FFB Review: Still River: A Lee Henry Oswald Mystery by Harry Hunsicker

 

For what seems like a month now, several times a week, I have seen ads for the "Oswald Three Pack" which features this great series by Harry Hunsicker. Constantly seeing those ads finally reminded me that it has been quite awhile since I reminded you of the very first book in the series, STILL RIVER: A Lee Henry Oswald Mystery. This great series is the real Dallas, warts and all. My review that first ran over twenty years ago... 

 

 

Lee Henry “Hank” Oswald is a private investigator who walks the mean streets of Dallas, Texas. It begins as a favor for a former fellow high school classmate in the form of Vera Drinkwater. Crying in his office, she tells Hank that her brother Charles (Charlie to one and all) Wesson (two years behind both Vera and Hank in school) is missing and has been for a little less than twenty-four hours. She knows something is wrong. Hank knows at this point, Charlie hasn’t been gone long enough to raise an eyebrow or anything else at the Dallas Police Department. The fact that he is a former addict, allegedly clean and sober now, won’t speed anyone to look for him as in all likelihood, he is off on a binge.

 

Charlie had been a victim all through school both by bullies at school and a stepfather at home determined to make a man out of him one way or another. Hank has memories of those times as well as some guilt as he wasn’t in a position to really help but witnessed enough to have some idea of what Charlie endured. Those memories trigger his need to help and he agrees to make some calls and look for Charlie. It should have been easy enough.

 

But, one thing life has taught him with a name like his in Dallas, nothing is easy and this certainly isn’t. Before long, it turns into a huge mess involving crooked real estate developers, urban renewal in the form of yet another Trinity River project, the Russian mafia, drugs, guns, and wayward relatives. Through it all, Hank keeps going as he digs through the muck of Dallas whether they are rich and famous or the nobodies on the wrong side of the river.

Author Harry Hunsicker’s portrayal of Dallas has absolutely nothing to do with the chamber of commerce ads for the city. This is a hard-edged noirish style Dallas that serves as a backdrop for all sorts of things that no doubt happen on a routine basis and that no one ever talks about. While Still River stumbles at first in terms of clichés, the book builds a steady momentum and before long carries the reader violently along for a very enjoyable read.

Amazon Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/4twTe6F

 

Or go wild and get the entire three book series. Three books at this price is almost like getting one free. https://amzn.to/4szQnbu



Kevin R. Tipple © 2005, 2012, 2019, 2026

 

Weather Update

After face planting in the front yard a few days ago when the cane and I got tangled up, I made a point not to get beyond the dry porch late today when Scott took stuff out to the bins. It was incredibly cold.

Currently, as of 8 PM, we are at 19 at DFW Airport and they say we bottom out at 12. Even though the faucets are on interior walls, I have them open and dribbling so I can hear the money going right down the sinks. As Scott keeps pointing out, it beats a flood and a plumber.

We have power and are very glad about that. Everything is ice covered due to all the sleet. Guessing at this point, we have at least two inches of ice due to all the sleet. Could easily be more. Lot more sleet is inbound tonight.

No pics as I was focused on not falling on the porch. Maybe pics tomorrow.

Guest Post: THE ASSASSINATION WE CAN'T GET ENOUGH OF by Jim Nesbitt

  

Please welcome author Jim Nesbitt back to the blog today with his latest guest post review …

 

 

THE ASSASSINATION WE CAN'T GET ENOUGH OF

 

America is a conspiracy-crazed nation, addicted to the breadcrumbs of "insider information" that only the few are smart enough to suss out, hyped on the latest finger-pointing revelation of shadowy string-pullers manipulating dastardly deeds too many are fervently willing to believe without question.

 

How did we get this way? Don't just blame the rise of social media that can inject a fresh dose of outlandish intrigue from your smartphone right into your brainpan. Look to the mother of all cabals, the malignant fountainhead of dark machinations and evil intrigue, the gateway to America's addiction to conspiracy theories -- the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.

 

JFK's shocking murder in Dallas' Dealey Plaza on November 22, 1963 was one of the first major temblors of the turbulent 1960s. It was a seminal event that ripped a huge rift in America's cultural and political fabric and taught us a searing inaugural lesson about mistrusting our own government, hammered home by the assassinations of JFK's brother, Robert F. Kennedy, and Martin Luther King, Jr. as well as the violent upheaval and unrest caused by the Vietnam War.

 

More than sixty years after those fatal shots rang out, we're still morbidly fascinated, fixated on the question that still remains unanswered for many Americans: who killed John Fitzgerald Kennedy, the nation's 35th president?

 

Author Terrence McCauley shrewdly capitalizes on this eternal interest in JFK's murder with a superbly written historical novel, The Twilight Town: A Dallas '63 Novel, the second in a planned trilogy. It is work firmly rooted in the record, including a prequel novella focused on the squad of Cuban gunmen that fruitlessly awaited Kennedy's arrival in Chicago earlier that year. The book also leans on the most plausible alternatives to the official finding that an overwhelming majority of Americans don't believe -- Lee Harvey Oswald, acting alone, killed Kennedy.

 

McCauley, a talented author of thrillers, Westerns and crime fiction, deftly weaves characters of his creation with the real-life figures of this American tragedy, including former Major Gen. Edwin Walker, a rabid right-wing extremist; Jack Ruby, the transplanted minor mobster and strip club owner who killed Oswald; J.D. Tippit, the Dallas police officer who was gunned down less than an hour after Kennedy's assassination, a murder pinned on Oswald by the Warren Commission; and, George de Mohrenschildt, a Russian-born geophysicist and occasional CIA asset.

 

But it's a smart move to center the narrative on a character of his own creation -- Dan Wilson, an ambitious Dallas police detective seconded to an FBI unit eavesdropping on the cop and criminal patrons of a popular diner. That way, the reader discovers the scattered pieces of this lethal puzzle as Wilson does, meeting the players along the way, both real-life, like Tippit, a fellow Korean War vet styled as Wilson's former partner, and fictional, like Harry Denton, a Dallas cop and sharpshooter who is part of cadre of hard-core segregationists and right-wingers commanded by a hyper-political captain.

 

Wilson, the son of a legendary Texas Ranger named Duke, is trying to parlay his FBI work into a gig as one of J. Edgar Hoover's boys and figures digging up dirt on Walker and his minions is the quickest way to climb this ladder.

 

He also befriends Oswald, turning him into a snitch and trailing him on a gun-running trip to camps in the Louisiana swamps used to train Cuban exiles for a possible sequel to the disastrous Bay of Pigs invasion.

 

The camps are connected to two New Orleans figures who become targets of Orleans Parish DA Jim Garrison's later investigation of JFK's assassination, former Eastern Airlines pilot David Ferrie and former senior FBI agent Guy Banister, both rabid anti-Communists. Oswald spent the summer of 1963 in New Orleans, where he frequently passed out pro-Castro pamphlets printed at the building where Banister's private eye agency was located, which puts his political stance in question.

 

The pace is swift and the action is sudden and often violent, like Wilson's decision to murder one of Walker's key minions after he delivers a not-so-veiled threat toward Wilson's wife, leaving the body on Swish Street, the "pink part" of downtown Dallas.

 

It's a line you don't expect Wilson to cross and when he does, without as much as a blink, you instantly think of James Ellroy's murderous cops and that author's flawed masterpiece, American Tabloid. McCauley skillfully treads some of the same ground but refrains from the juddering and distracting gimmicks to tell a straight, edgy story we think we know but find out we don't.

 

So, let's ask the question again. Who killed Jack Kennedy? The Mob, pissed about Bobby's relentless prosecutions and the botched Cuba invasion? Gen. Walker's right-wing crazies who helped make Dallas a city of hate? How about the CIA, also angry about Cuba and Kennedy's desire to negotiate with the Soviet Union to ease Cold War tensions and get us out of Vietnam.

 

Or, it could have been D, all of the above, a hellish confluence of conspirators, with freelancers and operatives keeping a foot in several camps. McCauley does a masterful job portraying the criss-crossing connections and the swirl of deadly plots with no Mr. Big to rule them all.

 

Take your pick. Remember, though -- none of these players are a sure thing, but all had a reason for wanting Kennedy dead. And if you want to know where McCauley stands, buy his book. And the prequel, Chicago '63, as well as the sequel.

 

 

Amazon Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/4pLE0I2

 

 

 

Jim Nesbitt ©2026 

 

Jim Nesbitt is the award-winning author of five hard-boiled Texas crime thrillers that feature battered but dogged Dallas PI Ed Earl Burch. The fifth Ed Earl Burch novel, THE FATAL SAVING GRACE, has just been released. Nesbitt was a journalist for more than 30 years, serving as a reporter, editor and roving national correspondent for newspapers and wire services in Alabama, Florida, Texas, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Washington, D.C. He now lives in Athens, Alabama, where he is writing his sixth Ed Earl Burch novel, THE PERFECT TRAIN WRECK.

My Reading At Dallas Noir at the Bar Sunday 11/3

Next Sunday, I and a group of far more talented writers, will be reading at the Dallas Noir at the Bar at The Wild Detectives. Things kick off at 7:30 PM. If you are in the Dallas area, I hope you come on out and see us.

For my part, I will be reading an excerpt from my short story, The Hospital Boomerang, published in the anthology, Larceny & Last Chances: 22 Stories of Mystery & Suspense. Published by Superior Shores Press, edited by Judy Penz Sheluk, the read is available in both print and digital formats at Amazon and other vendors.

My short story is a Texas based crime fiction tale set in a small town. Our narrator is a bit bitter and has gone through some things over the years. He also has a bit of a sarcastic streak as he narrates the story.

If you can’t make it out, or just want to whet your appetite for it, I posted an excerpt from it earlier this year here on my blog.

I also discussed the story and what I was trying to do in it at Art Taylor’s The First Two Pages back in June. You can read that piece here.

Folks that have read it, seemed to like the story, as it has gotten positive praise. That includes author Rob Lopresti who reviewed it on his Little Big Crimes blog.

I hope to see you there.

Upcoming Dallas Noir at the Bar

In two weeks, I and a group of far more talented writers, will be reading at the Dallas Noir at the Bar at The Wild Detectives. Things kick off at 7:30 PM. If you are in the Dallas area, I hope you come on out and see us.

Review: The Life and Death of Rose Doucette: A Novel by Harry Hunsicker

The Life and Death of Rose Doucette: A Novel by Harry Hunsicker brings readers to Dallas, Texas, and private investigator Dylan Fisher. His ex-wife asked to meet a bar in a certain hotel. They have not seen each other in three years, and while it has been a long time, neither is ready to forgive.

 

While he left the force a few years ago, Rose is still a homicide detective with the Dallas Police Department. From the first look at her, he can tell things are off with her. Further proof is the fact that she wants to hire him. She’s willing to do that because she is scared. A 20-year officer with the DPD is scared over a case.  She had a gunshot victim, white guy, early 40’s, was found dead in a cabana out by the pool at the same hotel they are meeting at today.

 

The dead man was Josh Gannon. He had been out of Huntsville for a few days. He had no income, no job, and no reason to be staying at an expensive hotel. He was shot in the chest. From the top down, the DPD brass want her to call it a suicide and let it go. So does the staff of the hotel who made sure to clean up all the evidence anything happened. She’s been pulled off their case. She wants to hire Fisher to find the killer. As they discuss the scene, the hotel manager and security show up to boot them off the property.

 

She was already mad at Fisher for the direction of the conversation, and getting booted off the property despite her badge, is the last straw. She takes off and Dylan realizes that she is being followed. He gets in his car and follows. He keeps following and trying to reach her on her cell phone and getting voice mail. He trails her to the Northeast Dallas police substation where he is in time to see her killed.

 

Arrested as a suspect, because he has her blood on him as he tried to save her, it gives a chance for old enemies on the force to go after him. Some would love to see him in state prison and are not going to do anything but help it happen. Obviously, he isn’t going to let that happen. Before long, he and people he cares about are in deep to their eyeballs in a mess that goes back decades.

 

As one expects from a Henry Hunsicker book, it is a complicated and mighty good read. Not only is the The Life and Death of Rose Doucette: A Novel a superb mystery, it is full of Dallas area landmarks. References that are often not positive and may bring a snicker while delighting those of born and raised in this city. A city where not everything is golden and good. A great read and well worth your time.

  

Amazon Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/3YeeCPF

  

 

My reading copy came as an ARC by way of Oceanview Publishing through NetGalley.

  

Kevin R. Tipple ©2024

Update

The flickering with the power seems to have mostly subsided. We got out a little while ago and got down to our local Kroger which was packed. Looked like the aftermath of an ice storm as around half of the shelves in the meat, dairy, and frozen foods were empty with other empty shelves scattered throughout the place. 

Forecast is for isolated storms this weekend. As always, any story can be severe. 

Numerous trees remain heavily damaged, many are down, and a lot of power lines seem to have come lower than they were. At least we can get out of the neighborhood now. 

Back Online-For Now

If you saw the news about the weather in Dallas Tuesday morning, you know the city got blasted almost as bad as Houston did a couple of weeks ago. We did not have power for over 34 hours. It came on late yesterday afternoon, and then went out for a while overnight. It is on today and the internet is back. How long this holds, I have no idea, as we have heard transformers blow now and then and there is a storm line headed in that should hit around midday. 

I got sick from the heat yesterday, and am generally, in bad shape. Things are going to be slow in getting back to normal around here. 

But, in good news to this point, Scott is fine, the house is intact, the old big tree stayed upright, and we missed the hail and the possible twister that came through the area. 

Hopefully, things stay the same. With Texas weather, one never knows. 

Guest Post: Barracuda Backfire Inspirations by Tom Milani

Please welcome Tom Milani back to the blog today with a guest post on his novella, Barracuda Backfire. This is the fourth novella in the Chop Shop series created and edited by Michael Bracken. This installment of the Dallas, Texas, based series comes out on April 1^st exclusively on Amazon for the Kindle. You can read more from Tom in his guest posts about a story for Black Cat Weekly (Issue 78) here as well as his story in Groovy Gumshoes: Private Eyes in the Psychedelic Sixties anthology here.

 

Barracuda Backfire Inspirations

 

My friend John once owned a Plymouth Barracuda, an early model with a wraparound rear window and a fold-down rear seat. He told me that a few weeks after he sold it, he drove to the new owner’s house and got behind the wheel. The owner came out. “You miss your car,” he said.

 

That story has stuck with me because it’s a reminder of the attachments we have to our firsts—cars, loves—and how they can achieve an outsize importance in our memories. Their faults fade from from our recollections until all that remains is an idealized version that never existed.

 

When Michael Bracken invited me to pitch an idea for Chop Shop, a series of novellas set in Dallas and featuring Huey’s Auto Repair, I knew what car my story would involve—a Plymouth Barracuda like my friend’s—and what the theme would be—first loves and their holds over us.

 

Early on, I decided to structure the story with two timelines, one set in 1976, the other in 2021. I thought I had a good setup. The only problem—I knew nothing about Dallas. Enter my friend Chris, who grew up in Texas. I offered to buy him coffee in exchange for some of his memories. I got the better end of the deal.

 

He showed up with three maps of the Dallas area and proceeded to tell me what each neighborhood was like in the 1970s and now. He knew which auto parts stores were prominent then and which beers kids drank. I took notes as fast as I could. As an afterthought, I asked him if people drag raced then.

 

“Oh, yeah,” he said. “Forest Lane.”

 

That led me to an online article on the history of Forest Lane as a site for cruising teenagers. The details in the article, and those from my other research, informed the drag race scene in the story.

 

About that race … I knew that Billy Wright, my protagonist, would be racing his car against Skip Parker. The question became what would Parker be driving? Among the cars featured in the January 1965 issue of Motor Trend, which I found for sale on Amazon, were a Ford Mustang 2+2 and a Plymouth Barracuda. The article had quarter-mile times and speeds for each vehicle, along with a host of driving impressions. Now I had Skip’s car.

 

I’ve talked about the car, but there was also a girl involved: Veronica Valdez. This inspiration for her isn’t as clear cut, but my memories do play a role.

 

I am grateful to Michael Bracken for including me in this fantastic series. At one point during the writing, I saw how all the pieces of the story would fall together, and I began to get excited about putting it out into the world.

I hope you have as much fun reading it as I did writing it.

 

Amazon Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/3TOmDtq 

 

 

Tom Milani ©2024

 

Tom Milani’s short fiction has appeared in Groovy Gumshoes: Private Eyes in the Psychedelic Sixties, Illicit Motions, Black Cat Weekly, and Urban Pigs Press. Barracuda Backfire will be out on April 1, 2024. His website is https://www.tommilani.com/

TONIGHT: Noir at the Bar DALLAS

Tonight we read at Noir at the Bar Dallas at  The Wild Detectives at 314 W 8th St in Oak Cliff. We are scheduled to read from 7 to 9 PM. It should be a great night. Hope you come out.

Sunday Evening

Health permitting, and that is really questionable at this point as I have felt bad all week, I will be reading. 

TONIGHT: Noir at the Bar DALLAS

 

Tonight we read at Noir at the Bar Dallas at  The Wild Detectives at 314 W 8th St in Oak Cliff. We are scheduled to read from 7 to 9 PM. It should be a great night. Hope you come out.

One Week Out: Noir at the Bar Dallas!

One week until Noir at the Bar Dallas returns to The Wild Detectives at 314 W 8th St in Oak Cliff. We are scheduled to read from 7 to 9 PM. It should be a great night. Hope you come out. You do not get too many chances to fully experience "Tipple After Dark." This is one of those rare occasions. 

Two Weeks From Tonight: Noir at the Bar Dallas Returns!

Two weeks from tonight, Noir at the Bar Dallas returns to The Wild Detectives at 314 W 8th St in Oak Cliff. We are scheduled to read from 7 to 9 PM. It should be a great night. Hope you come out. You do not get too many chances to fully experience "Tipple After Dark." This is one of those rare occasions. 

Two Weeks From Tonight

 

Dallas Storms

We are okay. As I write this just before 9 PM, the last couple of hours have been pretty hairy across the area. It is still raining. We have power though it has flickered and nearly gone out a lot. Many do not and there is a lot of damage around the City as well in other nearby areas. 

I have yet to make it outside to check the cars or roof as the rain and wind continues. I do see numerous branches down in the back yard and stuff in the front yard from the trees of neighbors. 

My nerves are shot. 

10:15 PM Update-- Despite the fact that it is still raining a little bit here, my cane and I have made our way around the house. I can't see much in the beam of my flashlight, but the roof looks okay. I will know better in the morning when the sun is up. Supposed to light rain off and on all night with a wind advisory for winds of 25-50 all night. 

Down The Not So Mean Street

 

Scott and I outside and walking the street earlier today as it was in the low 80s here.

Driving Here

 

Dallas Weather

First and foremost, thank you to the dozen or so folks who reached out to make sure we are okay. We are and it was good that we did not have to go out today. 

When I was a kid, the old timers used to say you end a drought with a flood. Well, the floods came today as rains of anywhere from six inches to more than a foot hit last night and today. A couple of the nearby city run rain gauges have clocked in more than 15 inches and more than 12 inches. It absolutely poured. 

Rain is in the forecast all week, but the chances of rain are low and nothing like what we just went through is in the forecast. I have a doctor appointment early tomorrow afternoon and am hoping for dry pavement for my feet and my cane as wet surfaces cause bad things to happen for me. 

Dallas Fires

As some folks have reached out, please know we are fine, and nowhere near the fires. The wildfire that took out homes shown on television everywhere this afternoon and evening was down in Balch Springs. Southeastern part of the area. We are in the far NE side of Dallas. 

We had small wildfires here nearby and are safe from them as well tonight. 

We also were nowhere near Love Field Airport today which ABC National News described as being outside the city limits. Nope. I think they got Love Field mixed up with DFW. Just pathetically wrong on that and several other things in their reporting on that story. Once again makes me wonder what else was wrong on stories in other places.

Anyway, we are okay and pretty much the same as always. Taking precautions for the heat and the rising Covid case count as well as the worsening monkeypox deal. Both Scott and I are missing Sandi a lot right now. It comes in waves and this is one of those big waves times. Reading a lot and trying to stay cool.