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 The new Lou Rizzo mystery is now available on Amazon here . For fans of Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammett and the noir genre, here is a good old-fashioned, hard-boiled detective yarn. It’s the second installment in the Lou Rizzo detective series. Lou Rizzo is a streetwise private eye who makes a living off philandering spouses. It wasn’t his first career choice but losing an eye while flying a B-25 raid in World War II put an end to his childhood dream of becoming a commercial aviator. It also drove him to depression and the bottle. He’s begun to make peace with his fate, allowing him to take his first small steps on the long journey out of alcoholism. One day a seductive redhead, with danger written all over her, slinks into his office and turns his world upside down. Her request…find the man who murdered her brother. He doesn’t take homicide cases; that’s police business and career suicide for a private dick. He knows better, but the lady is very persuasive…very. Against his be
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My catalog in reverse order of publication: Rizzo's Rules A noir mystery in the style of Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler and Mickey Spillane. The Last Rajah An aviation thriller set in the post-WW II South Pacific. Second book in a two-book series Chasing Dragons An aviation thriller set in the post-WW II South Pacific. First book in a two-book series.  Sleeping Dogs
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New Release!

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Rizzo's Rules While the crew of the Deuce were wandering somewhere in the South Pacific, this guy came along. Meet Lou Rizzo, down-and out P.I. Enlisted by the family of his best friend to investigate his death under suspicious circumstances, he soon finds himself entangled in a web of danger and deceit. Add to that somebody is trying to kill him. He needs to untangle the clues, conquer his personal demons and stay alive to secure justice for his friend. A classic noir mystery in the style of Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler and Mickey Spillane.
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In CHASING DRAGONS ( http://tiny.cc/oy7ply ), Edwina "Eddie" Watt learned to fly in her uncle's Curtiss Jenny while growing up in West Texas. They say any landing you can walk away from is a good one. This famous photo titled "Jenny in a Tree" puts that theory to a severe test! Before and after pictures! The Curtiss JN-4D is almost synonymous with American aviation in the 1920s. The Jenny, as it was affectionately called, appeared in 1917. Heretofore having only produced pusher aircraft, Glenn Curtiss ... hired an experienced European designer to lead the new project named B. Douglas Thomas, who had worked for Avro and Sopwith in England. The Jenny performed admirably as a trainer for the U.S. Air Service during World War I, but its more significant role in aviation history was as a barnstorming and mail-carrying airplane in the 1920s. Large numbers of relatively inexpensive war surplus Jennys were available in the United States after 1918. Its aff
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In CHASING DRAGONS ( http://tiny.cc/oy7ply ) and THE LAST RAJAH ( http://tiny.cc/3berly ), co-pilot Edwina "Eddie" Watt is a former WASP (Women Airforce Service Pilots). Their mission was to free male pilots for combat roles by employing qualified female pilots to ferry aircraft from factories to military bases and to tow drones and aerial targets. Each WASP candidate already had a pilot's license. They were trained to fly "the Army way" by the U.S. Army Air Forces at Avenger Fie ... ld in Sweetwater, Texas. More than 25,000 women applied for the WASP, and fewer than 1,900 were accepted. After completing four months of military flight training, 1,074 of them earned their wings and became the first women to fly American military aircraft. WASP were stationed at 122 air bases across the U.S., assuming numerous flight-related missions, and relieving male pilots for combat duty. They flew sixty million miles of operational flights from aircraft factories to port
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In CHASING DRAGONS , Duke Kellogg explains to his co-pilot Edwina “Eddie” Watt the legend of Mag Check Charlie. This legend was born on Wake Island (where I initially heard the story in 1971.) During WWII, pilots transiting Wake were told of a 15-foot tiger shark named Mag Check Charlie. Before I tell you how the story goes, I need to give you a little background. An aircraft piston engine differs from an automobile engine primarily in its ignition system. An automobile has one spark plug per piston, an aircraft engine has two…a left and a right. This is done for redundancy.  As long as either is working, the engine runs fine. All the left spark plugs are run off the left magneto and all the right spark plugs off the right. Magnetos are electric generating devices that are mounted on the engine. As long as the engine is turning they work. This is unlike a generator on a car. If the belt breaks or the generator fails, the engine stops. That won’t do in an airplane. Prior to tak
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Here are Betty and Veronica from the Archie Comic book series. The engines on the "Deuce", a Lockheed Lodestar featured in the popular action novels CHASING DRAGONS and THE LAST RAJAH  , were named after these two ladies. Betty was on the right wing. Veronica, the troublemaker, was on the left. If you'd like a fun read check out either on Amazon. If nothing else, stop by and check out the reviews. All those folks can't be wrong!!!
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