In for a Pound-Richard Marinick

In for a Pound
Richard Marinick
Kate’s Mystery Books (Justin, Charles), Dec 2007, $24.95
ISBN 9781932112-511

After spending three year behind bars at Norfolk State Prison on a wrongful conviction of assaulting a DEA agent, former Massachusetts state trooper Delray McCauley is free. However, freedom is a relative term as he has no prospects in his former line of work as no law enforcement agency will hire an ex convict. Instead he returns to his South Boston roots and tends bar.

However, his former occupation brings suspicion that he is a plant by the Southie gangs who roam the neighborhood with alacrity; they simply distrust anyone who was in law enforcement even one who spent time in prison. Boston Police Captain Conway Lilly asks “Statie” Delray to help him on a case involving a friend, lawyer Esmond Cotter, whose safe was stolen from his office. If the cops recover it first, Cotter might face embarrassment at a minimum; although he detests attorneys, McCauley he agrees to investigate out of friendship for Lil. However, by volunteering to help a buddy, he learns a friend in need is a pest as he soon finds plenty of vicious Boyos wanting him dead; some over the safe, but most because he was a cop.

This is an exciting urban noir that brings to life (and death) Southie especially the street thugs who stroll the neighborhood. The story line is action-packed with plenty of blood as Delray works the mean streets with gang members ready to pound him for the fun of it. Although the afterward is too perfect, Richard Marinick writes a bruising Boston brouhaha even with the presence of a Wellesley grad turned feline sleuth that readers will appreciate.

Harriet Klausner