michael Lawrence, and Marston La France. Lariar now gets his due as a leading artist in hardboiled crime fiction.   Steve McGrath’s nerves are fraying. His job tracking ratty little fugitives is leading nowhere. His boss is a maggot. His wife, Gwen, is growing icy and hateful. Then he comes home to see her wrapped around a randy thug, a smirk on her pretty puss. Steve could just kill her.   Somebody has, anyway. After a pub crawl to drink off his rage, Steve returns to find his wife colder than ever. Stabbed through the heart. Now she knows how it feels. But given a nasty marriage that was no mystery to neighbors, he’s going to be the number one suspect.   To clear his name, Steve treads the shadows of Gwen’s secret life only to realize he married a stranger. In death, he’s finally getting to know her—and it’s going to be one dangerous awakening.

A Manhattan skip tracer’s job takes a dangerous detour when he discovers his duplicitous wife has a double life.   Lawrence Lariar was one the most popular cartoonists of the twentieth century. But from the 1940s through the 1960s, he also crafted a line of lean and mean detective and mystery novels under his own name as well as the pseudonyms Michael Stark, Adam Knight, Michael Lawrence, and Marston La France. Lariar now gets his due as a leading artist in hardboiled crime fiction.   Steve McGrath’s nerves are fraying. His job tracking ratty little fugitives is leading nowhere. His boss is a maggot. His wife, Gwen, is growing icy and hateful. Then he comes home to see her wrapped around a randy thug, a smirk on her pretty puss. Steve could just kill her.   Somebody has, anyway. After a pub crawl to drink off his rage, Steve returns to find his wife colder than ever. Stabbed through the heart. Now she knows how it feels. But given a nasty marriage that was no mystery to neighbors, he’s going to be the number one suspect.   To clear his name, Steve treads the shadows of Gwen’s secret life only to realize he married a stranger. In death, he’s finally getting to know her—and it’s going to be one dangerous awakening.