The Hangman's Knot: A Novel (Billy Tree Mysteries)
by David Wiltse
from St. Martin's Paperbacks
A 50-year-old hate crime puts acting deputy sheriff Billy Tree in the sights of a man who won't stop at murder to keep his role in it a secret. Tree, the former Secret Service agent who made his debut in Wiltse's bestselling Heartland, has come home to the small Nebraska town where he was raised, a place where he's still remembered as a star athlete and revered as a hero. Nothing much ever happens in Falls City, so when a mysterious black man appears in a town where that's a rare occurrence, and then a hangman's noose and a photograph of the lynching of Lawton Collins turn up in his own mailbox, Billy goes looking for the connection. He finds it in the last places he ever expected: his own family history and the bed of the woman he loves. The Hangman's Knot is a strong, suspenseful thriller with a complex and fascinating protagonist whose auspicious return might signal a compelling new series for its accomplished author. --Jane Adams
It all begins for Billy when sinister miniature nooses arrive in his mail. And it soon escalates when deadly shots ring out in the night. Hot on the trail of a relentless killer, Billy discovers a viper's nest of secrets and lies that turns everything he thought he knew about his own family and the woman he loves into terrifying doubt-and renews the deep hatred that still festers beneath Falls City's rural peace...
Heartland: A Novel
by David Wiltse
from St. Martin's Press
A fallen hero . . . Billy Tree once protected the most powerful man in the world from harm.If the situation called for it, he would give his own life to save another's.But after his partner dies at the hands of a raving would-be assassin, a physically and spiritually broken Tree returns to his hometown of Falls City, Nebraska, to contemplate his own part in the fiasco.A tarnished beauty . . . Joan Blanchard never made it out of Falls City.She stayed behind, locked in an unhappy marriage.But she never stopped thirsting for excitement.Now divorced with one child, her fast living has earned her the kind of reputation that women try to avoid in a small town.But there's something in her, beyond her looks, that draws Tree to the melancholy high school teacher.A ruthless madman . . . Duane Blanchard is a bully and a racist.But behind his insatiable anger lurks the keen intelligence and the uncompromising ferocity that made him the scourge of Falls City.He resents Tree's presence and the attention Tree lavishes on his ex-wife.He resents the town that considers him a monster.And he may be involved in one of me most deadly conspiracy the quiet community has ever witnessed.A small town cop . . . Sheriff Pat Kunkel seems to be in over his head after a schoolyard shooting that leaves two people dead and the only suspect goes missing.But Billy Tree learned law enforcement at the affable old man's knee, and Pat Kunkel may still have a few tricks up his sleeve . . . A murdered derelict . . . Huford Peck slept on the cold, hard floor of Falls City's abandoned power plant, amidst the lifetime of discarded junk he collected.When his naked body turns up along the banks of the Missouri River, it seems the result of another senseless act of brutality.But what secrets did the mysterious vagabond hide?His mutilated corpse may hold the key to a deadly puzzle.A fifteen-year-old boy . . . Will Blanchard seeks his father's love.But when one's father is incapable of love, is the next best thing a share in his hatred?Joan, the boy's mother, hopes not.But as events explode out of control, Will may find himself involved in a terrifying drama.Six desperate individuals, cast into an abyss of intrigue and murder.To save a boy's life and win a woman's love, Billy Tree will need to unravel a conspiracy that he could scarcely have imagined possible in a town he once called home.But who can be trusted?And who knows what deadly hatreds seethe beneath the glimmering surface of America's heartland?AUTHORBIO: Born in Nebraska, David Wiltse has written 11 novels, including the spectacularly well received John Becker thriller series.He has been honored with an Edgar Allen Poe award for a television feature film, a Drama Desk Award as Most Promising Playwright, and has had two novels selected as Most Notable Books of the Year by the New York Times Book Review and by Time Out Magazine in London.He lives in Connecticut.
Blown Away
by David Wiltse
from Berkley
The plot and chief characters of Wiltse's latest thriller are good: a slicker, more daring Unabomber named Jason Cole is blowing up bridges and tunnels in and out of Manhattan, and ace FBI agent John Becker has to stop him. But it's the smaller players that raise the level of Blown Away to greatness -- a gallery of colorful, often hilarious hoods, losers and lunatics who come to life quickly and linger on in the imagination long after the last bomb has gone off. (Other Becker books by Wilste include Bone Deep, The Edge of Sleep, Into the Fire, Prayer for the Dead.)
Adventure/SuspenseLarge Print EditionRiveting . . . Will hold readers in thrall through a fast-paced, cleverly plotted tale that features plenty of action. starred, Publishers WeeklyA masterpiece of suspense. BooklistA phantom bomber who calls himself Spring holds the city of New York responsible for his thwarted academic career and uses this grudge to go on a campaign of terror against the city. First he takes out the Roosevelt Island tram, then a bridge and finally a tunnel. Though Springs goal is simple vengeance, hes soon intercepted by a low-life with higher aspirations: getting the city to fork over $5 million in exchange for no more bombings. FBI agents John Becker and Pegeen Haddad are on Springs tail, but can they stop him before more lives are lost?
A Grand Romance
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