Julia Gateswood hires reluctant PI, Mike Angel, to find her missing sister, but Julia's social position and the sordid past of the sister make this anything but a simple case. Julia's a mysterious ex-beauty queen, who married for ambition to congressman Henry Gateswood, a charismatic ex-professor running for a vacated US Senate seat from Illinois in 1962. When Julia's sister Gail, a loose woman with past shady connections, disappears, Julia calls on private eye Mike Angel, who quickly learns his new employer isn't everything she seems to be, but what she is beyond a doubt is a great hypnotist of Mike's libido. Before Mike is hardly into the case, he's visited by Julia's strange secretary, who later finds the missing sister's headless body in the guesthouse of the Gateswood estate. Mike and his unofficial partner, Rick Anthony, a 25 year veteran of the NYC detective force and, whose vocabulary suffers from too many NYU grad classes, get to the crime scene before the police and follow clues that pit them against powerful Chicago mobsters. Rick was a partner for many years with Mike's late father, who was murdered on his first case as a private investigator. O.W. Wilson, a famous police chief and gangbuster from Kansas City, has taken over the Chicago force and enlists Mike to seek the department mole connected with the year old Summerfield scandal, where police were in cahoots with robbers. Mike hunts for Gail's killer while sorting out the threads of motive, political intrigue, bad cops and an arrogant DA, and Henry Gateswood's role. All the while Mike becomes conflicted by attraction to Julia, who disappears at a critical juncture, only to discover that her husband has placed her in a sanitarium. What were Henry's real motives for putting her away? Who killed Gail and how does she fit into Chicago mobsters on the run from the Summerfield scandal? Mike and Rick follow too many clues to a surprising conclusion. One twisting aspect of Mike's investigative instincts is often timely warnings from the "voice" of his late father, and also through sensations felt in a long scar Mike won during a shootout with the Russian mob who was behind his father's death. He also struggles with a desire to commit to Molly Bennett, his office manager and love interest, while conflicted with an over-healthy desire for attractive women who cross his path. This is the third in a series of four Mike Angel novels. These take place in NY/NJ (Dark Quarry), and Chicago in the early 1960s (Dark Quarry, Dark Lake, Dark Blonde, Dark Poison). Some actual historical characters and events are used. At this time only Dark Poison is published.
About the Author: David H Fears has written over 100 short stories, published 2 collections, and has had a long academic and personal love affair with all things Mark Twain. He is the author of Mark Twain Day By Day in 4 volumes averaging 1200 pages each, 3 of which have been published. This work has received rave reviews by the top Twain scholars. He has lectured at Elmira College (Sept. of 2009) on the making of the work and Twain's first meeting with Rudyard Kipling in 1889. He enjoys mysteries, especially in the vein of Raymond Chandler, Mickey Spillane, and Dashiell Hammett. For a season or two he joined the Private Eye Writers of America, and has benefited from the study of over 100 books in the genre. For several years David taught writing at two career colleges. He believes "any one can write," and espouses the "expressionist" theories of Peter Elbow. The greatest enjoyment in writing comes from his own detective novels, with the too-young PI, Mike Angel, "Dark Series," now six in number (as of end of 2011). David has enjoyed 3 successful careers in business, including his own wholesale operation for 17 years. He lives with his wife of 30 years, and his two adorable cats, including his calico "editor" Sophie, who loves to be either on top of his desk papers while he writes or draped across his arm. With a non-stop teasing sense of humor, and 3 grown daughters, David sees life as full, and understands the ups and downs and what drama is all about.