a Payton Sherwood mystery novel by Russell Atwood DEATH prowls the streets between C & D
 The sudden "accidental" death of legendary private investigator George Rowell draws down-on-his-luck detective Payton Sherwood into a spiraling 'round-the-clock noir nightmare of murder and betrayal in his search for a runaway investment scam artist and a junkie reality TV star through the shadowy byways of a modern, crumbling Lower East Side of Manhattan.
Published by Hard Case Crime b0ooks (ISBN: 0-8439-6121-X)
Cover Art by Robert McGinnis
http://www.hardcasecrime.com
ORDER the book NOW, available on Amazon.com follow this link:
">http:// OR GO directly to my DOWNLOADS page for great FREE STUFF, including a rare Mickey Spillane mp3.
NEWS!!!NEWS!!!NEWS!!!
2/25/10: Well, had some technical difficulties, but the site is back up and running. In addition to various Kindle ebooks I've been creating, I've been working on my new novel, APT. 5, as well as looking for work. I've just had a recent article published to the amazing writers' blogsite, Work-In-Progress, here is the link:
http://workinprogressinprogress.blogspot.com/2010/02/work-in-progress-russell-atwood-on.html
12/21/09: Yes, I've jumped on the bandwagon...Both of the Payton Sherwood mystery novels are now available in Kindle editions!!!
EAST OF A
LOSERS LIVE LONGER
as well as a 99 cent Kindle sampler, featuring the story that introduced Payton Sherwood, as well as my short story "HOLES" both of which you can download in pdf format for FREE now on my download page: EAST VILLAGE NOIR
11/22/09: Trying to add a little more content to the website. So I added a new photo to my pictures page, of me at last weekend's New England Crime Bake, working hard to promote the book. Click here to see: About Author & Photos
I'm also currently adapting both my novels into Kindle versions. We'll see how that all pans out.
10/19/09: I've been slacking off on updating the site, so today I'm at least going to provide a link to a fun new positive review on The Mystery Site. The reviewer really "got" what I was going for, and nails Payton Sherwood good by describing him as "a fast talker with a high opinion of his sense of humor" which is something anyone would say after spending longer than ten minutes with me.
Check it out at: http://www.themysterysite.com/showreview.php?r_id=397
Cheers!
9/15/09: REALLY been busy SELLING the book. But for anyone who's interested here's what happened to me last night:
so last night the cops showed up about 12:30 a.m.. I was out like a light until like ten minutes before. Some banging had woken me up, but it was masked by the repeating opening menu theme of the DVD I"d been watching but was over. I ejected it to make it stop.
I wandered to the kitchen made a bowl of cereal and the phone started ringing, the double-ringring which meant it was my intercom. I munched a spoonful of Lucky Charms while the answering machine started broadcasting the sounds of the front stoop. Nuthin' but the sounds of passing traffic, the trumpeting of a passing bus. So I just figured it was some drunk tryin' to get in and so I didn't buzz in.
All well and good until a couple minutes later, somebody buzzes in and I hear the tramp of many booted feet lazy a plough horses coming up the stairs, and I look out and see dark blue black uniforms through my peephole and knock on my door.
I twist the deadbolt and swing open the door and stand there in all my glory, a fortysomething guy in a hooded sweater shirt and blue jeans holding steady a half-full bowl of cereal with an eight foot tall mix media sculpture of San Sebasatian looming behind me (in storage for a friend, I even forget its there half the time).
And face a Bennetton's ad of blue uniforms, headed my an attractive young black woman with a beautiful sapphire and diamond bracelet on her wrist along with her black nylon strapped watch. Beside her stood a lanky young Latin man with a thin Ceasar Romeo mustache, next to him a stocky young Italian guy who looked like he'd barely qualified for the height requirement, and taking up the rear a pale faced red-haired athletic type with freckles like Archie Andrews.
I said, "Hi, what's up?"
The female officer said, "We had a report of a domestic dispute. Are you in here alone?"
I don't know how she managed to keep a straight face as she said it though.
I mean there I am unshaven, eating a bowl of Lucky Charms with sounds of a new Mystery Science Theater 3000 DVD playing on my laptop at half-past twelve in the morning, and she's asking me if I'm alone in here.
Well, yah.
But, you know, I don't have anything against the police, so I tried to be as helpful as possible, and they weren't stupid, clearly they saw it was some sort of mistake. Except it's funny, maybe I uncovered a law of averages, 1 out of 4 cops is just naturally a prick. Because as I'm going through my little tale of the evening, saying, "I don't really know, I was sleeping, but I thought I heard some banging" and then later saying, "I didn't know if I really heard anything because I was watching a DVD..."
The barely-tall enough officer piped up, "Before you said you were sleeping, now you're saying you were watching a DVD, which is it now?"
I lost all patience with the guy, started demanding to know exactly what had been reported to them, not wanting to brag about how I had mastered the ability to both fall asleep while watching a DVD. And eventually they just shuffled away saying in apology, "Well, these things happen some time..."
As good an explanation as any.
8/14/09: EARLIER than I expected, YOU CAN NOW buy the book from AMAZON.COM
and have your very own copy NOW, ahead of the in-store date of August 25th.
Follow the above link to Amazon.com:
7/20/09: NEW MP3 on DOWNLOADS PAGE:
Chapter One of LOSERS LIVE LONGER, read by the author
This is a homemade recording I just made this afternoon, practising for my August 30th reading.
Take a listen and let me know what you think.
Free DOWNLOADS
7/8/09. Received my first official review today from BOOKLIST magazine, July issue:
Private investigator Payton Sherwood walks the mean streets of Manhattan’s East Village, and in his second outing (following East of A, 1999), he begins barefoot. It seems he’s locked himself out of his office, but the game’s afoot, so he’s checking dumpsters for discarded shoes while avoiding broken glass. He’s not really sure what the case is all about, but it seems to involve a legendary PI who has just died, a billion-dollar Ponzi schemer who has jumped bail, Eastern European hard cases, downtown glitterati, and assorted women who are strikingly beautiful (and possibly lethal). Atwood is retooling the classic, hard-boiled private-eye novel in some entertaining ways. Payton is no Philip Marlowe. He’s a bit of a bumbler, and he knows it. When he cracks wise, it’s always self-deprecatory. But he’s decent and dogged, and readers will know that, like Marlowe, he’ll persevere. Hard-boiled purists may be put off at first, but Atwood’s charming subversion of the genre is great fun.
— Thomas Gaughan
4/29/09...This morning I received my first author endorsement for the new book from bestselling author, Gayle Lynds:
"In Losers Live Longer, Russell Atwood has created a riveting story so evocative you can smell the scent of New York City’s hot concrete, feel a pickpocket’s hand dip into your pocket. From his unforgettable characters to his lyrical use of language, Atwood proves he’s the new Master of Detective Noir."
Gayle Lynds, New York Times bestselling author of The Book of Spies and The Last Spymaster
4/27/09...The Spring Issue of the on-line mystery journal THRILLING DETECTIVE has published the first Payton Sherwood short story, "East of A," as a classic reprint. Click on the link below and then click on my name to see what an outstanding job they did:
THRILLING DETECTIVE, Spring 2009 issue
2/17/09 ... Last week I signed off on the corrected galleys of the book and...IT LOOKS MARVELOUS. No, really. Hard Case Crime editor, Charles Ardai (award-winning author in his own right, with both an Edgar and a Shamus to his credit) did an outstanding job of policing the book and presenting it in flawless form. Anything wrong with it now is all my fault.
I sent out four copies of the galleys for advance review to 1) an author, 2) a playwright, 3) a film director, and 4) an actor. In a month or so hopefully I'll have "Advance Comments" to post here.
At the end of March, ARCs will start going out to reviewers. So if you're a book reviewer, please send me the name of your publication and/or website along with your address and I'll add it to the growing list.
2/14/09...I started my own FACEBOOK page today, seek me out and add me to your friends' list for complete up-to-date news on the book.
1/16/09....LOSERS LIVE LONGER, appears on publisher's website, www.hardcasecrime.com, along with sample chapter and announcement of September 2009 publication release date. UNIQUE horizontal cover design by renowned artist ROBERT McGINNIS (we are not worthy, we are not worthy).
  
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