The Mack Denver Story
Book #1: YOUNG GUN IN NEW YORK
You ever wake up in a police cell with a stuffed toy bird under one arm and only the vaguest idea how you got there? No? Mike Delaney has.
Lucky for him, the cop in charge isn’t looking to put on a courtroom circus—he’s offering a job. Of sorts. Mike’s just starting to think his luck’s on the mend when in struts Joe Macy, a private eye with big ambitions, with an even better offer.
Now Mike’s knee-deep in a case that smells funny: a man who might be dead—or might not; Kay Sullivan, a B-movie star with enough secrets to sink a studio; and Jimmy the Fan, a wiry little guy in a check jacket with more sidelines than a racetrack tout.
From cocktail bars to alleyways that whisper death, Young Gun in New York pulls no punches. Gritty, wry, and packed with action, it’s the first in The Mack Denver Series.
If you like your noir with snap, swagger, and just enough smoke to sting the eyes—think Get Shorty, L.A. Confidential, and Chinatown—this one’s for you.
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Listen to three chapter excerpts:
Book #2: THE BOSTON BOONDOGGLE
Mack Denver—ex-Marine, reluctant private eye, and occasional vigilante—has been told by his boss, Joe Macy, to keep his head down and stick to the simple insurance gigs.
But Mack’s never been good at simple.
A routine case gets second billing when he stumbles onto a web of city-wide corruption, a trio of bumbling bank robbers, a mob boss with a job offer he can’t refuse, and a new relationship with the sharp, beautiful Wanda.
With a crew of unlikely allies, Mack does his best to keep the wheels turning—and his conscience clean.
Macy was right. He should’ve stuck to the simple stuff.
Fast-paced, darkly funny, and soaked in 1940s cocktails, The Boston Boondoggle is classic noir with a modern twist—where justice comes knuckle-bruised, wise-cracked, and served with a side of angel cake.
Book #3: KILLER IN A BLACK DRESS
With his chosen “family” around him and his flash temper mostly in check, he’s trying to do the right thing while digging into a twisted case of city-wide corruption.
But this isn’t just any case—it’s tangled up with one run by his old mentor, Sergeant Tom Stein of Boston South PD. And it’s about to get personal.
With a sharp-tongued librarian, a born-again newsman, and the ever-patient Wanda at his side, Mack follows a trail through Boston’s underbelly—from snake dancers and shady fixers to a half-mad witness no one believes.
Oh, and then there’s the “Killer in a Black Dress”—a headline-grabbing mystery woman who seems to have her sights set on Mack.
Smart, dark, and crackling with 1950s grit, Killer in a Black Dress is Mack’s most dangerous ride yet—and maybe his last.
Book #4: ANGELS LOVE BOURBON
With Boss Macy out of town on business, Mack Denver’s holding the fort at the Boston office—“Take it easy, and don’t start any more wars while I’m gone,” still ringing in his ears.
Then two clients stroll in, seemingly unconnected. First, Arlene Lubnitz—mink-draped and desperate—with a story about her missing daughter. Next, Jules Delacroix, a so-called French designer with a slick grin and an accent Bonnie swears was cooked up in a Montreal alley, claiming someone stole his fashion portfolio.
The trails drag Mack into the glitzy, booze-soaked world of high fashion, where a wild pack of models known as “The Angels” strut the catwalks by day and drown bourbon by night.
Beneath the glitter, something cheap and crooked’s going on—a slick racket swapping couture for knockoff trash—and Mack’s gonna need help. Especially as The Killer in a Black Dress is still at large.
But his pal, Tom Stein, is tangled in wedding plans. So Mack flies solo—until the case hits home.
Book #5: THE HITMAN FROM HARVARD
In the shadows of Harvard Yard, old sins collide with new ambitions. Giuseppe Gravano—the golden boy of Boston’s once-feared crime family and its first Harvard student—lies dead on campus, a bullet shattering the family’s hopes of swapping blood for legitimacy.
Captain Tom Stein is handed the “Poison Chalice” investigation. But the Gravanos don’t trust cops. Dante Gravano, sharpest of the clan, sees something in Mack Denver, ex-Marine turned reluctant gumshoe who wants the job about as much as he wants a hole in the head.
But Dante knows Mack’s weakness: veal parmigiana and a side of escarole with beans.
Now Mack’s navigating a world of tweed jackets, martini lunches, and smug Latin quotes—an alien land for a guy who dropped out of high school to fight a war. But the truth’s buried deep, and in Boston, a veil of silence has fallen.
Book #6: BOOZE BULLETS AND BROADS