Authentic Police Cases #22

Born into a legacy of violence, Danny Daugherty follows his father's criminal footsteps—only faster and harder. After his release from reform school at twenty-one, Danny plunges into organized crime with a crew run by Tony Velano, proving himself as ruthless and capable as the father he never knew. But when Danny's ambitions clash with the mob's control, he's forced to flee and reinvent himself in Detroit, where new opportunities and new enemies are waiting.

When a smaller, weaker garage worker named Curly Burke is arrested for shooting two men—one fatally—he claims self-defense against a bully, but the case grows complicated as the injured man regains consciousness and tells a very different story. As the District Attorney pieces together what really happened between Burke, his employers, and the woman they both seemed to care for, the truth behind whether this was manslaughter or murder hangs in the balance. A tense manhunt unfolds when Burke escapes custody, driven by a twisted need for revenge that puts everyone he knows in danger.

George R. Black runs a ruthless criminal operation in Detroit, using debt and intimidation to turn desperate men into thieves—but his luck finally runs out when Detective Sergeant Ward Hawley gets pulled into the scheme. As Black's network of stolen goods expands from warehouse raids to armed hijackings, the walls begin to close in on the fence who's always stayed hidden behind his pawns.

When a hotel fire reveals the work of a serial arsonist, detectives Dick and Chief launch an investigation across state lines using witness descriptions and the arsonist's distinctive M.O.—a cigarette-and-match fuse device hidden beneath curtains. As the "firebug" resurfaces in San Francisco, law enforcement closes in on a man with a grudge and a dangerous plan for revenge. This taut crime story from *Authentic Police Cases* #22 shows how modern detective work and coordinated police networks can stop an arsonist before the next blaze claims victims.

A decent kid's envy over his friends' new cars leads him to Harry Blue's used car lot, where Blue's generous offer of a vehicle sets a deadly trap—the car is stolen, and Bob is now complicit in a criminal enterprise. As Blue and his gang force the boy deeper into their car-theft operation, Bob discovers the true cost of the life they're drawing him into, and must reckon with the violence that comes with it.