Scuffletown

by Howard Owen

Overview

A familiar name piques Willie Black's interest on a slow news day: Scuffletown Park. He and the first of his four wives lived next to the pocket park when they were young and still on speaking terms. Now, Scuffletown is the site of a crime scene, one that doesn t fit the usual modus operandi for Richmond. For one thing, there's plenty of blood but no body. Also, it seems that a knife was involved, a rarity Willie's gun-happy city. And, Scuffletown is in the heart of the Fan, where violence is a blessedly rare occurrence. Before long there is a body. There also is a neighbor who caught the deed on his iPhone camera. When his old friend and current police flack Peachy Love gives Willie a sneak peek at the remarkably clear photograph, he starts wishing he'd never seen Scuffletown Park again. How is it possible that Abe Custalow is standing over what appears to be a very dead body? Abe has been sharing Willie Black's condo since Willie found his childhood pal living homeless in Monroe Park. Even now, with Willie married to the lovely Cindy Peroni Black, Abe remains ensconced there. OK, he did kill a guy once, but the guy deserved killing, and Abe's been Mr. Clean ever since. With his condo-mate in jail, Willie does what a good reporter does best: He starts digging, with no assistance from Custalow, who insists that Willie "just leave it alone." That would go against every instinct in Willie Black's nosy-ass body, but when he finally gets within hailing distance of the truth, he understands why Abe wanted him to back off. Before Scuffletown reaches its conclusion, Willie knows he will have to risk his oldest friendship in order to save his oldest friend from a life behind bars.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940161346280
Publisher:	The Permanent Press
Publication date:	03/04/2019
Series:	Willie Black Mysteries , #7
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Sales rank:	774,622
File size:	768 KB

About the Author

Howard Owen is a novelist and journalist living in Richmond, Va. His 15th novel, "The Devil's Triangle," came out in June of 2017. His 10th novel, "Oregon Hill," won the Dashiell Hammett Prize for best crime literature in the United States and Canada, given by the International Association of Crime Writers. Owen's last six novels have been mysteries, starring night police reporter Willie Black.
Struck by either an epiphany or a midlife crisis, Owen wrote his first novel, "Littlejohn," in 1990. The first draft took him about 100 days. When it was published, Owen was sports editor of the Richmond Times-Dispatch. He also has been deputy managing editor of the Times-Dispatch and editorial pages editor of the Free Lance-Star in Fredericksburg, Va. He is now writing full-time. When he was a journalist, he never took a sabbatical, adhering instead to a schedule that included about an hour a day for writing or revising. He has found that it is possible to do great things with an hour a day, every day.
He is married to Karen Van Neste Owen, book doctor, former Viewpoints editor of the Free Lance-Star and his sweetheart of since they were kids. He grew up near Fayetteville, N.C., on the edge of his grandfather's farm. He likes Paris, the Washington Redskins, snowy days, steamed crabs, Smithfield ham, North Carolina barbecue, bourbon and water, cold long-neck Miller High-Lifes on a hot summer day, other people covering Dylan songs, movies that surprise him and the company of good friends.