Dark as Night

But their dream gets sidetracked when Morris takes in his half-brother, Vince Kammer, who’s just been released from prison. Vince did time for a jewelry store robbery that went sideways, and the local mob boss who bankrolled the crime, Johnny “Stacks” Staccardo, is insisting that Vince pull another job to make up for the loss of the jewels he never received. Johnny Stacks has his gangster wannabe henchmen, Lenny and Mo, riding Vince pretty hard, and to make matters worse, Dick Franks, the corrupt cop who originally investigated the jewelry store heist, has gotten wind that Vince is out of the can. Franks believes Vince has the missing diamonds, and there’s not much that Franks won’t do to get his hands on those stones.

When Morris discovers Vince’s predicament, he has to summon the inner tough guy from his youth (and dig up a gun he had hidden away), to keep Vince from doing anything stupid. Caught between the gangsters, the vicious Dick Franks, and Vince’s own desire for revenge, Morris risks losing his new love, his dreams, even his life in order to save Vince from himself.

Praise for DARK IS NIGHT:

“Dark as Night is a funny, violent, and damn near perfect noir. If you like your heroes flawed, your villains amoral, and your body count high, you might well think that Mark T. Conard has been reading your mind. A fantastic debut.” —Tod Goldberg, author of Living Dead Girl

“If you crossed Anthony Bourdain’s Bone in the Throat with Abel Ferrara’s Bad Lieutenant and threw in a little bit of Carl Hiaasen for good measure you might get something like Mark T. Conard’s funny and brutal Dark as Night. He’s one to watch.” —Scott Phillips, author of The Walkaway