Short story "Jump" is available now! ... at Akashic Book's Mondays Are Murder site

Illustration for "Jump" by Dylan Coleman

On Monday April 15, a free short story from Reed called “Jump”, about the noir of Coney Island, will be featured on the Akashic Books website's Mondays Are Murder feature.

From Akashic Books: While we’ve been thrilled to publish the original works of over 800 authors in the series, we still long for more. And while we are constantly seeking homegrown editors with native knowledge of national and international cities not yet visited by the series, we’re eager to dig deeper.Mondays Are Murder allows us to offer a glimpse of cities not yet seen, neighborhoods or hidden corners not yet explored in previous volumes, and, we hope, writers not yet exposed to our company. Contributions to the Akashic Noir Series are bound by mood: our authors are challenged to capture the sometimes intangible moods of “noir” and of “place”. The stories run the gamut from darkly-toned literary glimpses to straight-up crime fiction, while similarly capturing the unique aura of the story’s location.Our web model for the series has one further dimension: A 750-word limit. Sound like murder? It is. But so are Mondays.

This is the beginning of "Jump":

Skeleton umbrella. Coney Island crucifix. Tilyou’s Eiffel Tower. Steeplechase shrine. Icon. Landmark: looming, impotent, mocking, futile, naked, moot, regal, red, and ridiculous. Soaring twenty-six stories above the beach and boardwalk, passersby genuflecting at its feet, the Parachute Jump was all of these and none of these and more. Never less. Never. All you had to do was ask Richie.

 Click here to read the rest of the story at Mondays Are Murder

Booklist likes DIRTY WORK: " a sympathetic tragic hero with a secret heart of gold"

A great review from Booklist on Reed's recent book, DIRTY WORK, a short novel from Orca aimed at adult "reluctant readers." (Non-reluctant readers can enjoy it too! - it's available in paperback and e-book form.)

Dirty Work.
Coleman, Reed Farrel (Author)
Mar 2013. 136 p. Raven, paperback, $9.95. (9781459802063). Orca, e-book, (9781459802087).

Gulliver Dowd, PI, has had to overcome a lot. After the death of his sister, he vows to find her killer, taking odd jobs here and there. While searching for leads. When one ofthe odd jobs cornes from Nina, his high-school sweetheart, whose daughter has gone missing, he balks. Then she drops the bombshell: the missing girl is his daughter. Gulliver is a little person but one with a skill set that surprises even the most thuggish of Mob goons. It helps, too, that his sidekick, Ahmed, is formidable, determined, and not at all small in stature. Gulliver is sarcastic, calloused, and tenacious, but beneath the façade, he is a sympathetic tragic hero with a secret heart of gold. Veteran crime-fiction author Coleman proves adept at writing for adult reluctant readers without sacrificing his signature hard-boiled style. A fine addition to the Rapid Reads series. - Courtney Jones (Booklist)

The Scoop on Reed Coleman's most recent books, DIRTY WORK and ONION STREET

There's an interview with Reed over at Sons of Spade about his newest books, Dirty Work and the upcoming next-to-last Moe Prager novel, Onion Street.

Tell us what to expect from your two new books, DIRTY WORK and ONION STREET.
DIRTY WORK  is a very interesting project. It’s the first of two novellas featuring a little person (dwarf) PI named Gulliver Dowd. Gulliver is a bitter man whose cop sister has been murdered. Her murder has never been solved and Gulliver becomes a PI in order to find her killer. This hunt for his sister’s killer is the subtext to the story. The main case features a woman from Gulliver’s past who reveals a secret that can turn Gulliver’s world upside down. ONION STREET is the next to last Moe Prager Mystery and is a prequel set in 1967. It tells the story of how Moe became a policeman in the first place. It begins with his girlfriend being viciously beaten and left to die in the snow on a Brooklyn Street. Moe needs to find out why and who did it. And Moe learns for the first time that very little in life is as it seems. -for the rest of the interview, go here.

Reed's new novel DIRTY WORK is now out

In a new series published by Raven Books, Reed's new protagonist, a PI named Gulliver Dowd, makes his appearance. Louise Penny says:

“A little man with a huge heart and a huge chip on his shoulder, Gulliver Dowd swaggers into the crime fiction world and takes his place with the great investigators. Smart, vulnerable, heartbreakingly hopeful, I just adore his company. This is a staggering achievement. Bravo!” 

Here’s the flap copy: When PI Gulliver Dowd discovers that his new client is Nina, his high-school sweetheart—and the only woman to break his heart—his first impulse is to refuse to take the case. But when she explains that her daughter is missing and that the teenager is Gulliver’s daughter too, what choice does he have?

Rapid Reads are short novels that can be read in one sitting. Available at independent bookstores, through Amazon, and through the publisher.

GUN CHURCH is up for an Audie award

 The 2013 Audie Award nominations are just out, and GUN CHURCH is in the running in the Original Work category. Here’s the list of nominees:

ORIGINAL WORK

Gun Church by Reed Farrel Coleman, Narrated by Joe Barrett, John Keating, Audible Inc.

The Junkie Quatrain, by Peter Clines, Narrated by Christian Rummel, Therese Plummer, Audible Inc.

Die, Snow White! Die, Damn You!, by Yuri Rasovsky, Narrated by a full cast, Blackstone.

Coming Home To Us: A Trilogy of Love, Loss, & Healing, Helen Engelhardt, Marjorie Van Halteren, Narrated by Mary Lou Ciulla, Mary Kay Stratis, Eleanor Bright, Pat Simpson, Wendy Giebler, Midsummer Sound

Company.

Titanium Rain, Episode One, by Josh Finney, Narrated by a full cast, The AudioComics Company