Chicago 1934 and it is the end of prohibition and the era of the Public Enemy Ross Duncan is a laconic world weary bank robber haunted by his conscience and the recent death of his partner during a bank robbery After the murder of an aging mafia enforcer Duncan is hot property and receives job offers from the competing Irish and Italian mobsters both hoping to secure his services before the other does The Irishman and the Italians unwittingly hire him for the same job the assassination of the Federal Prosecutor But he is betrayed by his greedy accomplices on another job No longer sure who he can trust he maneuvers his way between the two gangs especially round the scheming and dangerous Irishman Duncan is also on the run from J Edgar Hoover s fledgling FBI He falls in love with his dead partner s beautiful younger sister Elinore who has a laudanum addiction and is in the clutches of The Irishman as his underworld moll Duncan is caught right in the middle of it all and in grasping for a chance of moral redemption from his life of crime he finds his decisions and actions have been made at an unbearable cost At the end we find Duncan catching a late night train out of Chicago lost a failure overcome with grief and exhaustion and waiting for the soft cool respite of dawn This is a cool yet fast paced and violent story of Tommy guns cold gin martinis sharp repartee piles of cash and deadly betrayals a stiff noir cocktail sharp dialogue shadowy settings and severe coldblooded violence Kirkus Reviews They Die Alone A Ross Duncan Novel Ross Duncan Series 1 Christopher Bartley a pen name is a clinical psychologist and a professor at the University of Hawaii in Hilo Hawaii He also directs research at The Menninger Clinic in Houston Texas He conducts clinical trials epidemiology and mental health services research mostly with prisoners and combat veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder He has written over 200 scientific publications including a recent paper on military suicides alcoholism and psychiatric illnesses among Union Forces during the U. He has had an interest in American history ever since hearing a first hand account of the Battle of San Juan Hill from his great grandfather as a child and then later learning about his fathers military service in Vietnam Christopher Bartley a pen name is a clinical psychologist and a professor at the University of Hawaii in Hilo Hawaii He also directs research at The Menninger Clinic in Houston Texas He conducts clinical trials epidemiology and mental health services research mostly with prisoners and combat veterans with posttraumatic stress disorder He has written over 200 scientific publications including a recent paper on military suicides alcoholism and psychiatric illnesses among Union Forces during the U. He has had an interest in American history ever since hearing a first hand account of the Battle of San Juan Hill from his great grandfather as a child and then later learning about his father s military service in Vietnam He is fascinated with the history of jazz gangsters bank robbers and baseball all of which seemed to converge in the 1920 s 30 s and 40 s Setting this novel just after prohibition allowed him to delve into one of his favorite periods. com site_link 
This is an eloquently written gangster story taking the reader back in time to 1930 s Chi town during the time of the Public Enemy to experience the life of Ross Duncan a man who robs banks for a living and is wanted by the FBI While mourning the recent loss of his partner and at war with himself over his long time love for his dead partner s younger sister Duncan gets caught in the mix between the Irish and Italian mobs Both want the Federal Prosecutor assassinated and think he is the man for the job This story is well balanced between action suspense human connections and behavioral insights Although Duncan is living the high crime life as his character is revealed there is a sense of righteousness about him someone who easily appeals to the reader The scenes are vividly recreated with jazz music in the background stiff cocktails cigarette smoke in the air and the anticipation of flying bullets all of which keep the reader immersed in that era The author s prose style is smart and precise and the story is rich with historical facts and descriptive imagery The book concludes with a solid and unpredictable ending Containing all the elements of a true noir classic Bartley lays an excellent foundation to the Ross Duncan series Kindle Edition My lifelong fascination with the 1920 s 1930 s and 1940 s drew me to this book I love a good story about Jazz Age gangsters loud music life on the edge and endless liquor They Die Alone by Christopher Bartley covered the whole gamut along with a great storyline. Ross Duncan is a mystery a gangster with a conscience His story contains snappy dialogue that reads like someone s journal that was hidden for eighty years He is a loner being recruited by both the Irish and Italian mobs in 1934 Chicago He tries to stay under the radar while searching for his dead partner s younger sister. I can t wait to read the other four books in this series Kindle Edition I really enjoyed this book It isn t the genre I usually read but it held my attention from the very beginning of the book Kindle Edition I got this as an e book It s a noir tale from the viewpoint of a bank robber at the end of the public enemy period The story was good enough for me to buy a sequel Kindle Edition Are you a gangster if you don t belong to a gang Ross Duncan moves in the gangster world knows the gangster ways and is all too familiar with the gangster s needs but he works in a kind of twilight zone of uncertainty He s a loner He s not a joiner He d rather not commit Ross Duncan has a conscience a sort of moral compass He has limits They are his to know and for you to find out He s a tough guy but there are some soft spots too In setting up Duncan s world Christopher Bartley embraces the grim edgy vibe of noir Darkness shadows whiskey cigarettes dames rain clouds Tommy guns Scores to settle Gangsters talk about murder and mayhem in pleasantries like innocents Bad guys get what they have coming Nobody says you dirty little rat but almost Bartley hugs the tropes plays with them Sleep had evaded me again and then I dreamed I was dreaming and in that dream I lay awake in bed glittering riches and quiet stolen moments sifted through that dream of a dream She wore pearls around her neck and clinging silk dress the color gin forms when you add a squeeze of grapefruit juice We sat together like that for a very long time listening to the rain beat steadily against the window Ten minutes went by and then fifteen twenty The rain continued its rhythmic tattoo and still we did not speak It was a comfortable silence We re in 1930 s Chicago and They Die Alone leads Ross Duncan to a crossroads He s hired for a hit but it s complicated than that That is deftly complicated not hard to follow Two rival gangs one Irish one Italian each think they have their hooks into Duncan but well Duncan has his own plans based on his own code We think he s going one way but Duncan is one step ahead Like many complex characters Duncan has a past and some of the most evocative writing in They Die Alone is contained in flashbacks about a former partner and also in the re telling of a bank robbery spree that goes awry Duncan strikes up a friendly relationship with a woman who rents him a room and her son and their cat He falls in love with a cool woman who once belonged to his former partner She s addicted to laudanum and he s here to coax her back from the brink of self destruction Duncan learns from his lessons hones his awareness for the fine moral distinction that weighs on his soul Shades matter he insists Yes it s an ugly business Yes They Die Alone is marked by rough violence and ample references to the mayhem caused by the real criminals and real crime fighters of the day But the focus is squarely on Duncan and the human consequences of struggling to stay alive when you re playing a hideous game and looking or maybe not for a place to belong Kindle Edition
.: His fifth novel in the Ross Duncan series Unto the Daughters of Men has recently been published Christopher Bartley can be reached at rossduncan32 gmail. Christopher Bartley gets all of the details right while keeping you on edge throughout the book If you like historical fiction in noir style this is a worthy read.S Civil War.S Civil War
