JERRY MASINTON

WRONG MAN DOWN

MURDER FOR HIRE HAS NEVER BEEN SO FUN!

“This first installment of a series introduces a talented hit woman . . . The entertaining novel is full of twists and turns and colorful characters . . . Masinton has a particular knack for dialogue . . . A fun crime tale with an intriguing protagonist.” —Kirkus Reviews

Millie Henshawe—intrepid, smart-talking, gay ex-GI—is the field agent (hired gun) for Continental Removals, LLC, in Boston, a niche firm catering to very special clients. Millie’s well-honed skills are tested when the unexpected happens and the hired gun becomes the target! a license to detect.

Crime farce "Wrong Man Down"
Wrong Man Down

This fun, off-beat, murder mystery introduces wacky, unconventional characters. Millie’s boss Ralph Klammer and his partner Mary Michael Mulloy, who founded Continental Removals around the time of the Vietnam war with Ralph’s mother, Sheila. Their assassin out-fitter and clean-up guy, Mr. Moustakas, Jauncey Chambers, the off-kilter driver for Millie’s first hit who thinks the whole set-up is just like the movies. And then there’s Ray Roth, a sad-sack gambler who leads Millie to an unlikely story and the unsettling truth about the business.

The author keeps the reader guessing with zany zig-zags in the plot, and the dialogue pops with energy and invention. Whether it’s Jauncey’s be-bop cadences, the Mob-speak of thugs, or the high-wire improvisations of Ralph when he, Millie, and Mary Mike get together for postmortems, the punchy dialogue sets a new standard in noir murder mysteries.

Wrong Man Down is the first Millie Henshawe novel in the series.

“Masinton’s whip smart, dynamic heroine, a hired gun, is the driving force behind Wrong Man Down, the first book in the Millie Henshawe series. Gay, self-assured, and with a crackling wit she never hesitates to assert—Millie is an immediate draw for readers. The novel has a compellingly twisty, nicely measured storyline, ultimately delivering a high energy, character-driven work of crime fiction. The prose is top-notch, with succinct, polished descriptions, a balanced approach to exposition, and page-popping dialogue.” The BookLife Prize

“Jerry Masinton’s amazing heroine Millie Henshawe, hired gun and wry observer of the absurd, in complete possession of the intimate knowledge necessary for her deadly work, is the embodiment of a modern ideal—a woman who is disciplined, unimpeded by sentiment or guilt, and fearless. Wrong Man Down with its combination of irony and dark humor is also a great deal of fun.”
—Susanna Moore, author of My Old Sweetheart, In the Cut, The Big Girls, and Miss Aluminum

Author Jerry Masinton
Author Jerry Masinton

Jerry Masinton is a retired English professor who has published critical studies of Christopher Marlowe and J. P. Donleavy. He reviewed books for The Kansas City Star from the mid-1970s to the mid-1990s. He lives in Lawrence, Kansas.

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