Witness For The Dead

By Michael Fredrickson

Book Overview

Inspired by a true case in Boston, Michael Fredrickson's Witness for the Dead is a powerful and realistic new novel that will be this year's outstanding legal thriller. The Federal Bureau of Investigation is breaking apart Boston's Italian Mafia. The once powerful mob a lead by Larry "The Rabbit" is now in shambles. And the FBI has just brought in Arthur Patch, a young Boston restaurateur whose establishment is well known for its authentic Sicilian cuisine. Arthur might have information that will bring down Larry on a charge of loansharking.But Arthur wants to cut a deal with the Feds, and that deal does not involve betraying The Rabbit." Arthur knows who the FBI's leading informant is, and backed by his lawyer, Jimmy Morrissey, Arthur threatens to let this information become public unless he is given leniency. Morrissey, acting on his own, lets the story slip to the press, and the resulting publicity is blistering. Heads will roll within the FBI and the Boston underworld. And the snitch is on the run.The most powerful mobster in the underworld, and brother to the Governor of Massachusetts, Butchy Crimmins has brought down many powerful men in the Boston underworld. For years, the acknowledged head of the Boston Irish mob has been given free reign by his friends in the Bureau for information against his Italian Mafia counterparts who control parts of the city. That free reign gave Butchy freedom to kill, extort, steal, and kidnap-a reign of terror that has been deliberately ignored by the FBI in its war with La Cosa Nostra.Now Butchy is on the run with his girlfriend, Mavis Reiley with the FBI, the District Attorney, and the criminal underworld of Boston all on his trail. The only way to bring Butchy down is to get Mavis to reveal her whereabouts. If she falls for the trick, who will get there first? And who, if anyone, will survive the collision? AUTHORBIO: Michael Fredrickson is the author of the critically acclaimed A Cinderella Affidavit. He is an attorney for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, in charge of prosecuting other attorneys for legal wrongdoing. He lives in Watertown, Massachusetts. REVIEW: "Fredrickson shows grit and an acute sense of humor as he skewers the entire criminal class system, blue to white collar."-Entertainment Weekly

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0312874472
• ISBN13: 9780312874476
• Release Date: January 2001
• Publisher: Forge
• Length: 384 Pages
• Weight: 1.55 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 6.5" x 9.5"

Customer Reviews

This is my first Amazon review

This is a wonderful book! Fredrickson pioneers a new genre of fiction- a combination of super crime novel and a guide to regional cusine, Sicilian, in this case. You can't think of this book without a reference to food, so I'd say it's like great meal with great company. The plot moves with balance and rhythm from course to course, never hurried, never dawdling. Fredrickson is as unusual a prose stylist as he is a plot designer and so the words themselves provide rich spectrum of textures, tastes, and humorous surprises. As for company, the key characters are literally unforgettable. Each is an interesting individual, yet recognizable as a participant in the rich anthropological stew that is modern Boston. You won't want to put it down, but you won't want it to end.Two final notes. One, this novel is a fictional treatment organized around a true story of FBI complicity in murder. Two, if you care about rescuing greyhounds, Fredrickson's Mavis is your Joan of Arc.