Best Friends Patrick Kelly and Jimmy Flynn from Belfast, share a common dream of a better life beyond the borders of their small island. In his quest to see the world, Patrick Kelly joins the military. He’s sent to Vietnam to fight the spread of communism. Jimmy Flynn is mad at the world and he joins the IRA. He fights a war against his own countrymen, in the name of religion.
Norm Strom joins one of the largest street gangs in the world, becoming a city cop. He learns the true value of police informants in his fight against crime.
The story begins on Bloody Friday, in Belfast, Ireland, and follows the characters to places like the jungle in Cambodia, and cities like Boston, Detroit, Toronto, and Windsor. Their personal lives and relationships unfold and intersect with each other, both in love and war. Women, drugs, and guns are the common denominator that eventually draws them all together for a fatal reunion. In their individual endeavors to either fight crime, or profit from it, one of them will have to pay the ultimate price.
Edmond Gagnon grew up in Windsor Ontario, in Canada. He joined the Windsor Police Department in 1977, a month before his nineteenth birthday. After almost two years as a police cadet, Ed was promoted to Constable and walked a beat in downtown Windsor. He spent the next thirteen years in uniform working the street.
From there, he transferred to plain clothes where he worked in narcotics, morality, property crimes, fraud, and arson. He was promoted to Sergeant and later, Detective. During that time, Ed investigated everything from theft and burglary to arson and murder. He retired with a total of thirty-one years and four months service.
Within weeks of retirement, Ed took to travelling the world, visiting countries in Southeast Asia and South America as well as riding his motorcycle all over Canada and the United States. He kept in touch with family and friends through email, sending them snippets and stories of his adventures.
The recipients of his musings suggested he write a book about his travels and Ed complied by putting together a collection of short stories in his first book, A Casual Traveler. The book was a success. Bitten by the writing bug, Ed decided to share some of his police stories.
He created the Norm Strom Crime Series, based on events and people he encountered during his years in law enforcement. In that series, Ed wrote and self-published Rat, Bloody Friday, Torch, Finding Hope, Border City Chronicles, and Moon Mask. He joined fellow authors Christian Laforet and Ben Van Dongen and put together a crime anthology, All These Crooked Streets.
Edmond Gagnon continues to write, adding Trafficking Chen to his Norm Strom novels and the spin-off series: the Abigail Brown Crime Series. He also wrote a science fiction thriller called, Four. Ed still travels frequently and resides in Windsor, with his wife, Cathryn.