Welcome to the “Summer of Mystery Reads” happening July 9th to August 17, 2018, at THE PULP AND MYSTERY SHELF!
DISCLAIMER: This content has been provided to THE PULP AND MYSTERY SHELF by the author, who is also the blog administrator’s husband. No compensation was received. This information required by the Federal Trade Commission.
About the Book
Johnny Graves is a hired killer for the mob. For the right money, he’ll kill anyone for his bosses.
Tonight he’s been given a new mark, but this time his orders are to keep the man alive at all costs.
Find out more in this 10,000 word Short Story.
PURCHASE LINKS
Excerpt
Three hours later Graves walked up the steps of the city library and turned behind a giant stone lion.
“Good evening, Mr. Graves.”
Lorenzo Cappro and two of his bulldog bodyguards stood waiting for him. The kingpin of the Cappro crime family looked far more haggard and stressed than Graves had ever seen him. But the hit man rarely had face-to-face meetings with his clients.
A car drove past. They all watched until it vanished down the next block.
“Let’s go inside. I do so appreciate the silence of a library.”
“After you, Mr. Cappro.”
Graves watched his client turn and his men looked at him with suspicions before following. Cappro was a regular and there would be more work in the future, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t careful. If they ever believed him expendable, Graves already had escape plans, or if necessary could terminate the contract. Permanently.
The librarian looked up as the four men passed, adjusted her glasses but said nothing, and returned to stamping her pile of books. Once they sat at one of the study desks in the back, behind the periodicals, Cappro commanded one of the large men.
“Stand over there, Bibbo.”
The two guards positioned themselves a few feet away among the encyclopedias from where they could look up anything or anyone.
“I’ve always been impressed with your work, Mr. Graves,” Cappro said with a nervous twitch. “You did an excellent job with the accountant. The rags hardly even mentioned it.”
Graves smiled and shrugged. “Thank you, sir. Is there something you need?”
“I have an assignment for you.”
Graves kept smiling and nodded; there was no surprise Cappro had another target for him. So what was bothering him?
“There’s a man named Samuel Howell. I need you to take care of him.”
Graves nodded.
“Just let me know where to find him.”
Cappro fingered a book on the desk.
“What’s going on?” Graves said with irritation, “I’m not stepping on to unstable ground.”
“No, you shouldn’t. Let me tell you what happened.”
About the Author
Kevin Paul Shaw Broden first fell in with the masks as a child while listening to old time radio and the adventures of Green Hornet, The Shadow, The Lone Ranger and many others. They were soon followed by the four-color heroes of comic books, not the heroes of the modern age, but those of the Golden Age. Roy Thomas’ run on All-Star Squadron introduced Kevin to heroes long past. It would be those heroes he would dream of and want to write about; all that led to his pursuit of a career in comic books. He took art courses throughout his education – and his first professional job was as a background artist in the early issues of SUPREME for Image Comics – only to discover that no matter the media, he was a storyteller at heart.
He would never be far from his first love, the masked heroes. For over fifteen years Kevin has been illustrating and co-writing (with Shannon Muir) the online comic book FLYING GLORY AND THE HOUNDS OF GLORY which can be found at http://www.flying-glory.com about the granddaughter of a golden age heroine known as Flying Glory. He has also written for television animation, including the Japanese series MIDNIGHT HORROR SCHOOL. He is a member of the Animation Writers Caucus of the Writers Guild of America. Kevin also digitally paints book covers, not only for his own books, but for other authors, including the cover art for Pro Se Productions’ NEWSHOUNDS. In 2015, he also contributed artwork for LEGENDS OF NEW PULP FICTION for Airship 27; in 2018 did all interior illustrations for another book published by Airship 27 called THE BAY PHANTOM: FEAST OF THE CANNIBAL GUILD by Chuck Miller.
Kevin’s first novel, CLOCKWORK GENIE, was released in 2011 (later released with a subtitle and new cover in 2018), followed in 2012 by REVENGE OF THE MASKED GHOST, his homage to the golden age pulp heroes that got him started. In 2013, his work appeared in two anthologies from Pro Se Productions. In BLACK FEDORA, he wrote about the villainous Maestro Mechanic in “The Man Who Stole Manhattan”, and in NEWSHOUNDS printer’s ink mixes with blood in the tale “Stop The Presses!” He’s since followed this up releasing several short stories on his own, including “The Cop Who Wouldn’t Die” from the CLOCKWORK GENIE MYSTERIES universe, “A Scarlet Spirit Tale: In the Clutches of Convicts” which expands the world of the MASKED GHOST, and the stand-alone stories “No Easy Way to Die” and “Murder on the Cosplay Express”.
CONNECT WITH THE AUTHOR
Author Twitter: http://twitter.com/_MaskedGhost_
Facebook Author Site: http://www.facebook.com/FriendsOfTheMaskedGhost/
