Interlude: Press Release For JB Kohl and Eric Beetner's New Book

PRESS RELEASE

One Too Many Blows To The Head marks the debut collaboration of authors JB Kohl and Eric Beetner. This taut and gritty Noir takes place amid the seedy world of fixed fights and mob influence. Uniquely, it features two first-person narratives as we follow the intertwining story of the hunter and the hunted.

From the jacket:

Kansas City, 1939.

In a world of fixed fights and mob influence Ray Ward and his brother Rex are two of the only clean fighters in town. With Ray in the corner and Rex in the ring they are headed for the big time. Until that fateful night. Now Ray has a score to settle using a lifetime of lessons in how to fight back.

Dean Fokoli is a detective with a new partner, an alcoholic wife and a guilty conscience. At least the boxer on the radio who just got beat to a pulp won’t end up in his homicide file. But when the dregs of the crooked fight world start turning up dead, Fokoli is on the hunt for the killer. The chase will take him to the underbelly of the Kansas City night and hopefully keep him one step ahead of his past. One Too Many Blows To The Head is a razor-edged story of revenge, redemption and what happens when you confront the ghosts of the past.

It has garnered praise from Edgar Award winning author Megan Abbott:

“One Too Many Blows to the Head feels like a long-lost pulp you find in a favorite bookstore. A delicious mix of classic hardboiled grit and the heart-heavy world of film noir, it’s a one-sitting read that sends you back to a lost time of fight halls, Chicago boys and last chances.”

Megan Abbott, author of Bury Me Deep and Queenpin

Author Steve Brewer had this to say:

“Boxing and noir once went hand in glove, but you don't see many boxing novels anymore, and hat's a shame. Here's one that dredges up all the blood and spit and sweat and money of the fight game. and wraps it around a tough noir storyline full of revenge and dark secrets. Kohl and Beetner get it exactly right.”

Steve Brewer, author of Cutthroat and 15 other crime novels

They’re even talking about it across the pond. British author Nick Quantrill says:

“Razor sharp debut from noir partnership Beetner and Kohl. From its first savage punch, the dark world of organised crime and boxing grips and refuses to let you go. Highly recommended.”

Nick Quantrill, author of Broken Dreams

About the authors:

JB Kohl and Eric Beetner have never met. They live on opposite coasts and completed their collaboration entirely via email. They haven’t even spoken on the phone.

When JB wrote Eric in his capacity working with the Film Noir Foundation a friendship was born. When he read her debut novel The Deputy’s Widow, he wrote to tell her how much he enjoyed it and sent along a sample of his own writing that has been circulating the crime fiction webzines. She was hooked and asked if he would ever consider collaborating on anything. They took the first few tentative steps with nothing to lose and it all came so easily that before long an entire novel was finished. They are currently at work on the sequel as well as their own soloprojects.

JB is currently finishing her sequel to The Deputy’s Widow, featuring her character Det. Hamilton Baker. She left behind a career in medicine and the plains of Nebraska to pursue writing and now lives in Virginia with her husband and three children. More information about her work can be found at jbkohl.com.

Eric continues to churn out short stories and is shopping two solo novels. He works as a film and TV editor in Los Angeles and has written screenplays and teleplays over the years as well as writing and directing the award winning short film Taking Your Life. He lives with his wife and two daughters. More about Eric’s writing can be found at ericbeetner.blogspot.com, which features links to his short stories and his film making ventures.

For information on the authors, to set up interviews or request review materials, please email: ericbeetner@ca.rr.com

One Too Many Blows To The Head is released by Second Wind Publishing’s Dagger Books series.