About Motor City Shakedown
- Hardcover: 352 pages
- Publisher: Minotaur Books; First Edition edition (September 13, 2011)
Detroit, 1911. Seven months have passed since Will Anderson’s friend Wesley McRae was brutally murdered and Will and the woman he loves, Elizabeth Hume, barely escaped with their lives. Will’s hand, horribly disfigured from the sulfuric acid he used to help save them, causes him constant pain, forcing him into a morphine addiction. He lives for nothing except revenge against the people who contributed to Wesley’s murder—first among them crime boss Vito Adamo.
When Will stumbles upon the bloody body of Adamo’s driver, he knows he’ll be a suspect, particularly since he was spotted outside the dead man’s apartment that same night. He sets out to find the killer, and the trail leads him to a vast conspiracy in an underworld populated by gangsters, union organizers, crooked cops, and lawyers. Worse, it places him directly in the middle of Detroit’s first mob war.
The Teamsters want a piece of Will’s father’s car company, Detroit Electric, and the Gianolla gang is there to be sure they get it. To save their families, Will and his ex-fiancée Elizabeth Hume enlist the help of Detroit Police Detective Riordan, the teenage members of what will one day be known as the Purple Gang, and Vito Adamo himself. They careen from one danger to the next, surviving shootouts, kidnappings, and police brutality, while barreling toward a devastating climax readers won’t soon forget.
“Set in Detroit in 1911, Johnson’s vibrant follow-up to The Detroit Electric Scheme delivers razor-sharp depictions of the motor city. Johnson brings the turbulence and rampant corruption of the era to life through his flawed yet tenacious lead in this worthy successor to his debut.” —Publishers Weekly (Starred Review)
“Johnson’s period noir is violent and chaotic, but his clever weaving of history with intriguing characters makes for an exciting read.”–Kirkus Reviews
About D.E. Johnson
D.E. (Dan) Johnson, a graduate of Central Michigan University, is a history buff who has been writing fiction since childhood but had to hit his midlife crisis to get serious about it. His first novel, a historical mystery entitled The Detroit Electric Scheme, was published in September 2010 by St. Martin’s Minotaur Books. The Detroit Electric Scheme has garnered excellent reviews (including being named one of Booklist’s Top Ten First Crime Novels of the year) and also won a 2011 Michigan Notable Book Award.
Motor City Shakedown, the first sequel to The Detroit Electric Scheme, will be published by St. Martin’s in September 2011. Dan is married, has three daughters, and lives near Kalamazoo, Michigan.
For more info, visit Dan’s website, www.dejohnsonauthor.com.
D.E. Johnson’s TLC Book Tours TOUR STOPS:
Monday, October 10th: A Bookish Libraria
Tuesday, October 11th: The Rap Sheet – guest post
Thursday, October 13th: Crime Fiction Lover
Friday, October 14th: Life in Review
Monday, October 17th: Joyfully Retired
Wednesday, October 19th: Unabridged Chick
Thursday, October 20th: Mockingbird Hill Cottage
Friday, October 21st: The House of Crime and Mystery
Monday, October 24th: Life in the Thumb
Tuesday, October 25th: The Literate Housewife Review
Wednesday, October 26th: Murder by Type
Tuesday, November 1st: Dan’s Journal
Tuesday, November 8th: Book Reviews by Elizabeth A White – author guest post
Wednesday, November 9th: Book Reviews by Elizabeth A. White
Thursday, November 10th: Raging Bibliomania
Monday, November 14th: Wordsmithonia
Monday, November 21st: Fiction Addict