Border City Blues

Prohibition takes the battle, along with the party, to the streets. Jack McCloskey returned to Windsor, Ontario, from the Great War shell-shocked and battling inner demons. Channeling his energy into amateur fights, he's noticed by a gangster sidelining as a boxing promoter. After a brief professional stint, Jack is invited to join the crew. It's the early days of Prohibition along the Detroit River. Feeling trapped, Jack often tries to escape by throwing himself into relationships that are doomed from the start. Complicating matters further, a crime lord descends on the Border Cities, taking over all smuggling activity to finance his covert political agenda. In sharp contrast is the story of Vera Maude, a young librarian also yearning to escape, but to the cafes of Greenwich Village or the Left Bank. All she lacks is will. The climax occurs in a gripping battle at the crime lord's house on Riverside Drive and its surprising aftermath the following morning.

It's the winter of 1923 and the border towns are under a deep freeze, with ferries ice-bound in the Detroit River, snow burying the streets, and power interruptions. Prohibition is still the backdrop to daily life, but opium smuggling and human trafficking are a pair of disturbing additions to the mix. 2015 DEWEY DIVA PICK In a failed attempt at transporting whisky across the Detroit River, a grim find is brought to the surface. When one of Detective Campbell's late-night walks is abruptly interrupted by a loud crash and a grisly thump, he summons his colleague Dr. Laforet to help with the case. Soon both cops and rumrunners are racing to connect the dots. With a whisper of the occult in the chill Windsor air, Campbell and Laforet are caught up in another mystery.

West meets East as bootleggers and cops tangle with opium smugglers and corrupt officials in a new kind of gang warfare. Prospect Avenue is nothing more than a dirt road ending in bulrushes behind a roadhouse. It's a popular rendezvous point along the Detroit River for bootleggers like Jack McCloskey. But there's more than just rum-running going on these days; there's a growing trade in opium and people, as McCloskey finds out when he rescues the survivor of a bad smuggling deal. As if this wasn't enough, McCloskey is also trying to get his dinner club back on its feet, while his girlfriend, the indomitable Vera Maude, has a wedding to plan … and it's not her own. He's trying to hold things together while police corruption and domestic strife threaten to pull it all apart. Then, a series of murders brings powerful groups into conflict and may drag McCloskey into the fray.

Prohibition means two things in the Border city of Windsor, Ontario: big business, and big trouble. Riverside Drive Jack McCloskey returned to Windsor, Ontario, from the Great War lost in a battle with his inner demons. When he channels his energy into amateur fights, he's noticed by a gangster moonlighting as a boxing promoter. After a brief professional stint, Jack is invited to join the crew in the early days of Prohibition along the Detroit River. Maiden Lane It's the winter of 1923 and the border towns are under a deep freeze. As if the police didn't have their hands full, drug-smuggling, human trafficking, and a grisly find in the river steer them into unfamiliar territory, and a whisper of the occult brings a wholly unexpected twist. Includes Riverside Drive Maiden Lane

Prohibition means two things in the Border city of Windsor, Ontario: big business, and big trouble. Riverside Drive - Jack McCloskey returned to Windsor, Ontario, from the Great War lost in a battle with his inner demons. When he channels his energy into amateur fights, he's noticed by a gangster moonlighting as a boxing promoter. After a brief professional stint, Jack is invited to join the crew in the early days of Prohibition along the Detroit River. Maiden Lane - It's the winter of 1923 and the border towns are under a deep freeze. As if the police didn't have their hands full, drug-smuggling, human trafficking, and a grisly find in the river steer them into unfamiliar territory, and a whisper of the occult brings a wholly unexpected twist. Prospect Avenue - For bootleggers like Jack McCloskey, Prospect Avenue is just another dead end, and not even one of the better ones, but at least it's away from prying eyes. But Jack is about to learn that what goes on in the shadows isn't at all as "nice" as what he does, as the trade in opium - and people - picks up in Windsor.