THREE INDEPENDENT book stores will host author reading events for my latest novel, The Executioner’s Face. I invite my readers to attend one of these events. Copies of the book will be on sale at each venue, but there is no obligation to buy, just come and enjoy hearing me read selected chapters of the novel.
Sunday, Sept. 16, 1-4 p.m., Pearl Street Books, 323 Pearl Street, La Crosse, Wisconsin
Monday, Sept. 24, 7 p.m., Dragonfly Books, 112 West Water Street, Decorah, Iowa
Saturday, Oct. 27, Luther College Book Shop, Decorah, Iowa
The Executioner’s Face is a crime noir story, set in a dystopian Chicago in 2045, and its premise is especially dark: the government has outsourced the justice system to a for-profit corporation: The Bureau of Justice and Corrections Services. Trials, public defenders, incarcerations, appeals, sentencing reviews – all of these functions of a public, government-operated justice system are expensive. To maximize profit, the BJCS corporate justice system must quickly and efficiently handle investigations, adjudications, judgement, sentencing, and punishment – all in secrecy with no oversight.
A perpetrator judged guilty of a felony offense receives a death sentence. Executions, known as ‘Arrangements’ in official Bureau communications, are performed ad hoc, guided by BJCS protocols but conducted by any means necessary by the Bureau’s Termination Operatives.
Sean Callahan is a 12-year veteran TO, the Bureau’s best and its most troublesome. A lone wolf, he is unwillingly paired with a young but street-hardened rookie TO, Abril Desanya, to teach her the skills of the executioner’s trade. They grow to respect one another in the course of their antagonistic professional partnership, and their relationship develops into a guarded love affair.
Callahan violates BJCS protocol to investigate a troubling termination and discovers evidence of pervasive corruption within the Bureau. He plans to expose the Bureau’s degenerate operations, but he knows that will put his life, and Desanya’s, in peril.
If you are unable to attend one of the author reading events, you can order a copy of The Executioner’s Face at any independent book store or through amazon.com
Dispatches from a Northern Town 
Very best of luck with the book Jerry. Thom
Thanks, Thom. Maybe this will be my “million seller” 😃
Let’s hope so .. of course the manuscript is the true treasure. Thom