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    Butcher Boy: A Neo-Noir Crime Thriller
    Butcher Boy: A Neo-Noir Crime Thriller
    Butcher Boy: A Neo-Noir Crime Thriller
    Ebook94 pages1 hour

    Butcher Boy: A Neo-Noir Crime Thriller

    By James Dargan

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    About this ebook

    BUTCHER BOY, A NEO-NOIR CRIME THRILLER

    The murders of innocent women have put fear into the citizens of Metropolisville. One cop, Detective Leo Lyons, has been put on the case after his predecessor wasn't up for the job. Now, it's his turn to find the killer, called the 'Butcher Boy' by the press and the city's police department.

    Will the case ever be solved, or will the perpetrator go unpunished to wreak havoc indefinitely?

    BUTCHER BOY is a NEO-NOIR CRIME THRILLER anthology set in America's most dangerous city, Metropolisville, a place that makes Detroit seem like Disney Land.

    More books in this anthology crime series to come: GUN SMOKE, FENDER BENDER, SPUTNIK BABY, PIG KILLER and FAT CAT!

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherDanny Boy Books
    Release dateNov 27, 2016
    ISBN9781536551662
    Butcher Boy: A Neo-Noir Crime Thriller
    Author

    James Dargan

    James Dargan was born in Birmingham, England, in 1974. Coming from an Irish background, he frequently writes about that experience. As well as England, he has also lived in the United States, Ireland, and - for the best part of fifteen years - in Warsaw, Poland, his home from home from home.

    Read more from James Dargan

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      Book preview

      Butcher Boy - James Dargan

      BUTCHER BOY

      A NEO-NOIR THRILLER

      Copyright © 2016 by James Dargan

      Published by Danny Boy Books

      Book cover by Majas Nagrad

      Cover photo is public domain from Wiki Commons

      All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof

      may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever

      without the express written permission of the publisher

      except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

      ––––––––

      Organ: A relatively independent part of the body that carries out one or more special functions. Examples of organs include the eyes, ears, heart, lungs, and liver.

      SIRVYDAS' MEATS & POULTRY, EST. 1915

      It's only two weeks till Thanksgiving, and already a snowstorm has hit Metropolisville.

      Abraham Showbiz, 46, unlocks the door to his business with shivering hands, a paper coffee cup in his hand. The business - a small butcher's store on 57th Street, called Sirvydas' Meats & Poultry, nine blocks from downtown Metropolisville - was established in 1915 by Showbiz's grandfather, Žygimantas Sirvydas, a Lithuanian immigrant who arrived in America with a head full of dreams. It's celebrating its fiftieth anniversary this year. Showbiz's father, Jonas Sirvydas, died in 1962, leaving the business to his only child, Abraham. Jonas Sirvydas, it so happens, who had also been the person responsible for changing the family name to 'Showbiz' for reasons he always kept from his son until the end of his life (but was actually after hearing the word on the radio during World War Two). When Abraham Showbiz asked his father for some answers to the riddle when his old man was on his deathbed, Jonas Showbiz said:

      It's always sounded good... Now, son, do your father a favour and look after the business...

      Jonas Showbiz died soon after.

      It had been years since Showbiz had donned his butcher's apron – before the war, in fact, in 1938. He had gone to medical school, where he studied to become a doctor but left after five semesters. He then became an orderly in a hospital. It was in that hospital, the Metropolisville-Jacobson, that he met his future wife, Jane Fairfax. They were married for fifteen years. A divorce followed, one which left Showbiz heartbroken and financially destitute. His father's untimely death wasn't now so untimely – he left his son with the business and $22,000 in the bank. Showbiz had thought long and hard about whether or not he should just sell it, but after a drunken night where he downed two bottles of bourbon in Al's Saloon a block from the store and the tearful walk back to the store in the pouring rain, looking at the sign above the shop was just too much. He didn't want to let his grandfather down. So he decided to keep it.

      Showbiz goes into his office and checks on the accounts before putting on his apron and preparing for the day ahead: he goes into cold storage and takes out a few rump steaks and places them on the counter, before then going back and taking down the half pig that is hanging by a hook. Showbiz lifts it off and places it on his shoulder – he carries it into the warmth of the storefront, places it on the six-foot by two-foot chopping table and begins to cut it up. After he's done that, he returns to cold storage and takes out a tray of pigs' livers. He goes back and forth for half an hour with kidneys, livers, chickens, turkeys, and cold cuts until the whole counter is filled to the brim. Showbiz is ready for business.

      Well hi there, Mrs Ganucci, Showbiz says to one of his best customers – Mrs Ganucci, who only started coming to him after her regular butcher, Ciro Benetton, raised his prices by ten percent, smiles.

      And how are you today, Mr Showbiz?

      All the better for seeing you... What can I getcha on this fine but cold Metropolisville morning?

      You got any of that nice ground pork I bought last week?

      Sure do.

      Three pounds of that and two pounds of your finest chopped chicken livers.

      Whatcha gonna make with that then, Mrs Ganucci? Showbiz says with a smirk.

      Crostini pate.

      Well, mine are the best for that. Showbiz places some brown paper on the scales, leans into the counter and pulls out some chopped chicken livers. He places them on the scales. "Is that enough - two pounds, two ounces?"

      "Yes... Oh, a question, Mrs Ganucci then says, as if remembering she came out of the house with that very question in mind, the colouration of the chicken livers I bought here last week was mixed... Don't think I'm complaining, Mr Showbiz, because I'm not, it's just they looked strange. Light and dark. Is that normal?" his customer says, her arms gesticulating.

      Sometimes, Showbiz begins as he's packing the livers in the brown paper, discolouration can occur in cold storage. Some livers go darker for some reason science has yet to explain... But don't worry, Mrs Ganucci, you and your family are still here, so I see no need to panic...

      Showbiz packs Mrs Ganucci's chicken livers and the ground pork and as she's leaving the bell above the door rings again and another customer enters his kingdom of meat.

      At eight sharp, Paul Potter, late again, comes thundering through the door.

      Sorry I'm late, boss, Potter says.

      "You have been three times already this week... What's the matter with you?"

      It won't happen again.

      Potter

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