Bullets

By Steve Brewer

2003

First Published

3.88

Average Rating

300

Number of Pages

9H09M

Audio Length

“Brewer has created a passel of unique and hilarious characters and thrown them into a page-turning plot that had me laughing out loud despite a hail of bullets.”— Chicago Sun-Times “Think of Hunter S. Thompson meeting James M. Cain meeting . . . James Ellroy to get some sense of what this book is like.”— Mystery News “With characters you love to hate and hate to love, readers will be cheering for the killer-for-hire and the down-on-his-luck former cop who is chasing her.”— Albuquerque Journal When a contract killer bumps off a high roller in a Las Vegas casino, a tangle of romance, gambling, and gunplay follows. The killer, Lily Marsden, is a mysterious and cold woman who is a true professional. But soon, the casino owner, his henchmen, and the victim’s two -brothers are on Lily’s trail. Former Chicago cop Joe Riley is pursuing Lily, too. She cost him his job as a homicide investigator when suspicion of a bookie’s murder fell on him. Joe is certain Lily killed the bookie, and he’s tracked her across the country to Vegas. Throw in some local cops, a playboy, a new widow, a rug merchant, a harridan, and a couple of idiot gamblers named Delbert and Mookie, and the mixture soon boils with intrigue and murder. Add a dash of romance as a strange magnetism develops between Lily and Joe, dust the whole concoction with Steve Brewer’s trademark humor, and you end up with Bullets—a crime novel you won’t soon forget. Steve Brewer spent 22 years in the newspaper business before turning to fiction full-time in 1997. A weekly humor column he writes for the Albuquerque Tribune is distributed nationally by Scripps Howard News Service. He lives in Redding, California with his wife, two sons and a dog named Elvis.

Avg Rating

3.88

Number of Ratings

5 STARS

26%

4 STARS

44%

3 STARS

24%

2 STARS

1 STARS

goodreads

Author

Steve Brewer

Author · 16 books

STEVE BREWER is the author of more than 30 books, including the recent crime novels UPSHOT and COLD CUTS. His first novel, LONELY STREET, was made into a 2009 independent Hollywood comedy starring Robert Patrick, Jay Mohr and Joe Mantegna. Under his pen name Max Austin, Brewer wrote three hard-boiled crime stories set in Albuquerque, NM. The first, DUKE CITY SPLIT, was published by Alibi/Random House in April 2014. DUKE CITY HIT followed in December 2014. DUKE CITY DESPERADO came out in June 2015. Brewer's short fiction has appeared in the several anthologies, and he's published articles in magazines such as Mystery Scene, Crimespree and Mystery Readers' Journal. Brewer has taught at the University of New Mexico, the Midwest Writers Workshop and the Tony Hillerman Writers Seminar. He regularly speaks at mystery conventions, and was toastmaster at Left Coast Crime in Santa Fe, NM, in 2011. He served two years on the national board of Mystery Writers of America, and twice served as an Edgar Awards judge. He's also a member of International Thriller Writers and SouthWest Writers. A graduate of the University of Arkansas-Little Rock, Brewer worked as a daily journalist for 22 years, then wrote a syndicated weekly column for another decade. The column, called The Home Front, produced the raw material for his humor book TROPHY HUSBAND. Married and the father of two adult sons, Brewer lives in Albuquerque, NM. More at www.stevebrewer.blogspot.com. BOOKS BY STEVE BREWER "Lonely Street," 1994, Pocket Books "Baby Face," 1995, Pocket Books "Witchy Woman," 1996, St. Martin's Press "Shaky Ground," 1997, St. Martin's Press "Dirty Pool," 1999, St. Martin's Press "End Run," 2000, Intrigue Press "Crazy Love," 2001, Intrigue Press "Cheap Shot," 2002, Intrigue Press "Trophy Husband," 2003, University of New Mexico Press "Bullets," 2003, Intrigue Press "Fool's Paradise," 2003, UNM Press "Boost," 2004, Speck Press "Sanity Clause," a novella, in "The Last Noel," 2004, Worldwide "Bank Job," 2005, Intrigue Press "Whipsaw," 2006, Intrigue Press "Monkey Man," 2006, Intrigue Press "Payoff," a short story in the anthology "Damn Near Dead," 2006, Busted Flush "Cutthroat," 2007, Bleak House "Limbo," a short story in the Mystery Writers of America anthology "Crimes by Moonlight," 2010, Berkley "Firepower," 2010, Amazon/Smashwords "1500 Rules for Successful Living," 2011, Amazon/Smashwords "Calabama," 2011, Amazon/Smashwords "The Big Wink," 2011, Amazon/Smashwords "Lost Vegas," 2011, Amazon/Smashwords "Party Doll," 2012, Amazon/Smashwords "A Box of Pandoras," 2012, Amazon/Smashwords "Showdown," a short story, 2012, Amazon/Smashwords "Found Money," a short story, 2012, Amazon/Smashwords "Yvonne's Gone," a short story, 2012, Amazon/Smashwords "Cemetery Plot," a short story, 2013, Amazon "Duke City Split," writing as Max Austin, Alibi, 2014 "Duke City Hit," writing as Max Austin, Alibi, 2014 "Duke City Desperado," writing as Max Austin, Alibi, 2015 "Shotgun Boogie," 2016, Amazon "Homesick Blues," 2016, Amazon "Side Eye," 2017, Amazon "Cold Cuts," 2018, Amazon "Upshot," 2020, Amazon