A COP’S WIDOW AND SON FACE A HURRICANE
AND A 30 YEAR OLD MYSTERY
When NYPD Lieutenant Ted Lamont is murdered on the job his family and friends are left with a troubling mystery, until Hurricane Sandy changes their lives forever.
While the former members of Ted’s stakeout squad close ranks and reminisce about the bad old days, his widow Beverly rides out the super-storm in their dream retirement home on the south shore of Long Island, with middle son Sean on watch as a rookie cop in Manhattan. What happens after the floodwaters recede pits Beverly and young officer Sean Lamont against two detectives from internal affairs, the hard-boiled veterans of the stake-out squad, and the mysterious shooter who killed her husband and his father.
East River Trust is a modern day police story with roots that go back to New York’s lawless summer of 1977, when there was widespread rioting and looting during the historic two day city-wide blackout, and fear in the wake of the “Son of Sam” serial murders. That was when the city stood at the precipice of financial default and the officers of the NYPD did what they had to do to bring law and order back to the streets. There was bound to be some fallout for the next generation of cops to deal with …
East River Trust is available as an e-book for your Kindle or iPad, or as a paperback with 246 pages (6X9 inches) at http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00S71GPYE
Cops love this story, perhaps because it was written with some appreciation of two traits which are common among officers of the law: Their trust has to be earned, and — in case you haven’t noticed — they like to stick with their own kind.
So, where did the idea for this story come from?
Well, tales of the NYPD stakeout unit were relayed to me first person, years ago, in vivid detail. And I’ve seen my share of floaters, square groupers and bags full of cash in Coast Guard drug interdiction operations. Even before all that, my Uncle Alby was a sergeant with the Triboro Bridge and Tunnel Authority who was injured when he stopped on his way home to assist officers in a struggle on the bridge. I’ll never forget him telling me about the financial hardships and legal wrangling before his mangled leg was recognized as a line of duty injury.
Fast forward a few decades to when my sister’s house on Long Island’s south shore was fairly destroyed by Hurricane Sandy. Her former husband was a New York City (later Nassau County) officer. So that was the…a ha!…what if?…moment.
Of the books which I have written, this is the one which most makes some readers say this would make a great movie!
So, after I clear some more of these book projects out of my head, maybe I should take a whack at a screenplay!
dscooperbooks 