Happy Hour and Other Philadelphia Cruelties

A stunning anthology of Philadelphia-set crime stories. In Happy Hour, the title story, a small-time grifter steals an overcoat on Christmas Eve and finds a pair of gloves, a pack of gum, and forty thousand dollars in the pocket. But his unexpected score soon becomes an icy nightmare. In other stories, a struggling landlord has second thoughts after paying an arsonist to torch his apartment house, a scam artist plots to rob his dangerous employer, and a bank robber awakens in an upside-down car resting in a shallow stream after his getaway goes disastrously wrong. And more. Button up. It's cold, outside.

"A gripping and fast-paced thriller, with a protagonist who is relatable, if not likable." Philadelphia Inquirer

"The novella Happy Hour is a lot like its main character: it doesn't pause for breath and it doesn't take a moment to think things over. It just keeps moving as fast as it can." Crime Factory

"A masterclass in American pulp-noir fiction." Shotgun Logic