Book Blurb:
An unlikely detective duo fights to stop an anarchist plot to bomb the 1916 Preparedness Day Parade in San Francisco.
A year after the 1915 San Francisco World’s Fair, detective Randall Blackburn is still in shock from his own personal tragedy.
His mourning, however, is cut short by a plea for help from City Hall. With the Preparedness Day Parade planned to celebrate America’s coming entry into the Great War, a group of anti-American anarchists is planning to take advantage of the clogged streets to set off a series of bombs that will throw the city into chaos.
While Blackburn tackles the case with traditional methods, Vignette prefers an unconventional approach as an expert lock picker who lives by her own rules. Together, they work to identify the masterminds behind the operation. What they discover will take you through a retelling of history that will keep you guessing until the very end.
Anthony Flacco, an award-winning screenwriter and true crime novelist, brings his two greatest talents together in the Nightingale Detective series. Fans of Devil in the White City will love the intense retelling of one of the greatest unsolved terrorist attacks in US history.
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Editorial Review:
“Knock at his study, where they say he keeps
To ruminate strange plots of dire revenge;
Tell him Revenge is come to join with him,
And work confusion on his enemies.” - Shakespeare
What an incredible quote to use to set the scene for this incredible book. In the initial introduction to this story, we meet Mario Buda, a self-proclaimed Bomb Maker Nonpareil, and from actual historical records, a possible suspect in the San Francisco parade bombing of 1916, as an associate of the Galleanists, a radical anarchist group who called for the direct action and attacks against militarists and capitalists of the United States. Since the parade was organized by local supporters advocating the United States' entry into WWI, this was a prime target for those opposed to the idea. Not only that, but this story is a remarkable reminder of our modern-day as so many innocents are subject to the anarchist machinations of bombers in our own time period... such as the recent bombing at the July 4th parade in Chicago. The bombing portrayed in this book in 1916 is the worst terrorist attack in San Francisco's history.
He had read somewhere, “Death comes to everyone, but a legacy of respect will endure.” Buda had struggled for years in his potentially lethal endeavors to earn the respect paid to him. He so valued his place among other exalted anarchists that his standard line, “I'd rather die than fail,” was used as a joke but was true, nonetheless.
Next, we meet a bold motorcycle-riding suffragette named Vignette Nightingale, whose daring and skillful tactics lend well to her detective work, even as it puts her in great danger. She and her adoptive father, Randall Blackburn, run a detective agency (Blackburn & Nightingale) in the city and are shocked two days before the parade when a young messenger boy is murdered outside of their office, holding a note for Randall from an anonymous person revealing the information of anarchists 'bribing and intimidating their way into power in this city', even into City Hall, itself. Thus, this note leads the two of them into a world of corruption as they investigate the underbelly of the city government and try to stop this anarchist's plot to bomb the parade. Who is really involved in this plot, and are some of the government officials behind this act of terrorism? Needless to say, this plot is thick with dramatic intrigue, political lies and deceit, and interesting historical details (about the Federal Reserve) and you will find yourself not wanting to put it down until you turn the last page.
She loved the feeling of power and freedom that rode with her even though the big bike was dragging problems behind it like a cloud of fumes. This was the third time in a week male drivers noticed her and took umbrage at the sight of a female on a powerful motorcycle. Modern society accepted the swirling skirts of a Gibson Girl as a symbol of “emerging young female independence,” but somehow an actual young female zipping in and out of traffic was an affront to men everywhere. The first few times men on the street took objection to her, they reacted with mere catcalls. But today's attackers raised the ante when they tried to run her off the road. Face it, she told herself, you're too easy to spot.
Working together and using their own unique skills, Randall and Vignette take you on a dangerous maze-like ride through this story, one that will keep you wondering and rushing through the pages until you reach the satisfying end. The characters are well-developed and interesting, and the narrative provides a connective backstory of grief and loss that many readers can relate to on a personal level. A fine example of life in the early days at the brink of WWI as the US transformed from the corseted Victoriana days to the free-styling, fast-paced days plummeting through the war and onward to the jazzy days of the 1920s. If you love thrilling historical mysteries, then this is a must-read!
Because he loved the powerful and utterly distinctive smell to the air after one of his detonations. Knowing all odors are particulate in nature, he frequently made it a point to stroll the scene in the immediate aftermath and deeply inhale while he walked, thus taking in bits of his own explosives into his lungs as well as bits of his victims. There was almost a sexual component to the intimate sensations of the recent dead lining his nostrils in their newly powdered form, tickling his sinuses and coating the back of his throat. - (notation: I included this powerful passage as a stark reminder of how twisted bombers like this are in their thinking and in their actions – just sick monsters; and Mr Flacco does a remarkable job in showing the depth of their depravity which, again, speaks to the author's brilliant writing skills.)
*****
“Vengeance for All Things” receives five stars and the “Highly Recommended” award of excellence from The Historical Fiction Company
Award:
Author Bio:
A New York Times and International Bestselling author, Anthony Flacco was born in Oklahoma and grew up in Colorado Springs, Colorado, one of four brothers. Their father was an Air Force pilot and their mother was a talented artist and painter.
His background as a trained stage actor with over 2,000 performances under his Actors Equity membership provides the primary basis for his critically acclaimed ability to empathize with a wide cross-section of personalities. He moved into screenwriting when he was selected for the prestigious American Film Institute fellowship in Screenwriting and received his MFA in screenwriting there in 1990 after winning AFI's Paramount Studios Fellowship Award for his film script, The Frog's Legacy. He was then selected out of 2,000 entrants for the Walt Disney Studios Screenwriting Fellowship and spent a year writing for the Touchstone Pictures division.
His screenwriting experience drives narrative stories that are visually compelling, whether for a movie theater or the screen of a reader's imagination.
His latest historical thriller series is with Severn River is a reissue of the first highly acclaimed Nightingale series. Books 3 and 4 will be published in 2022-23.
In 1994, his first nonfiction book, A Checklist for Murder, was acquired in auction by Dell Books as a mass-market paperback and turned in solid sales.
Anthony then adapted his book into a screenplay for a two-hour television movie script and sold it to NBC Studios for a movie of the week. For the next several years, he worked as a freelance script doctor and story editor.
During that time, Anthony was hired by the Discovery Channel to write a two-hour documentary entitled Deadly Spree, and his true-crime writing was also featured on a one-hour episode of The Prosecutors for Court TV.
Anthony served as a national Judge for the Illinois Arts Council, writing individual evaluations for over 100 screenplays for their 2003 Writing Awards.
In 2005, with the publication of his nonfiction book Tiny Dancer (St. Martin's Press) the book was selected by Reader's Digest as their Editor's Choice for August 2005 -- which was their 1,000th Commemorative Issue. The book has been internationally acclaimed, and the Kansas City Star named Tiny Dancer "one of the 100 Most Noteworthy Books of 2005." In 2007, the book received Best Seller status in Italy and continues to be popular there with over 300,000 copies sold in that one country.
Back in the U.S., his first two novels of historical fiction are from Ballantine at Random House. The first book, The Last Nightingale, was released in June of 2007 and was one of five nominees for "Best Original Paperback" from the International Thriller Writers Association. The second book, The Hidden Man, was published in June of 2008 and created widespread interest in his historical writing within the publishing community.
In November of 2009, his historical true crime book was released by Sterling Publishing -- The Road Out of Hell: The True Story of Sanford Clark and the Wineville Murders. It won the USA NEWS 2009 Best True Crime Book of the Year.
Publish Your Nonfiction Book (Writer's Digest Books), which Anthony co-authored with literary manager, Sharlene Martin, was also published in 2009.
He wrote NY Times Bestseller, Impossible Odds: The Kidnapping of Jessica Buchanan and Her Dramatic Release by SEAL Team Six published on May 14, 2013, with Atria Books/Simon and Schuster which won the 2013 USA NEWS Best Memoir of the Year. It was optioned by Warner Bros. Studios for Clint Eastwood.
His historical novel, In the Matter of Nikola Tesla: A Romance of the Mind, has been published in the U.S, Italy as "L'Ultimo Segreto di Tesla"," Russia and Estonia.
He is the co-author of TAKING MY LIFE BACK (Revell/Baker, April 2017) with Rebekah Gregory.
In 2022, Severn River Publishing released Anthony's NIGHTINGALE DETECTIVES SERIES:
1. The Last Nightingale
2. The Hidden Man
3. Vengeance For All Things
4. Gold in Peace, Iron in War
He is an experienced public speaker and frequently gives seminars on writing and is a featured speaker for writer's conferences and clubs. He lives in the Seattle area with his wife, Sharlene Martin.
For more information, see www.AnthonyFlacco.com
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