Philo Trout's past isn't coming back to haunt him...it's coming back to kill him.
Former Navy SEAL Philo Trout has retired from the military and is now a crime scene cleaner in Philadelphia. When a series of vicious killings takes the city by storm, only his past can give him the clues to stop them.
It starts with a grisly crime scene: three dead bodies in an armored car, one of them beheaded. Then several drummers are brutally slaughtered while practicing for the New Year's Day parade. Somebody is targeting the city's beloved Mummers string band performers--but when Philo discovers multiple victims were former Navy SEALs, he thinks he might be next on the hit list.
The scale of damage at each crime scene points toward crime family involvement, and soon a full-blown mob war erupts in the streets of Philly. As the bodies pile up, Philo must dig through his past to track down the masterminds behind the massacres...unless they find him first.
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Praise for Chris Bauer and the Blessid Trauma Crime Scene Cleaners series:
"... the action and intrigue begins on page one and doesn't let up until the end of Bauer's smartly constructed, white-knuckle thrill ride." --Steve Konkoly, WSJ and USA Today bestselling author of the Ryan Decker series
"... more than a page-turner, it's a high-speed burner." --J.J. Hensley, author of Bolt Action Remedy and The Better of the Bad
"Couldn't pry me away...Bauer writes with authenticity...A knockout original story, with a host of equally original characters. Certainly not your typical crime fiction, and that's a good thing." --David Swinson, author of Trigger.
"...a multi-faceted thriller with a unique cast of characters, witty dialogue, and some serious dark humor that lightens up the world of crime-scene cleaners and mobsters." --J.D. Allen, Shamus-nominated author of 19 Souls
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What readers are saying:
★★★★★ "Wow!"
★★★★★ "...action and murder and mayhem..."
★★★★★ "...violent, razzmatazz, hold-your-breath finish."
★★★★★ "...the suspense builds to a fever pitch and then explodes."
★★★★★ "...a perfect encapsulation of Philly--resourceful, resilient, and as gritty as a certain Flyers mascot."
About the Author: Chris wouldn't trade his northeast Philly upbringing of street sports played on blacktop and concrete, fistfights, brick and stone row houses, and twelve years of well-intentioned Catholic school discipline for a Philadelphia minute (think New York minute but more fickle and less forgiving). Chris has had some lengthy stops as an adult in Michigan and Connecticut, and he thinks Pittsburgh is a great city even though some of his fictional characters do not. He still does most of his own stunts, and he once passed for Chip Douglas of My Three Sons TV fame on a Wildwood, NJ boardwalk. He's a member of International Thriller Writers, and his work has been recognized by the National Writers Association, the Writers Room of Bucks County (PA), and the Maryland Writers Association. He likes the pie more than the turkey.
