Slab Town: A Murderous Romp Through Wartime Portland

by Gehla S. Knight

256 pages

In the Christmas chill of 1944, Big Joe Welk is the hardcore crime boss in Portland, Oregon. He runs the rackets and the cronies who enforce his vengeance when he's crossed. But there's one enemy he doesn't see coming.

Hardcover

$30.95

+ $9.68 shipping & handling (USA)
(add $2.48 S&H per additional copy)


Category: Fiction:Mystery	Read a FREE excerpt (requires Adobe Reader)
About the Book
Miles Brodie is just a bargain-rate lawyer handling divorces for Big Joe’s Tiki Bar girls. He’s barely squeezing rent money from his third-rate law practice when Joe hires him to find out who’s knocking off his pals. Before a full-blown turf war breaks out, Brodie signs on and follows the blood trail to find out who’s trying to shut his client down and take over the Portland rackets. Everybody from City Hall to the cop on the street knows a hustler needs an insurance policy. But it’s not the kind Prudential Life sells. Somebody is cooking the books, keeping payoffs and bribes strictly off the radar to cover their bets if Big Joe ever tumbles to the double cross. Joe’s bookkeeper Melba Malone knows how to keep secrets. How much are they worth to the rat who wants to deal him or herself in? When bodies start to fall, Brodie feels like the last cardboard duck in a carnival shoot. Caught between his greedy ex-wife, crooked cops and a deadly client, Brodie’s left holding the losing hand.
Related Titles
ZIG ZAG by Gehla S.Knight Quirky murder and madcap mayhem make for red-hot road romance. TWO SCOOPS OF SEAFOOD by Gehla S. Knight Two midlife losers looking for the off-ramp to Dream City. THRILLERS by Gehla S. Knight Woodrow Hand, a sidelined rodeo star is stuck in the Oregon Badlands with his girlfriend one short step from slipping a ring on his finger. He bolts from the chute and ends up neck-deep in a tangled web of kidnap, murder, suicide and a forgotten cold case. SLAP HAPPY: A WRITER’S GUIDE TO THE BOOK OF THE DEAD by Gehla S. Knight SLAP HAPPY is a quirky, riotous ride through the Galaxy with con men, cephalopod nymphos and desperate writers to a crazy, hilarious parallel universe that might make a skeptic's dreams come true. A deal with a Uni parolee named Bob could be the ticket to fame and fortune. OLD WIVES' TALES: Bedtime Stories Grandma Never Told You by Gehla S. Knight “Old Wives' Tales” uncovers the erotic secrets of women long past the age when their charms elicited lustful glances from potential lovers and passersby. Thesis interviewer Charlotte Pulver plumbs their reminiscences of deflowerings, torrid affairs, romances, dangerous liaisons, betrayals and sins of the heart as well as the flesh. NIGHT MUSIC: A Portland Melodrama by Gehla S. Knight During wartime in 1944 a young grad student falls in love with a mysterious beauty who rents him a room. His infatuation leads him to abandon his doctoral thesis for a fantasy love affair, but lovestruck dreams lead him to real life tragedy. CONDOLENCES by Gehla S. Knight Roland Metz is a funeral director with an obsession for romantic relations with his clients. Dead clients. Attorney Jack Lattiger stumbles on a dead girl's grave and is lead to the killer and the mortuary basement.

About the Author

Gehla Knight writes mysteries, thrillers, short story collections and literary novels. Under the name Ray Bates, her John Bowers police procedurals showcase Portland and the gritty life of homicide cops working the streets. Founder and president of a trial litigation firm, criminal justice experience and consulting work with Regency Fox Film Productions infuse her mysteries with off-center, quirky characters and plot twists spiced with humor, romance, earthy sex and mystery. She resides in Portland, Oregon with her husband Richard and cat Felonious Monk.