Barnes and Noble (www.barnesandnoble.com) has issued the hardcover copy of the Frank Nagler Anthology, containing the first three Frank Nagler Mysteries, and a short story bonus.
Coming soon will be a paperback edition and an ebook version. Detail to follow.
What is in this anthology:
The award-winning Frank Nagler Mysteries.
A reader from Deptford, N.J., who said she read the books one after the other without a break, wrote: “Excellent writing! It grabs you attention and holds you. You’re right up there with Stephen King. Thank you for your writing gift.” (Thank you!)
These books are set in a fictional Morris County, N.J., town called Ironton, which has along history of iron manufacturing.
Frank Nagler, the cop/hero is a native of the town, whose father was an ironworker and his grandfather was an iron miner.
The stories use as a backdrop the rich iron mining history of the region, and refer to many actual spots in the area. The rise and fall of the industry is part of the setting of the stories. That history includes the Morris Canal and the industrialization of the region.
Detective Frank Nagler is a broken-hearted, depressed cop who is determined to solve serious crimes and find a way to heal
“The Swamps of Jersey” (2014) is about political corruption and murder, and I attempted to write it in real time, that is to say, reflecting some of the activities that mark our present lives that carry some universal meaning, but use them in a story that is broad and wide, and with luck, filled with the lives of characters struggling to make sense of troubled times. The central character is Frank Nagler, a cop, whose troubled heart is ever present.
Nagler is called out on stormy night to investigate the report of a dead woman in the Old Iron Bog. It is the first event in a chain of events that set the hard-luck city of Ironton, N.J. on edge. Besides the possible murder, the city was flooded when a week-long storm settled in and wrecked homes, businesses, and streets, and Nagler is trying to make sense of a series of letters that claim to expose theft of city funds, except they are so incomplete he wonders if it is really so.
Then there is Lauren Fox, a woman sent to Ironton to jump-start economic development. She and Nagler are attracted to one another and begin to become serious when she leaves town without an explanation. Nagler was an emotional recluse following the death of his wife years before. They had been childhood sweethearts, and her death crushed Nagler.
The story of Frank Nagler picks up two years after “Swamps” in “A Game Called Dead” (2016)
A GAME CALLED DEAD was named a Runner-Up in the 2016 Shelf Unbound Indie Book Contest.
Ironton, N.J., is still a city struggling with its economic and rebuilding troubles, but new heroes emerge. Meanwhile a break-in at the local college leaves two women badly beaten, and one later dies. Following a series of criminal acts in the city, including several that damage the book store owned by Leonard, Nagler’s friend, the story takes on a sinister twist. The title comes from the students’ name for a video game that has taken on a real-world life. They call it “A Game Called Dead.”
The story is tense and propulsive.
“The Weight of Living” (2017) brings Frank Nagler face-to-face with a soulless, manipulative killer whose crimes stretch back decades.
THE WEIGHT OF LIVING IS A MULTIPLE AWARD WINNER:
2017: First Place in the Royal Dragonfly Book Awards
2018: Named a Notable 100 Book in the Shelf Unbound Indie Book Contest
2018: Named a Distinguished Favorite in the Independent Press Awards contest.
2018: Named a Distinguished Favorite in the BYC Big Book Award Contest.
Kirkus Reviews said: “Daigle’s narrative is well-paced, and it leads to a melancholy, but satisfying conclusion. An involving thriller with a memorable protagonist.”
The full review: https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/michael-stephen-daigle/weight-living/
A young girl is found in a grocery store Dumpster on a cold March night wearing just shorts and a tank top. She does not speak to either Detective Frank Nagler, the social worker called to the scene, or later to a nun, who is an old friend of Nagler’s.
What appears to be a routine search for the girl’s family turns into a generational hell that drags Nagler into an examination of a decades old death of a young girl, and the multi-state crime enterprise of the shadow ringmaster.
The deeper Nagler looks, the more he and his companions are endangered, until the shocking climax that leaves Nagler questioning his actions to both solve the crimes and heal his damaged soul.
The story is entangled, deeply involving and holds an emotional grip.
As a bonus, we included the smart, funny, surprising short story, “Who Shot the Smart Guy at the Blackboard?”
It was just another summer political fund-raiser, until it wasn’t.
The books may be purchased individually in paperback and ebook versions at:
Amazon: http://goo.gl/hVQIII
Kobo: https://goo.gl/bgLH6v
NOOK: http://goo.gl/WnQjtr
An audio book version of “The Swamps of Jersey,” read and produced by Lee Alan, is available at: Amazon. com and at https://www.audible.com/author/Michael-Stephen-Daigle/B00P5WBOQC
