There are currently 10 books
in the Lou Malloy Crime Series by J. Frank James.
Genres: Action/Adventure,
Crime Fiction, Mystery, Thriller
The Run Begins is the
prequel to the Lou Malloy Crime Series:
Lou Malloy is 18 years old and ready for the
world... but is the world ready for him? His brother Sam has left and his
sister wants to move to Florida with the family. Malloy is having none of it
and on a wild moment decides to hop on a rail car, unsure of where he is going.
The important thing is that he will no longer be in Kansas, but the problem is
that he doesn't have any money. Henry Lowe, who is in the same rail car,
offers Malloy the deal of a lifetime... All he has to do is help Lowe rob a
casino in Georgia. With the promise of a big payday, Malloy throws in with the
scheme and seals his fate forever.
What starts off as a quick way for Malloy to get a
share of $15 million turns into a run for his life. Malloy learns the hard way
that nothing comes easy when you’re alone and your life is about change
forever…
Read how Malloy survives
against all odds in J. Frank James’s next Lou Malloy novel Dead Money Run.
Dead Money Run is the first book in the Lou Malloy Crime Series.
Lou
Malloy learns of his sister's death right before he is released from prison,
having served 15 years for the theft of $15 million from an Indian casino. He
wants two things: to keep the $15 million, which no one has been able to find,
and to track down and punish whoever killed his sister.
Lou
Malloy teams up with Hilary Kelly, a private investigator. In no time, Lou has
found the hidden $15 million, recovered guns and ammunition hidden with the
money, and murdered two low-level mobsters and fed them to the crocodiles.
As
the body count rises, the story grows more complex and his sister's death
becomes more mysterious.
"Dead Money Run is a
hard-boiled thriller. It is a book of short chapters and almost unrelenting
excitement as Lou and Hillary Kelly avoid cops, kill mobsters, and try to
unravel the mystery of who killed Lou's sister and why.” - Reviewed by Wally Wood
at BookPleasures.com
“Fans of James Ellroy and Elmore Leonard are
going to love James’ ingenious capers, devious characters and wry humor. The
entire book goes down like a strong yet smooth shot of bourbon.” - Reviewed by BestThrillers.com
Read an Excerpt
CHAPTER
1
The warden was a small man, but dressed neatly. Everything
about him was neat-from his hair to his shoes. He was almost too neat.
“So what are your plans, Lou?”
When I walked into the room,
the warden turned over a little hour-glass full of sand. We both watched it for
a few seconds and then looked at each other. This was the first time I ever met
the man. What did he care about me now? Since he never cared before, I figured
the man was just looking for information. Perhaps he wanted to give me a
warning. I didn’t say anything.
“Do you ever think about time,
Lou?”
“After fifteen years, what do
you think?” I said.
He smiled and said, “Most
valuable thing we have and no one seems to mourn its passing until it’s too
late.”
I had nothing to say to that.
Conversations with a prison warden came with a lot of maybes. While in prison I
trained myself to watch a man’s hands. If he rubbed his hands in a washing
motion, he was lying. If he messed with his fingernails, he wasn’t interested
in the conversation. The warden was rubbing his hands as if he had touched
something distasteful.
“I haven’t given it a lot of
thought, Warden Edwards.”
“Call me John, Lou. We’re
friends now,” Edwards said while rubbing his hands in a determined kind of way.
So now we were friends. I
wanted to tell him he was a liar, but my better judgment stopped me. Probably a
good way to delay my release-things get lost, papers go unsigned. Things
happen.
“Okay, John,” I said.
“You know, we never found the
fifteen million,” he said.
“I didn’t know you were looking
for it.”
I watched his eyes flicker
briefly. I seemed to hit a sweet spot.
“No, Lou. You misunderstand,”
he said as he caught himself. “There is a reward for the recovery of the money.
Did you know that?”
Edwards said it more as a
statement than a question. I said nothing and waited. Edwards shifted in his
chair and started to rub his hands again.
“It would be in your best
interest to tell them what you know.”
“Who’s the ‘them’ John?” I
asked.
“They’re the people looking for
the money.”
I thought about that for a few
moments. The statement covered a lot of ground.
“Since I didn’t take the money
in the first place, I don’t have anything to tell them. They need to ask the
people that took it,” I said.
Edwards was smiling now and he
stopped rubbing his hands.
“There are some people that
think you do.”
“I can’t help what people
think.”
“Ten percent,” he said.
“Ten percent of what,” I said.
“The money, Lou. Ten percent of
fifteen million is a lot of money.”
“I hadn’t heard about that,” I
said.
“Yeah, it seems the Indian
casino had insurance. The insurance company that paid off on the claim put up a
ten percent reward for the return of the money. A million five is a lot of
money.”
“I hope they find it,” I said.
Edwards blinked his eyes signaling
he was moving on to something else.
“Sorry to hear about your
sister,” he said. “I understand they are doing all they can to find her
killer.”
Edwards was a real card and
running out of things to say. On any other day, in any other place, he would be
dead or wishing he was.
“Thanks, John. Your words are
real comforting,” I said and returned my gaze to the little hourglass and the
sand as it accumulated on the bottom.
I had nothing else to say
except make him happy. Make them all happy. Just one big happy group sitting
around smiling at each other; happy, happy, now let’s just get the money and
spread it all around and we can go on being happy. In the meantime my sister
lies in a hole feeding worms. I had money on the worms being real happy. No word
on how my sister felt.
Edwards looked disappointed
when I didn’t add to our conversation.
“Lou, it might be a good idea
for you to help them find the money. It could be a big windfall.”
Now we were getting somewhere.
Just like all the rest of the treasure hunters, the miserable bastard was just
in it for the money.
“Windfall for who, John? Me or
you?”
As if tasting a lemon, Edwards
twisted his face and, at the same time, waived his hands at an imaginary fly.
“I’m not sure what you mean,
Lou. I’m just trying to give you a head start. If it was my decision, you would
still be with us. Fifteen million dollars is a lot of money to lose.”
“It still is,” I said.
I sat and watched Edwards shift
in his chair some more. We had nothing left to talk about. I could feel him
working out in his mind how he was going to present his failure to get a lead
out of me on the money.
“So, what are you going to do
now?” Edwards said.
Finally, I had enough.
“Leave. Isn’t that what we all
do?”
His smile vanished. He knew he
was wasting his time on someone who had maxed out. He also knew he couldn’t
hold me. There would be no parole violation with the threat to re-incarcerate
me. No work release effort to rehabilitate me. Just a new suit made in the
prison cut and sew area and a hundred bucks was the sum total of it. That
probably hadn’t changed since the 30s. I wondered if Al Capone wore the suit
they gave him when he got out.
We were both looking at the
little hourglass of sand now. The sand had drained from the top of the glass to
the bottom. Suddenly, as if being shot out of a cannon, we both stood up.
Edwards stuck out his hand. I turned and left the room. I didn’t shake his
hand. I didn’t want to touch him.
About the Author:
J. Frank James is the author of crime thriller novels. His crime
fiction books are gripping and suspenseful with readers being unable to put
them down once they get into them. Jim has a passion for writing, and he
certainly has the knowledge and experience to write realistic crime thriller
novels, thanks to his extensive background in law. Jim attended law school,
where he was a member of the law review. He even went on to pass the state bar
and started his own law practice that specialized in complex litigation.
Jim’s experience in law helps lend credibility to his crime
fiction books. Not only that, Jim has traveled extensively and gains
inspiration for his crime thriller novels from his travels. Some of the
countries that Jim has visited include Peru, Brazil, Italy, Greece and
countless others. From observing other cultures and gaining new experiences,
Jim is able to infuse new life into his books and develop believable characters
that readers can identify with.
At present, Jim has published ten crime thriller novels in the Lou Malloy Crime Series. They offer the readers just
enough information to keep them guessing and trying to solve the crimes until
the end of the books when they are actually revealed. Jim’s books provide fresh
and unique takes on crime. They are not the same whodunit type books that have
been done over and over again. By infusing his personal travels into his books,
Jim creates characters and atmospheres based on just enough truth to be
relatable.
Jim’s books have everything in them from robbery to prison to
family. They have hard and soft elements simultaneously to really capture the
life of a hardened criminal who is still very human and struggles with the same
emotions as the rest of society. At the same time, Jim gives the reader
perspectives from private investigators to balance out the story.
Jim’s books even have a hit of romance when his characters come to
care for each other as more than just friends. Then, crime and love mixes to
create a dynamic atmosphere that is even more complicated than ever before
since characters care not only for each other but for their other family
members as well. Jim has an amazing way of incorporating various elements into
his crime novels to create thrillers that readers cannot get enough of. All
four of his books in the series carry on one from the other to continue the
same story concerning the hardened criminal who did 15 years in prison, Lou
Malloy, and who comes to be his partner, private investigator, Hilary Kelly.
The two of them go it together to create gripping stories that keep readers coming
back for more.
Jim is an artist and creates
all of his own book covers.
