Cosa Nostra

A bloody power struggle was boiling up inside the Mafia, with the Boston and Montreal mobs fighting over the state of Maine, the last open territory in the Northeast. The Godfather heard both sides and decided Boston had first crack at the big takeover. But they had to make it fast or lose the whole bundle.The boys picked out a town, Chapmans Corners, not much of a town but to get it they were ready to use anything-bribery, blackmail, sex, murder. They came with money and guns, the ruthless force of Cosa Nostra behind them, and only one man even thought about stopping them.Greeley, the cynical, hard-drinking crooked cop, had done some dirty things in his life, but there were limits … and Greeley had just reached his. Peter J. McCurtin was born in Ireland on 15 October 1929, and immigrated to America when he was in his early twenties. Records also confirm that, in 1958, McCurtin co-edited the short-lived (one issue) New York Review with William Atkins. By the early 1960s, he was co-owner of a bookstore in Ogunquit, Maine, and often spent his summers there.McCurtin's first book, Mafioso (1970) was nominated for the prestigious Mystery Writers of America Edgar Award, and filmed in 1973 as The Boss, with Henry Silva. More books in the same vein quickly followed, including Cosa Nostra (1971), Omerta (1972), The Syndicate (1972) and Escape From Devil's Island (1972). 1970 also saw the publication of his first "Carmody" western, Hangtown.Peter McCurtin died in New York on 27 January 1997. His westerns in particular are distinguished by unusual plots with neatly resolved conclusions, well-drawn secondary characters, regular bursts of action and tight, smooth writing. If you haven't already checked him out, you have quite a treat in store.McCurtin also wrote under the name of Jack Slade and Gene Curry. Gathered together from the Mystery Writers of America award winning author, PETER MCCURTIN, hard-boiled tales of the Mafia. If you liked "The Godfather" then you're gonna love The Mafia Chronicles. Hard-boiled stories of gangsters, corruption, blackmail, murder and gambling - there all here.