Brad Dolan's Back Country Warfare

The Brad Dolan Mysteries, Book 1

By: William Fuller

Narrated by: Raymond Kallai

Just north of Lake Okeechobee in central Florida, Brad Dolan’s Ford goes bad. He pulls in for repairs, finds a sack for the night, then goes out for a drink and maybe some action with the dice... All routine enough, except that Brad Dolan is no ordinary guy, and the town is Carterville, no ordinary town.

It’s back-country: jukes fronting for gambling joints, bootleg whisky, sporting houses, cockfights—everything to take a man’s mind off his own troubles. Down here, Dolan finds out, a man can be rubber-hosed for buying a drink for a blonde who’s made a pass at him. A man named Bingo gives the orders, and a country-sheriff jumps.

Brad Dolan and Carterville don’t mix. Then Dolan hears an innocent man is being framed and is set for a lynching. Dolan’s tired of being pushed around—and seeing others being pushed around. He’s decided to do some pushing himself.

This noir thriller is about a guy named Brad Dolan, whose scars run deep. He thought he’d worn out his conscience at Guadalcanal, Bastogne, Inchon Reservoir, and in a New York apartment, where a restless model forgot she was his wife. Now he’s drifting deep in back country Florida, the part you never see on the travel posters. Down here everything belongs to a man named Ringo—the jukes, the sheriff, the hustlers. Now Ringo wants to own Dolan.

But Dolan comes high!

©2023 William Fuller (P)2024 William Fuller

Critic reviews

“Swiftly paced, extraordinary.” —Long Beach California Press-Telegram

“A well-written story, startling for it characterization” —Pasadena California Independent

“Literate, hard-paced violence, remindful of James M. Cain. The Florida background could only have been written by a man who has lived there. Brad Dolan is believably tough, mentally as well as physically.” —Brett Halliday, creator Mike Shayne

Good Storytelling

This high quality mystery is told with lively storytelling, vibrant characters and exceptional dialogue. The narrator does a great job bringing all the varied personalities to life.