Mouthpiece

Book excerpt: Imagine that your father is one of New York City’s top gangsters, and that you want nothing to do with him or his criminal empire. Now imagine he’s been murdered . . . and the only person who gives a damn is you. Meet Mat Lawrence, a stand-up guy—think Gary Cooper—who’s got one thing on his mind: revenge. The last place Mat wants to go is back to New York, but that’s where the killers are, and he won’t stop until they’re dead . . . or he is. And there’s only one man who can help him track them down: his father’s criminal attorney—the Mouthpiece. But there’s more than a desire for revenge at play in this deadly game. When Mat’s old man went down, a million dollars went missing. Put it all together—a cold-blooded murder and a cool million gone—and it’s a pretty good bet that the one thing Mat is sure to find is some serious heat. Mouthpiece was originally published in the September, 1934, edition of Thrilling Detective. That same year, as the youngest writer ever to serve as president of the New York Chapter of the American Fiction Guild, L. Ron Hubbard sought to promote greater accuracy in the writing of detective and mystery stories. To that end he invited the coroner to speak to the Guild members over lunch. He later recounted that “they would go away from the luncheon the weirdest shade of green.” But, we can assume, they also went away better informed. Years later, expanding his studies in the area, Hubbard became a special officer with the Los Angeles Police Department. Also includes the tales of mystery, Flame City, the story of one man’s harrowing attempt to save his father and the city from a serial arsonist; Calling Squad Cars!, in which a police dispatcher goes to extraordinary lengths to bring down a gang of bank robbers after he is accused of working with them; and Grease Spot, the story of a former racecar driver, now the owner of a wrecking company, who plays fast and loose with the police . . . and may have to pay for it. * A Publishers Weekly Listen Up Award Winner