Title: The Baker's Men
Author: Donald Levin
Publisher: Poison Toe Press
Publication Date: April 20, 2014
Pages: 338
ISBN: 978-0615968568
Genre: Mystery / Crime Fiction / Police Procedural
Format: Paperback, eBook, PDF
Easter, 2009. The nation is still reeling from the previous
year’s financial crisis. Ferndale Police detective Martin Preuss is spending a
quiet evening with his son when he’s called out to investigate a savage
after-hours shooting at a bakery in his suburban Detroit community. Was it a
random burglary gone bad? A cold-blooded execution linked to Detroit’s drug
trade? Most frightening of all, is there a terrorist connection with the Iraqi
War vets who work at the store?
Struggling with these questions, frustrated by the dizzying
uncertainties of the case and hindered by the treachery of his own colleagues
who scheme against him, Preuss is drawn into a whirlwind of greed, violence,
and revenge that spans generations across metropolitan Detroit.
Book Excerpt:
1
The man hurried along the sidewalk on the
other side of the street with both hands clasped on top of his head. He looked
like he was trying to keep his scalp from floating away.
“Hold it, baby,” Jared Whalen murmured into
his cell phone.
He watched the man lurch past the cooling
units of the Foodland, then dodder out of his line of vision. He had parked his
scout car in the lot of the Ethiopian restaurant across from the supermarket to
make his call.
Burly in his Kevlar and with close-cropped
blond hair, Whalen put the cruiser in gear and eased up to the edge of Nine
Mile Road. The financial meltdown of the previous year brought a spike in
B&Es around Ferndale and neighboring Pleasant Ridge, so they were all
warned to be alert for anything unusual.
Case in point: this guy.
As he watched, the man continued down the
sidewalk, more or less in a straight line.
Seems harmless, Whalen decided, and settled
back. This character might just be a bit tipsy, maybe got over-served at Rosie
O’Grady’s down the street and started to walk home. At least he wasn’t lit to
the point where he was weaving all over the place so he’d step into traffic and
become Whalen’s immediate problem.
“What’s the matter, sugar?” the woman on the
phone said. “Nothing more to say to me?”
Whalen smiled at the petulance in her voice.
He turned his attention from the man on the sidewalk and pictured her pillowy
red lips drawn in the pout he loved. He met her last Valentine’s Day when he
stopped her for speeding on Woodward, and one thing led to another and now they
were dating. They hadn’t spoken all day because her ex never picked up their
kids as he promised he would so she was busy with the two girls. But now they
were asleep and she could talk freely.
“C’mon, baby,” he said. “There’s lots more
where that came from.”
He went on with her for another ten minutes
until the Dispatcher’s voice broke in.
“10-56, 7-Eleven at Nine Mile and Pinecrest.
Meet the clerk.”
Whalen sighed. 10-56, intoxicated person. The
7-Eleven was four blocks west of where he was parked. Probably the guy he just
saw walking down the street. No big deal, but still.
Reluctantly he said goodbye to his sweetheart
and told the police radio, “Unit 1267 responding.”
He swung the cruiser onto Nine Mile toward
the convenience store.
Purchase
The Book:
Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-bakers-men-donald-levin/1119403618?ean=9780615968568&itm=1&usri=the+baker%27s+men+donald+levin
About the Author
An award-winning fiction writer and poet, Donald Levin is
the author of The Baker’s Men, the second book in the Martin Preuss
mystery series; Crimes of Love, the first Martin Preuss
mystery; The House of Grins, a mainstream novel; and two books of
poetry, In Praise of Old Photographs and New Year’s
Tangerine. Widely published as a poet and with twenty-five years’
experience as a professional writer, he is dean of the faculty and professor of
English at Marygrove College in Detroit. He lives in Ferndale, Michigan, the
setting for his Martin Preuss mysteries.
Connect with Donald:
The Baker’s
Men Event Page
My Review:
This was a really good mystery that took place in Detroit. I liked that there was uncertainty all around Det. Martin. He did not know who to trust and even the people he thought he knew were not safe. There were a lot of possibilities and it was interesting to guess who was behind the shooting from drug dealers to radicals and rebels. This is the second book with Det. Martin and I would love to read the first book and get background on his coworkers. The ending was good and I have a feeling that this is not the last of these characters. I am giving this book a 4/5. I was given a copy to review, however all opinions are my own.
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