Boomtown

By: A. F. Carter

Narrated by: Amy McFadden, Cody Roberts

Police captain Delia Mariola is still struggling to drive the predatory drug dealers from the rustbelt town of Baxter, before the new Nissan plant owners lose faith in this forgotten corner of America. It doesn't help that a boomtown has grown up just outside of city limits—a wild west designed to feed every unsavory desire of the workers building the plant. And like vultures homing in on the weak, criminal gangs from the big cities have also been drawn to the boomtown, knowing how freely money will flow to those willing to supply drugs and women to these workers far from home, looking for comfort and distraction. With no police actively enforcing the rule of law in the unregulated town, the criminals have turned on each other as they try to claim control.

In the midst of this drug war, a young prostitute's body turns up on the streets of Baxter. Hoping this might be the case that allows her to finally be able to crack down on Boomtown, Delia is relentless in her pursuit of the killer and the group she believes is behind the criminal enterprises plaguing her streets. But Delia isn't the only person looking for the murderer. Two strangers have arrived in town, claiming to be the family of the deceased and possibly looking for a version of justice that has more to do with back hills vigilantism than the court of law.

©2023 A. F. Carter (P)2023 HighBridge, a division of Recorded Books

Atmosphere Atmosphere Atmosphere

Cannot get enough of the hardscrabble Midwestern rust-belt town of Baxter, where even positives like the construction of a new Nissan plant just open new prospects for murderers and mooks, Captain Delia Mariola knows her stuff, but somehow I don’t think Baxter will ever be *too* clean, and that’s how I like it.

Amy McFadden and Cody Roberts did a good job of creating and differentiating voices for a wide range of characters with varying degrees of emotional damage and menace, not easy when practically everybody in Baxter is hard boiled to begin with. They were good company, and I thoroughly this book.