The Poisoned Rose

Judson creates a world of great mystery in which Mac lives in. I felt I became part of the actual story of whata was going on. It's a gripping book that you will not want to put down, reading it from front to back as quick as you can! I recommend this to anyone with a love with mysteries....

Shamus nominated (PBO), "The Poisoned Rose by D. Daniel Judson is a dark, hard-boiled, noir novel of what could have been, what is, regret, guilt and mayhem.Part time PI Declan MacManus is morose, somber, troubled---his world is bleak and fueled by alcohol and vegetarian fare. At his core he is a decent guy who abhors injustice and is fiercely loyal to his limited number of friends.A killer, the police chief and the past are after him---and who is the mastermind manipulating all this?The whodunit turns on the past haunting the present---but more than a superb whodunit, the story is the mystery of MacManus.Flowing with action, fast paced, a multi-colored cast of lawbreakers, "The Poisoned Rose" is perpetual motion. Mr. Judson's prose is lean and economical and the plot is completely unpredictable.I finished it in less than twenty-four hours---could not put it down.

This prequel/sequel to The Bone Orchard makes good on all the promise of that first book featuring Declan MacManus. In moody, lyrical prose, Judson takes us through Mac's boozy recollection of a bewildering night spent with a woman named Rose. A dreamlike interval, it is ultimately pivotal to this second outing for hard-drinking, vegetarian Mac and his friend, just as hard-drinking, retired DEA agent--the inimitably lovable Augie.When the pair are asked to discourage a young man from seeing a certain unnamed young woman by the darkly omnipotent Frank Gannon, big wheel in small-town Southampton, all hell breaks loose. Murder and menace of every conceivable variety are central to a plot so confoundingly complex that it's impossible to predict a single moment of this beautifully executed, breakneck-paced novel. The writing is as lean and lonely as Mac himself--perfectly complimentary, something rarely achieved.This book is a knock-out, dealing as it does with the ugly inner machinations of wealthy families and the fallout on the children, as well as on those who must come along to perform damage control. The barely-contained energy of the prose provides a driving narrative that doesn't let up for a moment. It is un-put-downable, gripping, and oddly rewarding.Most highly recommended.

He lives in a quiet little Long Island town that is home to the rich and famous but booms during the summer season. There is a clear class division year round between the rich and the working stiffs like Declan MacManus, a man barely making ends meet, who is drunk more than he is sober. Frank Gannon, a powerful private detective in the area, hires Mac and pairs him up with Augie to deal with a man who promised to stay away from a girl but broke his word.When they catch up with the young man, they witness him being killed by professional hitmen. They follow them but the professional thugs escape while Augie gets injured and Mac saves their lives. Augie becomes Mac's new friend and the two work on cases for Frank until they can get a line on the killers. Neither Mac nor Augie realize they are the fall guys in a serpentine plot orchestrated by one of the town's most prominent families and the chief of police.There are so many twists and turns in the POISONED ROSE that the audience will feel obsessed to read it in one sitting; that is if they want to find out who is the manipulator and who is the manipulated. Mac is a man with many flaws and failings but when the chips are down he is a man a friend can count on. He is in essence of a hero in every sense of the word. Daniel Judson is an expert at writing novel crime thrillers.Harriet Klausner