The Fell Hound of Adversity

Hard boiled suspense! Two-fisted romance!! Bare-knuckle thrills!!!

A down-and-out line cook gets mixed up with a beautiful federal agent and a sinister plot to destroy the city in the run-down, hard-luck town of Adversity, battling criminal thugs, crooked politicians, and something even worse that stalks the violent streets.

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Luckless line cook Rudi Quince can’t catch a break. He’s hit hard times on the mean streets of Adversity, a crumbling city of two-bit crooks and corrupt politicians. Fired from his fancy job as a certified salaried sous-chef, he’s scraping by, now just a simple sandwich man of meager means. He’s too busy with his bout of bad fortune to see that his city is in dire straits, facing financial collapse and civil disaster, not to mention a string of brutal murders rumored to be the work of that fell beast that has hounded the city from its founding.

Rudi’s worries pile up faster than he can figure when the deadly and beautiful federal officer Colonel Stavrogin comes to town. The Colonel is on a mission to deliver the city from its corrupt ministers, or failing that, destroy it. Her arrival stirs up a storm of trouble as she and her men crack down on the grifters and penny-pinchers and tax dodgers.

Rudi becomes a target of her ruthless tactics when she goes looking for his delinquent brother. Then there’s the matter of Rudi’s old rival returned to town, still bitter about their past feud. On top of it all the city's vicious Princess of Darkness has taken an interest in the hapless line cook for her own reasons.

Rudi finds himself pursued by foul folk as he gets tangled up in dangerous dealings. He faces brutal brawls and close gun scrapes, savage confrontations at every turn. Things go south when he stumbles onto a terrible conspiracy that threatens worse to come. Malicious forces are working to let loose the vengeful creature of local legend upon the city. There’s rough times ahead as Rudi tries to make things right before it’s too late.


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Paying homage to the brash, brazen prose of the pulps, Parker T. Geissel’s debut novel crafts a savage tale of cooks and crooks in a classic noir setting. Rough and tumble line cooks face off against deadly femme fatales in a plot packed with bare-knuckle brawls, vicious turns and wry humor.