Having grown up in late-sixties South Central Los Angeles, Gary Phillips vividly recalls stories of what happened to brothers who ran afoul of the “polices” of the 77th Division. Small wonder that in his teens he organized against police abuse, later became active in the antiapartheid movement, was down against the contras, did duty as a labor rep, worked for a political action committee, and taught incarcerated youth. So of course matters of race, class, and the social fabric, along with ...

Race and civil rights in 1963 Los Angeles provide a powerful backdrop in Gary Phillips’s riveting mystery about an African American crime scene photographer seeking justice for a friend—perfect for fans of Walter Mosley, James Ellroy, and George Pelecanos.LOS ANGELES, 1963: Korean War veteran Harry Ingram earns a living as a news photographer and occasional process server: chasing police radio calls and dodging baseball bats. With racial tensions running high on th...

Magrady is a semi-homeless Vietnam veteran searching for a wheelchair-bound friend who has gone missing from Skid Row: a friend who might be involved in a dangerous scheme against major players. Magrady's journey is a wild tour where the flashback-prone protagonist must deal with the impact of gentrification, take-no-prisoners community organisers, an unflinching police officer from his past in Vietnam, an elderly sexpot who is chasing him, a lusted-after magical skull and the perils of ch...

Some stories are all about the crime. These stories are about the maelstrom of what happens after...A hard-bitten crew of professional thieves pull off the score of their lives, coming away with seven million in cash. Like any heist there are some unforeseen complications, and unfortunately they don’t get away without a few bodies dropping. But despite this, they get away with the swag. Seven million. Enough to change their lives, make new identities, start fresh. ...

**Black private eye Ivan Monk’s search for a connection between three Black men murdered in Los Angeles leads to the unraveling of a white supremacist conspiracy that spans the West Coast.The mystery series that launched Gary Phillips's career.**Robert “Scatterboy” Williams is a small-time hustler selling bogus Cartier watches in Pacific Shores, a port city south of Los Angeles. One day, he’s gunned down in the street, seemingly at random. Then drug dealer Ronny Aaron is sh...

Inspired by recent true events, the all-original stories in Witnesses for the Dead are set in motion by the act of witnessing. The characters who populate these pages are not themselves the perpetrators of crimes, but find their lives indeliblychanged by what they see as they grapple with coming forward, taking action, or retreating into the shadows.In “Envy” by Christopher Chambers, a sweet, shy wallflower looks on as something horrific happens in his neighborhood—revealing...

Acclaimed crime novelist Gary Phillips (THE JOOK, Vertigo's ANGELTOWN and COWBOYS) returns to BOOM! with a new brand of crime! High finance and low-down greed rear their ugly heads as Jeff Sinclair, the premiere laundryman in San Francisco -- and we're not talkin' wrinkled jeans and dirty gym socks -- is unwillingly pulled into a dangerous gig laundering $25 million in stolen casino skim money. Forced to truly consider his line of work and the evil that he facilitates, Jeff must find a way...

When Black private eye Ivan Monk takes on a case in a housing project in South Los Angeles, he finds himself facing off with corrupt police and gang members—and indicted for murder.Heat is building in the Rancho Tajuata Housing Projects—and not just because it's summer in L.A. When a Mexican family is killed by a firebombing, local rage threatens to grow out of control. The pressure is on to solve this case quickly to help deescalate the tense situation.At ...

Private eye Ivan Monk takes on his most personal mystery to date—and chases answers deep into America’s haunted past.Long ago, Marshall Spears was a hero of the ballpark. In a time when baseball—and the nation—was segregated, he played in the vaunted Negro Leagues.Decades later, Old Man Spears is living out his days as a fixture in a barbershop in South Central.One afternoon, PI Ivan Monk—a shop regular—learns that Spears’s former teammate was Kennesaw Riles. From f...

After a fatal firebombing, gangsters hire Ivan Monk to prove them innocent.The Cruzado family wakes in the middle of the night, their lungs burning with smoke. Staggering out of bed, the father tries to rally his family to escape their house. When his daughter and mother don't make it onto the lawn, he goes back in for them, never to return. This small housing development bungalow was supposed to be a new start for the Cruzados. Instead it became a tomb. The logica...

Gifted drifter Ned Noc” Brenner, adept at MMA fighting, motocross riding to blitz chess, finds himself teamed with others of specialized skills to prevent a super villain from unleashing an anti-gravity device that would rain down death on untold millions. It all came so easy to Noc before, now he might just loose his life to prevent wholesale destruction.

**The mystery that launched Gary Phillips's career: Black private eye Ivan Monk investigates the murder of a Korean shop owner in the aftermath of the 1992 Los Angeles riots.This reissued edition features an introduction by Walter Mosley.**In 1992, Los Angeles burned. In the aftermath of the Rodney King beating and subsequent riots, a ground-breaking ceremony at the infamous intersection of Florence and Normandie unearths the body of a Korean shop owner. Black private eye I...