BENEDICT J. JONES - SKEWERED AND OTHER LONDON CRUELTIES (2014)

Synopsis/blurb…….

Benedict Jones’ novella Skewered takes us onto the mean streets of South East London. An Asian business tycoon has been kidnapped and Charlie ‘Bars’ Constaniou, just out from a third stretch in prison and stuck working in his uncle’s kebab shop, is more than ready to hand over the ransom money for a cut of the action. But simple plans never pan out and soon Charlie is up to his neck in a crooked family feud that involves a stellar cast of misfits including a psychotic torturer and a classic femme fatale. David Goodis meets Get Carter by the Thames in this Noir feast. Ten down and dirty short stories accompany Skewered into the British capital’s criminal underbelly.

Another new author for me and another fantastic collection of short stories, most if not all of which are set in London.

Skewered is the main event - an 80-odd page long novella featuring a recurring character from 

Benedict Jones – Charles “Bars” Constantiniou. Charlie also features in Real Estate and Dirty Pictures.  He’s an interesting chap is Charlie – an ex-con, currently working in a kebab shop and a bit of a character. He drinks, he smokes and he’s not averse to imbibing the odd prohibited substance and he’s trying to make a go of things as an artist. If he’s resolute about anything – it’s not doing a fourth stretch in clink.

In Skewered, an old associate – Mazza Toshak offers him a temporary respite from slicing doner meat – a chance to earn a few bob doing a money drop and assisting in the recovery of Dev Singh, a kidnapped Indian businessman. Charlie hangs up his apron.

Uncomfortable reading at times as our kidnapper takes pleasure in torturing his hapless victim and dominating his accomplices. Charlie isn’t quite so acquiescent in submitting to his will though.

Not everything unfolds as planned. Our victim has a troubled family life…….a dead first wife, a beautiful if somewhat estranged daughter - Jazmina, a second wife and the difficult stepmother-stepdaughter relationship and a close confidante and adviser who may be a bit too close to our victim’s wife for comfort.  Family complicity in our money-making scheme?

Who’s playing who and who’s having the last laugh.

No happy ending, but at the resolution of our case, a new career beckons our main man. A few more lumps, bumps and scars acquired along the way but he’s now partners with Mazza.

    

Skewered is probably the highlight of the bunch, but all the stories in the collection are great. Mostly crime, bit there are a couple with a smattering of supernatural-other world undertones, which probably isn't my favourite genre - but they worked well for me. Like Clockwork is probably closest to pure horror.

Great sense of place, as Jones takes us to London haunts probably not figuring on a typical Capital tourist's itinerary. Seedy Soho massage parlours, tired pubs and cafes, underground car parks, trips on the tube, dodgy city traders and drug dealers, money lenders and debt collectors.

Fantastic collection from a talented author. I'm currently reading more from him at the minute.

5 from 5

Skewered was bought about 18 months ago on Kindle. 

Benedict J. Jones has his website here. Publisher Crime Wave Press has their's here.

NEW PUBLISHER ON THE BLOCK - PUSHKIN VERTIGO PRESS

Back in March, 2015, Pushkin announced a new imprint coming soon.

PUSHKIN VERTIGO ARRIVES

16 mar 2015

We are delighted to announce the launch of PUSHKIN VERTIGO, our brand new crime imprint. Starting in September 2015 the imprint will publish crime classics from around the world, focusing on tours-de-force works written between the 1920s and 1970s by international masters of the genre, with spine-tingling jackets designed by Jamie Keenan.

Collect them all, and create your dream (or should that be ‘nightmare’?) library of enjoyable, gripping and classy mysteries and thrillers…

Today's the day they launch.........

VERTIGO

"Do you think it's possible to live again, Monsieur? ... I mean ... is it possible to die and then ... live again in someone else?"

You're no longer in the police, but when an old friend asks you to look after his wife as a favour, how can you refuse? She's been behaving strangely, mysteriously - but she's dazzling. And so Flavières begins to scour the streets of Paris in search of an answer - in search of a woman who belongs to no one, not even to herself. Soon intrigue is replaced by obsession, and dreams by nightmares, as the boundaries between the living and the dead begin to blur.

This is the story of a desperate man. A man who ended up compromising his own morality beyond all measure, while the Second World War raged outside his front door. A man tormented by his search for the truth, and ultimately destroyed by a dark, terrible secret.


192 pp
Published 17/09/2015
ISBN 9781782270805
B-Format Paperback

THE TOKYO ZODIAC MURDERS

Japan, 1936. An old eccentric artist living with seven women has been found dead- in a room locked from the inside. His diaries reveal alchemy, astrology and a complicated plan to kill all seven women. Shortly afterwards, the plan is carried out: the women are found dismembered and buried across rural Japan.

By 1979, these Tokyo Zodiac Murders have been obsessing a nation for decades, but not one of them has been solved. A mystery-obsessed illustrator and a talented astrologer set off around the country - and you follow, carrying the enigma of the Zodiac murderer through madness, missed leads and magic tricks. You have all the clues, but can you solve the mystery before they do?


320 pp
Published 17/09/2015
ISBN 9781782271383

MASTER OF THE DAY OF JUDGMENT

In the Viennese autumn of 1909, famed actor Eugen Bischoff is driven to suicide. All eyes are on Baron von Yosch, who was once the lover of the dead man's wife. The Baron has nothing to hide. But why was his pipe found at the scene of death? Could you prove your innocence, with your memory of events so confused? Then there was the girl on the phone who distinctly referred to 'the Day of Judgment' - the actor's dying words...

And there were other deaths that autumn, and it became harder to track down the invisible enemy - a monster who fed off intrigue, imagination and fear. The very things that drive us. The very things we cannot control.


160 pp
Published 17/09/2015
ISBN 9781782271529

THE DISAPPEARANCE OF SIGNORA GIULIA 

Every Thursday for three years, Signora Giulia takes the train to Milan to visit her daughter. But one Thursday she simply disappears. And the case is left in your hands. You're a born detective, but you have so many unanswered questions - how can a young, beautiful high society woman just vanish into thin air? Why does her husband - a prominent criminal lawyer and much older man - know nothing about it? And who was she really visiting during those trips to Milan?

For Detective Sciancalepre, the mystery is darker and more tangled than he imagined. Shadows are lurking in the grounds behind Giulia's house. Incriminating letters are exchanging hands. And no one is who they seem. Every twist and turn takes us closer to Giulia - and further from the truth...


128 pp
Published 17/09/2015
ISBN 9781782271048
-------------------------------

Hand on heart, I'm probably more of a fan of contemporary crime fiction, or at least post-50s offerings than Golden Age, but I'm open to persuasion!

There's room in my reading for some forgotten classics!

ADAM HOWE - GATOR BAIT (2015)

Synopsis/blurb……

Prohibition-era 1930s… After an affair with the wrong man's wife, seedy piano player Smitty 

Three Fingers flees the city and finds himself tinkling the ivories at a Louisiana honky-tonk owned by vicious bootlegger Horace Croker and his trophy wife, Grace. Folks come to The Grinnin' Gator for the liquor and burlesque girls, but they keep coming back for Big George, the giant alligator Croker keeps in the pond out back. Croker is rumoured to have fed ex-wives and enemies to his pet, so when Smitty and Grace embark on a torrid affair…what could possibly go wrong?

Inspired by true events, Gator Bait mixes hardboiled crime (James M. Cain's The Postman 

Always Rings Twice) with creature horror (Tobe Hooper's Eaten Alive) to create a riveting tale of suspense.

"Adam Howe writes dirty stories populated with characters working like hell to leave a scum ring around the tub while they circle the drain. Gator Bait starts with mutilation and murder then shoves a rocket up its ass and goes south from there. Sticky, icky, pure pulp fun." —Jedidiah Ayres, author of Peckerwood

"My expectations were impossibly high for his new material after Black Cat Mojo, so I'd heaped a great burden upon Gator Bait. Instead of meeting these expectations though, Gator Bait exceeds every one." --The Slaughtered Bird

62 pages long and another fast-paced and enjoyable read.

Set in the 30s, Smitty is a piano player with his brains in his pants. His messing with another man’s wife sees him barely escape the clutches of the cuckolded husband with his life. When he does, he is minus a few fingers, which given his profession may cause him some difficulties in his line of work.

However when he rocks up in a bar in a Louisiana swamp, missing digits or not his tinkling on the ivories is an improvement on the incumbent player. Horace Croker gives him a job and with Smitty sworn off the ladies he may have a chance. Until he sees Croker’s wife – femme fatale Grace.

With Smitty’s nether-region brain calling the shots again, someone’s about to make hungry gator, Big George a tasty snack.

Great fun, great sense of place, lively characters – all schemers, chancers and risk-takers. Fantastic twist towards the end. When I got to the end, I was tempted to start it again.

4.5 stars out of 5.

Adam Howe is a British author, who has dipped his toes in the horror genre as well (as Garrett Adams) – catching Stephen King’s attention for one.  

You can catch him on Twitter - @Adam_G_Howe

He was kind enough to send me a copy of this for an honest review. I subsequently shelled out for Black Cat Mojo off the back of this. Looking forward to it.

ABOUT BLACK CAT MOJO

In these three novellas of blackly comic crime and creature horror, you’ll go slumming with well-endowed dwarf porn stars, killer badgers, redneck mama’s boys, morbidly obese nymphomaniacs, dumbass dog-nappers, trailer trash Jesus freaks, diarrheic Jack Russell Terriers, not-so-wiseguys, mob-movie memorabilia collectors, junkie blackmailers, and giant man-eating Burmese pythons.

OF BADGERS & PORN DWARFS
To pay back a gambling debt and avoid being castrated, washed-up dwarf porn star Rummy Rumsfeld (of Snow White spoof Hi-Ho, Hi-Ho, It’s Up Your Ass We Go) must overcome a geriatric pederast, redneck pornographers, a morbidly obese nymphomaniac with serious personal hygiene issues, the ghost of his religious zealot mother, a dwarf-eating badger, and George Lucas.

JESUS IN A DOG’S ASS
Dumbass desperadoes Hootie and Poke incur the wrath of a trailer trash church group, not to mention God, when they kidnap a Jack Russell Terrier with the figure of Jesus Christ in its butt.

FRANK, THE SNAKE, & THE SNAKE
After testifying against notorious mob boss “Snake” Cobretti, embittered ex-wiseguy Frankie “The Tin Man” Piscopo emerges from Witness Protection to embark on a disastrous drug deal that leaves him fighting for his life against a giant Burmese python with a taste for Italian-American.

BONUS SHORT STORY

THE MAD BUTCHER OF PLAINFIELD'S CHARIOT OF DEATH
Washed up carny buys Ed Gein's car hoping to reverse his bad luck. . .

"The bad luck kept coming. The tent would collapse in the middle of his spiel. The trunk-lid would jam, or the hidden speakers refused to play. No one could stomach the car's slaughterhouse stink; kids cried, pregnant women's waters broke, fat guys puked up their beer and corndogs. One time the car's handbrake unlocked, and the Ford rolled back over some poor schmuck's foot; funny thing, the car hadn't even been parked on a grade."

2 BY MARK HASKELL SMITH

2 this week from author Mark Haskell Smith. I read his debut - Moist back in the pre-blogging days and enjoyed it enough to buy the next two books he published – these two.

I kind of forgot about him and his books, until I crossed paths with Raw on Net Galley back in 2013. Review here.

His books all seem to have comic caper and madcap adventure stamped across then, with fairly absurd plots as a pre-requisite. This isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but we could all do with a belly laugh now and again. He reminds me a bit of Carl Hiaasen and that’s no bad thing.

His fourth book – Baked still eludes me, but I ought to read these two first before worrying about that little oversight.

In the past couple of years he has also published a bit of non-fiction; Heart of Dankness - on the competition to win Amsterdam’s Cannabis Cup – a pot-growing prize and the second – Naked at Lunch – a reluctant foray into the world of public nudity. With some first-hand research including a week’s naked hiking through Austria! You can’t say Smith doesn’t suffer for his art!

Mark Haskell Smith's author website is here. He's on Twitter - @encurido

Delicious (2005)

Welcome to sunny Hawaii, where the palm trees sway, the tropical breezes blow, and a gangland-style turf war is erupting. Joseph is one of the best chefs in Honolulu, but these days the opakapaka and ono aren't the only things heating up. When a TV producer flies to the islands to film a pilot, a fight-to-the-finish breaks out over who will cater the shoot. Will it be Joseph and his hotheaded Samoan uncle, who have held a monopoly on the catering business for years? Or Big Jack Lacey, a trash-talking, lap dance-addicted stroke survivor from Las Vegas and his milquetoast son, a young man who wants to be a missionary but doesn't know the position. As far as Joseph's family is concerned, this is an invasion on par with Captain Cook, only this time the mainlanders have to be stopped before paradise is lost.

Fast-paced and ribald, this uproarious and delectably dark comic thriller is a side of paradise that definitely hasn't been endorsed by the tourist bureau.

Salty (2007)

From the author of Moist and Delicious comes a raucous comic thriller where anything goes. Turk Henry, an overweight, unemployed rock star married to a supermodel, has discovered that Thailand is probably the last place a recovering sex addict should go on vacation, yet here he is, surrounded by topless groupies and haunted by the stares of hundreds of luscious bar girls. Turk's struggles with monogamy, however, pale beside a greater challenge when his wife is abducted by a group of renegade, shipless Thai pirates. As Turk, his life skills limited to playing bass and partying, navigates the back alleys of Bangkok and the deadly jungles of Southeast Asia to save his wife, Salty heats up and sweats bullets. Featuring skinflint American tourists, topless beaches, a hypochondriac U.S. government agent, suitcases loaded with cash, an overeager full-service personal assistant, a horny Australian commando, inventive prostitutes, and an urbane pirate with a fetish for alabaster skin, this is a hilariously entertaining, thoroughly debauched caper novel — with a happy finish.

LOGGING THE LIBRARY - PART FORTY-SEVEN

Here we go again another 50 from the library in the roof!

Pre-logged look

William F. Buckley jr., Robert Harris, Tom Sharpe, Deon Meyer, Eric Ambler,

A bit of early Roman intrigue!

New author - untried!

Robert Harris, Haruki Murakami, Andrew Vachss, Alan Furst x 2,

Espionage 

More Roman intrigue!

Colin Bateman, Charles Bukowski, Alan Furst, Tim Gautreaux, John LeCarre,

Short pieces from Bukowski!

Another untried author!

Colin Bateman, Andy Dougan, Leonardo Padura, Andy McNab, Paul Hoffman,

Cuban crime fiction!

Cormac McCarthy, Richard Stark, Jeremy Cameron, Toby Litt, Tim Dorsey,

Parker series book!

"Elmore Leonard on speedballs!"

Martin Amis, Martyn Waites, Robert Littell, W.T. Tyler, George V. Higgins,

Espionage!

More espionage!

R. D. Wingfield, Deon Meyer, Elmore Leonard, John Harvey, Tom Kakonis,

South African crime fiction!

Marcel Montecino, Robert W. Campbell x 2,, Peter Robinson, Carl Hiaasen & William D. Montalbano,

Early Hiaasen book - co-authored!

Dale A. Dye, Stuart M. Kaminsky, Sue Grafton x 2, Lisa Gardner,

Series book!

Donald Westlake x 2, Stuart M. Kaminsky, John Sandford, Tony Hillerman,

Dortmunder - I believe!

Westlake - stand-alone!

HIGHLIGHTS.....Richard Stark, Alan Furst, Tom Kakonis, Eric Ambler,

LOWLIGHTS....nothing too scary really, I haven't really enjoyed Martin Amis and his later stuff, perhaps an earlier one would be better

FULL LIST OF 50 AS FOLLOWS:

AUTHOR		TITLE	YEAR	SERIES	FICTION/NON
AMBLER	ERIC	THE INTERCOM CONSPIRACY	1969	CL2	F
AMIS	MARTIN	LONDON FIELDS	1989		F
BATEMAN	COLIN	DRIVING BIG DAVIE	2004	DS6	F
BATEMAN	COLIN	EMPIRE STATE	1997		F
BUCKLEY JR.	WILLIAM F.	SEE YOU LATER ALLIGATOR	1985	BO6	F
BUKOWSKI	CHARLES	PORTIONS FROM A WINE-STAINED NOTEBOOK	2008		F
CAMERON	JEREMY	IT WAS AN ACCIDENT…	1996	NB2	F
CAMPBELL	ROBERT W.	MALLOY'S SUBWAY	1981		F
CAMPBELL	ROBERT W.	IN LA-LA LAND WE TRUST	1986	W1	F
DORSEY	TIM	HAMMERHEAD RANCH MOTEL	2000	SS2	F
DOUGAN	ANDY	DYNAMO	2001		N
DYE	DALE A.	OUTRAGE	1988		F
FURST	ALAN	THE SPIES OF WARSAW	2008	NS10	F
FURST	ALAN	THE FOREIGN CORRESPONDENT	2006	NS9	F
FURST	ALAN	RED GOLD	1998	NS5	F
GARDNER	LISA	THE PERFECT HUSBAND	1997	Q+R1	F
GAUTREAUX	TIM	THE CLEARING	2003		F
GRAFTON	SUE	G IS FOR GUMSHOE	1989	KM7	F
GRAFTON	SUE	H IS FOR HOMICIDE	1991	KM8	F
HARRIS	ROBERT	IMPERIUM	2006	C1	F
HARRIS	ROBERT	LUSTRUM	2008	C2	F
HARVEY	JOHN	EASY MEAT	1996	R8	F
HIAASEN/MONTALBANO	CARL/WILLIAM D.	POWDER BURN	1981	BL1	F
HIGGINS	GEORGE V.	DREAMLAND	1977		F
HILLERMAN	TONY	FINDING MOON	1995		F
HOFFMAN	PAUL	THE LEFT HAND OF GOD	2010	TLHOG1	F
KAKONIS	TOM	SHADOW COUNTER	1993	TW4	F
KAMINSKY	STUART M.	A FINE RED RAIN	1987	IR4	F
KAMINSKY	STUART M.	THE MAN WHO WALKED LIKE A BEAR	1990	IR6	F
LE CARRE	JOHN	A MOST WANTED MAN	2008		F
LEONARD	ELMORE	CUBA LIBRE	1998		F
LITT	TOBY	DEADKIDSONGS	2001		F
LITTELL	ROBERT	THE ONCE AND FUTURE SPY	1990		F
McCARTHY	CORMAC	THE SUNSET LIMITED	2006		F
McNAB	ANDY	IMMEDIATE ACTION	1995		N
MEYER	DEON	DEAD AT DAYBREAK	2000		F
MEYER	DEON	DEVIL'S PEAK	2007	BG1	F
MONTECINO	MARCEL	BIG TIME	1990	USA	F
MURAKAMI	HARUKI	IQ84 BOOK 3	2011	IQ843	F
PADURA	LEONARDO	HAVANA GOLD	2008	MCM4	F
ROBINSON	PETER	AFTERMATH	2001	IB12	F
SANDFORD	JOHN	EASY PREY	2000	LD11	F
SHARPE	TOM	WILT	1976	W1	F
STARK	RICHARD	ASK THE PARROT	2006	P23	F
TYLER	W. T.	THE MAN WHO LOST THE WAR	1980		F
VACHSS	ANDREW	FOOTSTEPS OF THE HAWK	1995	B8	F
WAITES	MARTYN	WHITE RIOT	2008	JD3	F
WESTLAKE	DONALD	WHY ME?	1983	D5	F
WESTLAKE	DONALD	THE MERCENARIES	1960		F
WINGFIELD	R. D.	HARD FROST	1995	JF4	F

VERGE LE NOIR - SHELL CASINGS (2014)

Synopsis/blurb……

This book is RATED R for violence, strong language and some sexuality.

In a violent crime scene SHELL CASINGS tell a story.

Crime Fiction Writer Verge Le Noir spins ELEVEN SHORT STORIES in the new collection Shell Casings.

•             A Gentleman’s Guide to Eating Lobster— everything changes for journalist Grace Parker—Woods when a handsome playboy pays her a visit.

•             Black Day—Salty Point is a town on the verge of social collapse, engineered by the town’s Sheriff.

•             Cherish—a small time drug dealer, a lovely stripper and her jealous boyfriend find each other, producing dire consequences for the trio.

•             Diamond Wet Dogs—three thieves on the high seas, find themselves in the middle of a storm, with Mother Nature and each other.

•             East Village Sonatina—a loveless East Village eccentric dreads the changes to the neighborhood while coping with his new movie-star neighbors.

•             Exit Wounds—in the middle of battle a young wounded soldier wishes for a dirty martini takes us on a journey of friendship, war, love and a Dominican style thanksgiving.

•             Half-Past Dead—Alpha, Cypher and Wolfie managed to break into a Federal Reserve vault, in the worse night in New York’s City’s history.

•             Love & Other Strangers—lovers’ Gemma and Dewy are hoping for a big payday from Gemma’s ex upon returning the man’s forgery plate.

•             Suburban Postcard—Jake ‘J.J.’ Jamison did his time for bank robbery, his partner didn’t, now J. J. wants his cut. But people change.

•             The Lucky Bones—young Zander Grey’s life was out of control, until a gangster pushes him to join the military, thereby changing the young man’s life, but is it for the better?

•             The Devil Makes Three— a young bishop guided by a Ute elder look for a lost gold mine. Inspired by the legend of the long lost gold mine in the Uintah Mountains.

So sit back, relax—if you can—and get lost in a world of sociopaths, twisted and often violent winding roads. A world in which you might just want to be a tourist as hot shell casings fly all over the place, each carrying its own unique story.

I derive a lot of reading pleasure from trying books and stories from authors that are - shall we say - less well known. Verge Le Noir would probably fall into that category. A bit of Amazon browsing last year had me coming across his first story collection – Black Pills & Red Bullets – a collection I took a punt on and enjoyed. Review here.

His second collection is even stronger. 11 stories weighing in at 140-odd pages, I raced through the collection in a day and a half – finishing off whilst my wife and daughter were walking the glass platform at Tower Bridge in London. Laughing like a drain at Suburban Postcard – drew me some funny looks from the rest of the tourists!

Violence, sex, revenge, robbery, racism, murder, food and more all laced with touches of black humour.

A scene in Black Day still has me chuckling when a couple of cops visit a biker gang’s clubhouse and the dude on the door is reading the author’s first book!

Highly recommended, with not a dud in the bunch. The other standouts for me were Half Past Dead and The Lucky Bones.

 I’ll be keen to see what our enigmatically monikored author does next. Cool name – cool collection.

4.5 out of 5

Verge Le Noir has his website-blog here and is on Twitter – @VergeLeNoir

Generous man that he is, he was kind enough to send me a copy of this for review.

DANIEL PEMBREY - THE HARBOUR-MASTER III: RANSOM (2014)

Synopsis/blurb….

AMSTERDAM NOIR, PART III: A powerful Dutch politician is hijacked, bearing uncanny parallels with the 1983 kidnapping of beer tycoon Freddy Heineken. Maverick cop Henk van der Pol, who worked on the Heineken case at the start of his career, is soon operating outside of the official investigation. In trying to solve the latest kidnapping, Henk himself becomes imprisoned, and, with rival cop Joost emerging as the winner between them, Henk must navigate dark currents at the highest levels of Dutch society.

"Pembrey is a master of short form fiction. His snappy dialogue, tight plots and varied European settings guarantee a fast, enjoyable read that is hard to put down."

Paul Pilkington, author of the bestselling Emma Holden series (Hodder & Stoughton)

Ransom is the third Henk van der Pol – Harbour Master book. Henk, our investigator and main focus again gets involved in a case where he has no official jurisdiction – the kidnapping of Rem Lottman.

Hard-headed, but conscientious, van der Pol’s nose for trouble sees him again putting police work ahead of family, to the chagrin of his wife who still has the hope that as a couple they can become closer to their partly estranged daughter. That Henk, in-between excursions to Belgium and Norway briefly suspects their daughter’s Russian boyfriend in involvement in the kidnapping, may put pay to that particular wish.

At loggerheads with his boss, Joost and both with secrets that they want to hide; van der Pol still manipulates his team to do some digging on his behalf. Answers more important than self-preservation or a duty of care towards his charges.

More moonlighting……an interview with Rem’s girlfriend, harassing Lottman’s mother, annoying his Belgium counterparts……..Henk ends up in The Hague and the Dutch energy minister’s office. 

The case remains unsolved – officially, but Henk has a few answers and a new job offer.

Interesting – as always, Pembrey again gives a fast-paced narrative that touches on politicians and corruption, rather than action on the mean streets of Amsterdam. I’m looking forward to crossing paths with van der Pol in his new job, when the author serves up his fourth episode.

4 from 5

Book 1 – The Harbour Master was reviewed here.

Book 2 – The Maze was reviewed here.

Author and crime fiction blogger extraordinaire, Margot Kinberg put the spotlight on the van der Pol series here.  

You can visit Daniel Pembrey at his website here and catch him on Twitter – @DPemb

I purchased a kindle copy of Ransom, though the author was kind enough to send me a copy of collected edition of all three episodes in print.