Books from Doug M. Cummings
- Every Secret Crime (now available)
- Deader by the Lake (now available)
- Purchasing info
Every Secret Crime
A Reno McCarthy Novel
June 2008
Five Star
Read an excerpt (PDF) (Word)
Sometimes . . . secrets are the real crime . . .
When the son of celebrity attorneys is murdered in the upscale Chicago suburb of Falcon Ridge, police make an arrest within hours. But Chicago TV reporter Reno McCarthy thinks they've closed the case too soon. As the body count begins to rise, Reno discovers a community steeped in corruption and greed, a startling link to secrets of the past, and a psychopath lurking in the shadows who's planning to make Reno's next live shot... his last...
"Cummings, an ex-cop and ex-reporter, delivers breathless authenticity in this expose of suburbia's dark underside."
David Morrell
bestselling author of Creepers
bestselling author of Creepers
". . . run -- don't walk -- to buy a copy of Every Secret Crime. The prose and dialogue are spare and crisp, the police and video production procedures ring true and teach us something, too. An absolutely enthralling crime novel."
Jeremiah Healy
author of Turnabout and The Only Good Lawyer
author of Turnabout and The Only Good Lawyer
"Doug Cummings is the real deal, a writer who comes at Chicago with a reporter's gift for telling detail and a novelist's gift for gripping prose."
Rick Kogan
Chicago Tribune
Chicago Tribune
Deader by the Lake
A Reno McCarthy Thriller
November 2003Published by iUniverse
Paperback ISBN: 059529359X
Hardback ISBN: 0595659926
How do you solve a murder nobody wants solved and catch a killer nobody wants caught?
When a woman with explosive secrets is murdered, City Hall orders a cover up. But fired TV reporter Reno McCarthy has never been politically correct. Reno's out for justice and he won't back off---even if it means a showdown with a brutal manipulator intent on turning Chicago into a branch office of the Russian mob.
Reno's city is on the verge of a 21st Century mob war; one that will make the Roaring Twenties seem like a cap gun fight.
It's summer in Chicago. It's supposed to be cooler by the lake.
Not this summer.
From Booklist
*Starred Review*
The trick to writing a mystery starring an amateur sleuth is to find a credible way of getting your accidental/part-time detective to stumble over a body or two or to be asked, by virtue of said detective's real line of work, to investigate a crime. Cummings, crime reporter for WGN Radio News based in Chicago (see "Story behind the Story" on the opposite page), has hit upon a marvelous way of channeling his own wealth of crime scene and media expertise into the character of an ideal sleuth, an investigative journalist. Reno McCarthy, fired on a boss' whim from his old job as an ace TV investigative reporter, languishes as an FM morning news anchor. When an old colleague dangles the chance for Reno to get his old job back if he can do a discreet investigation, Reno lets desperation win over good sense and starts chasing down leads. The assignment? Find the call girl who called the station ready to spill about a Chicago Outfit-backed escort service but then disappeared. Exploding with murders, accidents, and threats, the plot is gasp producing but always believable. Holding it all together are Cummings' insider knowledge about the Chicago Outfit, the new phenomenon of Russian Organized Crime, cop-shop atmosphere, crime-scene protocol, and newsroom workings. Cummings uses Chicago as a sometimes glitzy, sometimes grim backdrop to the action. A street-smart and altogether satisfying debut. Connie Fletcher
Purchasing Information
Doug M. Cummings' books are available at Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble.com and through independent booksellers.
Check Doug's blog for updated information, his musings, and contests to win great Reno Wear!
