Closing Time

by Richard J Cass

Overview

When Elder Darrow's friend Dan Burton, a Boston Homicide cop, dies trying to stop the robbery of a liquor store, Elder is bereft. But what appears to have been a random tragedy may have, in fact, been a contract murder. Mickey Barksdale, Boston's chief gangster, tries to enlist Elder to find out who killed Burton, but Elder resists until events force him to investigate. In the end, the quest may cost Elder his bar, The Esposito... not to mention his life.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781645995388
Publisher:	Encircle Publications, LLC
Publication date:	10/02/2024
Series:	Elder Darrow Mystery , #7
Pages:	308
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.69(d)

About the Author

Richard J. Cass's Elder Darrow Mystery series-In Solo Time, Solo Act, Burton's Solo, Last Call at the Esposito, Sweetie Bogan's Sorrow, Mickey's Mayhem, and Closing Time-features an amateur sleuth who owns a jazz bar in Boston. Solo Act was a finalist for the Maine Literary Award in Crime Fiction in 2017, and In Solo Time won that award in 2018. Cass is also the author of The Last Altruist, which won the 2021 Nancy Pearl Librarian's Prize for Genre Fiction and was shortlisted for the Maine Literary Award for Crime Fiction in 2021. His fiction and nonfiction have appeared in Playboy, Gray's Sporting Journal, ZZYZVA, Best Short Stories of the American West, Tough, and Shotgun Honey. His short fiction has won prizes from Redbook, Writers' Digest, and Playboy. He lives in Cape Elizabeth, Maine.

Editorial Reviews

2024-08-08
A bar owner investigates the death of his detective friend in Cass’ crime novel, the seventh in a series.

Boston-based jazz lover and alcoholic Elder Darrow owns a bar—the Esposito—but he’s been slowly losing his passion for the business, and the drinking is starting to catch up with him. When Elder’s best friend, Boston police detective Dan Burton, is gunned down in what appears to be a random liquor store robbery, Elder barely has time to grieve before mobster Mickey Barksdale shows up at the Esposito with a proposition. Mickey, who grew up with Burton, thinks the cop has been murdered, perhaps in a bid to send Mickey a message. He wants Elder, who sometimes assisted Burton with his cases, to take on the role of detective and ask the questions that Mickey can’t ask. Elder refuses—he doesn’t want to believe Burton’s death was anything but bad luck—but when a masked man with a gun shows up at the bar to warn him off the investigation, he knows there’s something bigger going on. More people start to die—or at least disappear—including Elder’s ex-girlfriend, who’s down from Oregon, and the Esposito’s heroin-addicted chef (who happens to be Mickey’s estranged daughter). Elder realizes that if he doesn’t figure out what’s going on, he may be next. But what, really, does he still have to live for? Cass perfectly captures Elder’s cranky incompatibility with a swiftly changing Boston, the city he loves but increasingly fails to recognize. “It was nearly impossible to find an old-style lunch counter in Boston anymore,” he laments. “All I ever needed was a couple of eggs over easy, wheat toast, and a decent cup of coffee. No chatty wait people with nose rings and tattoos, no cream cheese stuffed French toast.” It’s unclear whether this will be the last of Cass’ Elder novels, but it certainly has the feeling of a swan song, a satisfying ending for a man who needs to put a lot of ghosts to bed before he can figure out who he still is.

A compelling and often poignant mystery about aging and loss.

Kirkus Reviews