Clifford’s War: The Bluegrass Battleground

Mafia boss Eustachio Innocenzo Bandoni hires Kentucky PI and occasional hit man Clifford Dee, the protagonist of Reed’s suspenseful crime novel, to kill assassins Darius and Marcus Tye after the Tye brothers murder his nephew, Brenden Bandoni. Brenden had the misfortune to be in bed with the person the Tyes were targeting, the daughter of the head of a rival gang. Things get off to a bad start when the Tye brothers take Dee captive, but he manages to escape from the abandoned church where he’s been left strapped to a table and pursue the Tyes. This job proves to be just the prologue to more complicated involvement with Don Bandoni, who warns Dee off being equally diligent on behalf of another, more typical client, who suspects his wife of infidelity and hires Dee to verify that suspicion. The action-rich plot, which also involves political corruption, never loses steam. Reed’s willingness not to pull punches—his lead’s prepared to sever fingers of the Tyes as proof for Bandoni—is refreshing. Fans of Max Allan Collins’s Quarry series will be pleased. (Self-published)