One Good Man - Paperback

by Del Staecker (Author)

"Like a Ferris Wheel, this noirish tale leaves the reader to grip the safety bar, ignore that hollow feeling in the stomach, and hold on for dear life as Joe Kontos's life spins in circles. Del Staecker is a master of the genre." - Hollis George, editor and anthologist This gritty hardboiled tale unfolds on the planks of two strikingly different boardwalks - Atlantic City and Ocean City, New Jersey. After four decades on the Shore's music scene, Joe Kontos, a worn-out industry icon, finally hits his personal wall of despair. In an effort to find himself Joe downsizes his life and retires to the safest, quietest place he can imagine - the wholesome family resort of Ocean City. However, it is not tranquility that Joe finds. Instead, a cleverly disguised evil entraps Joe, luring him back to Atlantic City and the grimy side of life. While searching for a missing girl, Joe is deceived, shot, framed, and deceived again before discovering that it is not easy to be a hero.

Author Biography

Born in Blue Island, Illinois, Del Staecker grew up in two very different worlds: The surreal artist's community of Chicago's Old Town (where the likes of Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg and Bob Dylan hung out at his Uncle Erling's exotic bird shop), and the small town normalcy of Boy Scouts, Little League baseball, and working on his relatives' farms. At fifteen Del survived leukemia and penned his own bucket list. He has been a soldier, a farmer, a teamster, lived on a boat, traveled much of the world, and completed all but one item on his list of adventures. Currently, this Life Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and Executive Committee member of the International Association of Crime Writers lives in his Pennsylvania home, which is shared by his wife, the stories that must be told, and the colorful characters in his head. Del Staecker's crime/thrillers are fast-paced, character filled, and as addictive as M&M's.