A dying man delays breaking the truth to his wife in order to hear the juicy gossip of a neighborhood slaying.(Note: "The Knickerbocker Kill" is a short story. It is also available in the author's 10-story collection, Daggyland #2.)* * *Neal is a brilliant engineer with two women in his life. His down-to-earth, foreign-born, flesh-and-blood wife. And the obedient sentient AI that dwells in his computer and runs his life.On the eve of a ferocious storm, Neal heads home to break some bad news to the family-only to discover that he's got to wait in line.Mother Nature and Lady Luck have bigger, nastier, more brutish plans in store for them all.Like Cheever gone from bad to worse, crime writer D'Agnese gives us a trippy fantasy that dwells in the realm of suburban surreal.* * *"D'Agnese writes the most unusual and interesting books." -BookViews Joseph D'Agnese is a journalist and author who has written for children and adults alike. He's been published in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Wired, Discover, and other national publications.In a career spanning more than twenty years, his work has been honored with awards in three vastly different areas-science journalism, children's literature, and mystery fiction.His science articles have twice appeared in the anthology Best American Science Writing.His children's book, Blockhead: The Life of Fibonacci, was an honoree for the Mathical Book Prize-the first-ever prize for math-themed children's books.One of his crime stories won the 2015 Derringer Award for short mystery fiction. Another of his stories was selected by mega-bestselling author James Patterson for inclusion in the prestigious annual anthology, Best American Mystery Stories 2015.D'Agnese's crime fiction has appeared in Shotgun Honey, Plots with Guns, Beat to a Pulp, Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine, Mystery Weekly, and Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazine.D'Agnese lives in North Carolina with his wife, the New York Times bestselling author Denise Kiernan (The Girls of Atomic City).
