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Duke Rogers PI #2
Broken Windows
While the storm rages over California’s notorious 1994 anti-illegal alien Proposition 187, a young woman climbs to the top of the famous Hollywood sign—and jumps to her death. An undocumented day laborer is murdered. And a disbarred and desperate lawyer in Venice Beach places an ad in a local paper that says: “Will Do Anything For Money.” Private Detective Duke Rogers, and his very unPC partner, Jack Riggs, must figure out what ties together these seemingly unrelated incidents. Their mission catapults them through a labyrinth of murder, intrigue and corruption of church, state and business that hovers around the immigration debate. Along the way we explore the fiery immigration issue from all sides and no one escapes unscathed.
358 pages, Paperback
Published May 2, 2018
4 people are currently reading
81 people want to read
About the author
Paul D. Marks
26 books132 followersPaul D. Marks is the author of award-winning Mystery-Thrillers about imperfect or flawed people trying to do the right thing in a corrupt and unjust world.
He is the author of the Shamus Award-Winning mystery-thriller White Heat. Publishers Weekly calls White Heat a “taut crime yarn.” Betty Webb of Mystery Scene Magazine calls its sequel Broken Windows “Extraordinary”. Though thrillers and set in the 1990s, both novels deal with issues that are hot and relevant today: racism and immigration, respectively. Marks says “Broken Windows holds up a prism from which we can view the events burning up today’s headlines, like the passionate immigration debate, through the lens of the recent past. It all comes down to the saying we know so well, ‘the more things change, the more they stay the same’.”
His short story Ghosts of Bunker Hill was voted #1 in the 2016 Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine Readers Poll. His story Windward was selected for the Best American Mystery Stories of 2018 by Louise Penny and Otto Penzler, and won the 2018 Macavity Award for Best Short Story. His stories have won or been nominated for multiple awards. He has also been published in Beat to a Pulp, Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine, Switchblade, Hardboiled and more. www.PaulDMarks.com
(Subscribe to Paul’s newsletter: http://pauldmarks.com/subscribe-to-my... -- and check him out on Facebook: facebook.com/paul.d.marks )
He is co-editor of the multi-award nominated anthology Coast to Coast: Private Eyes from Sea to Shining Sea. Two stories from which were chosen for The Best American Mysteries of 2018 and one received a Macavity Award that year.
Though Paul writes about other places, he considers himself an L.A. writer and lives in the Los Angeles area with his wife, dogs and cats. He has served on the board of the L.A. chapter of Sisters in Crime and currently serves on the board of the SoCal chapter of Mystery Writers of America.
He also has the distinction, dubious though it might be, of being the last person to have shot a film on the fabled MGM backlot before it bit the dust to make way for condos. According to Steven Bingen, one of the authors of the well-received book MGM: Hollywood’s Greatest Backlot: “That 40 page chronological list I mentioned of films shot at the studio ends with his [Paul D. Marks’] name on it.”
He is the author of the Shamus Award-Winning mystery-thriller White Heat. Publishers Weekly calls White Heat a “taut crime yarn.” Betty Webb of Mystery Scene Magazine calls its sequel Broken Windows “Extraordinary”. Though thrillers and set in the 1990s, both novels deal with issues that are hot and relevant today: racism and immigration, respectively. Marks says “Broken Windows holds up a prism from which we can view the events burning up today’s headlines, like the passionate immigration debate, through the lens of the recent past. It all comes down to the saying we know so well, ‘the more things change, the more they stay the same’.”
His short story Ghosts of Bunker Hill was voted #1 in the 2016 Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine Readers Poll. His story Windward was selected for the Best American Mystery Stories of 2018 by Louise Penny and Otto Penzler, and won the 2018 Macavity Award for Best Short Story. His stories have won or been nominated for multiple awards. He has also been published in Beat to a Pulp, Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine, Switchblade, Hardboiled and more. www.PaulDMarks.com
(Subscribe to Paul’s newsletter: http://pauldmarks.com/subscribe-to-my... -- and check him out on Facebook: facebook.com/paul.d.marks )
He is co-editor of the multi-award nominated anthology Coast to Coast: Private Eyes from Sea to Shining Sea. Two stories from which were chosen for The Best American Mysteries of 2018 and one received a Macavity Award that year.
Though Paul writes about other places, he considers himself an L.A. writer and lives in the Los Angeles area with his wife, dogs and cats. He has served on the board of the L.A. chapter of Sisters in Crime and currently serves on the board of the SoCal chapter of Mystery Writers of America.
He also has the distinction, dubious though it might be, of being the last person to have shot a film on the fabled MGM backlot before it bit the dust to make way for condos. According to Steven Bingen, one of the authors of the well-received book MGM: Hollywood’s Greatest Backlot: “That 40 page chronological list I mentioned of films shot at the studio ends with his [Paul D. Marks’] name on it.”
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
May 26, 2019
Broken Windows by Paul D. Marks is a 2018 Down and Out Books publication.
An original historical crime drama-
Take a trip down memory lane back to 1994 Los Angles-
In LA the contentious vote over Proposition 187 has added another layer of tension over the city. Amid this turmoil, a young woman commits suicide, jumping from the famed Hollywood sign to her death. This death strikes a chord with private detective Duke Rogers. Although he has gained some notoriety and is even stopped for an occasional autograph, he lost his girl, and is riddled with guilt.
When an undocumented woman, named Marisol, who is working for one of Duke's neighbors, tells him about her murdered brother, he feels compelled to investigate the situation, Pro Bono.
Meanwhile, a down on his luck ex-lawyer places one of those ‘Will do anything for money’ ads in the paper. The job he secures falls into the ‘see no evil, hear no evil’ category.
As Duke and his best friend, Jack, begin digging into Marisol’s case, they stir up a political hornet’s nest which is hip high in corruption and cover-ups. The stakes are raised as Duke begins to peel back layers of the proverbial onion. Then the case turns personal…
Wow! I picked this book out on a whim, hoping to help an independent publishing house and their authors. Unfortunately, the book has languished on in my ‘currently reading’ status for almost a year. I felt terrible for neglecting this one for so long, so I forced it up to the top of the heap and started reading a chapter here and there until one evening when I picked it up, I couldn’t stop reading and before I knew it, it was one o’clock in the morning.
Initially I was a little skeptical about this one. Jack, as the synopsis states, is very UNPC. Because I read a lot of older books, I have a high tolerance for politically incorrect language or attitudes, remembering the time period in which the book was written.
However, Jack's attitude hits a sore spot, as the country is still arguing over immigration and it is uglier now than ever. Even by the end of the book, with the softening of his character, and getting a small glimpse of what is behind his veneer, I still had very mixed feelings about him.
That said, the author did an incredible job of creating the time and place, and drawing strong characters, who though flawed, are still sympathetic.
When Duke first takes on the case it seems deceptively cut and dried. Not so. This is a complex and layered story that not only uncovers corruption in state politics, but also reaches the Catholic church.
The way the author connects the case of the Hollywood sign suicide with the death of Marisol’s brother, and the disbarred lawyer is slick and stylish. Once the ball gets rolling, this book is unputdownable.
It’s gritty without being overly violent, it’s poignant, but not maudlin, and has a very realistic outcome. In fact, the plot points out the overall corruption from both sides and all points in between, which is most likely the way it usually works in real life.
The conclusion is not tidy or tied up with a nice neat bow on top. But the reader will feel a sense of satisfaction, nonetheless. The book ends up on a positive note and my fingers are still crossed for Duke, wishing him all the best. I do hope we hear from him again soon!!
5 stars
An original historical crime drama-
Take a trip down memory lane back to 1994 Los Angles-
In LA the contentious vote over Proposition 187 has added another layer of tension over the city. Amid this turmoil, a young woman commits suicide, jumping from the famed Hollywood sign to her death. This death strikes a chord with private detective Duke Rogers. Although he has gained some notoriety and is even stopped for an occasional autograph, he lost his girl, and is riddled with guilt.
When an undocumented woman, named Marisol, who is working for one of Duke's neighbors, tells him about her murdered brother, he feels compelled to investigate the situation, Pro Bono.
Meanwhile, a down on his luck ex-lawyer places one of those ‘Will do anything for money’ ads in the paper. The job he secures falls into the ‘see no evil, hear no evil’ category.
As Duke and his best friend, Jack, begin digging into Marisol’s case, they stir up a political hornet’s nest which is hip high in corruption and cover-ups. The stakes are raised as Duke begins to peel back layers of the proverbial onion. Then the case turns personal…
Wow! I picked this book out on a whim, hoping to help an independent publishing house and their authors. Unfortunately, the book has languished on in my ‘currently reading’ status for almost a year. I felt terrible for neglecting this one for so long, so I forced it up to the top of the heap and started reading a chapter here and there until one evening when I picked it up, I couldn’t stop reading and before I knew it, it was one o’clock in the morning.
Initially I was a little skeptical about this one. Jack, as the synopsis states, is very UNPC. Because I read a lot of older books, I have a high tolerance for politically incorrect language or attitudes, remembering the time period in which the book was written.
However, Jack's attitude hits a sore spot, as the country is still arguing over immigration and it is uglier now than ever. Even by the end of the book, with the softening of his character, and getting a small glimpse of what is behind his veneer, I still had very mixed feelings about him.
That said, the author did an incredible job of creating the time and place, and drawing strong characters, who though flawed, are still sympathetic.
When Duke first takes on the case it seems deceptively cut and dried. Not so. This is a complex and layered story that not only uncovers corruption in state politics, but also reaches the Catholic church.
The way the author connects the case of the Hollywood sign suicide with the death of Marisol’s brother, and the disbarred lawyer is slick and stylish. Once the ball gets rolling, this book is unputdownable.
It’s gritty without being overly violent, it’s poignant, but not maudlin, and has a very realistic outcome. In fact, the plot points out the overall corruption from both sides and all points in between, which is most likely the way it usually works in real life.
The conclusion is not tidy or tied up with a nice neat bow on top. But the reader will feel a sense of satisfaction, nonetheless. The book ends up on a positive note and my fingers are still crossed for Duke, wishing him all the best. I do hope we hear from him again soon!!
5 stars
September 28, 2018
In Paul D. Marks's Broken Windows, the 2nd installment in the Duke Rogers PI mystery series, this compelling tale that could've been ripped from the headlines. For famed private investigator Duke Rogers, who had been notoriously famous for catching the killer of the Teddie Matson case, a new case had landed and darkened on his Hollywood doorstep. When actress Susan Karuvian jumped off the Hollywood sign as a suicide, it made news headlines. But when Marisol Rivera asked Duke to help find her brother's killer, he might be a little over his head. With his partner Jack Riggs, they've encountered the Hollywood PD and all sorts of swarmy characters along their way including some dirty politicians, a crooked priest, and the Proposition 187 bill on illegal aliens. Little did they know, they were being followed by a well-known drug smuggler who wanted them stopped and to catch their every move. When Marisol turns up missing and later ends up dead, it was nothing but personal to find her killer and to make the connections to an illegal human smuggling ring. In the end, they would shake down the criminals and put a stop to things before someone else gets hurt.
September 13, 2018
A private investigator and a disbarred lawyer investigate powerful people and their activities regarding illegal immigrants in California.
A novel that could mirror current events. Paul D Marks spins a tale of deceit and deception.
A novel that could mirror current events. Paul D Marks spins a tale of deceit and deception.
November 13, 2018
Paul Marks’s second Duke Rogers PI thriller is a follow-up to the recently reissued White Heat, a Shamus award-winner, recently reissued. Rogers, principal narrator of this entertaining tale, has the sly humor of a modern-day Philip Marlowe and a similar penchant for attracting trouble.
Maybe it’s something about Los Angeles—too much sun, too much tinsel, too many people trying too hard, too much too much—that makes it the perfect setting for so many great noir novels. The prologue describes a quintessential Los Angeles move: the suicide of an aspiring actress who takes a dive off the iconic Hollywood sign. Her death hangs out there, disconnected, waiting for PI Rogers to reel it into the story.
Rogers is a famous guy around LA, famous for a detective, anyway. He’s the one who solved the murder of up-and-coming starlet Teddie Matson, recounted in White Heat. The frequent acknowledgements of his success rub salt in a wound that has not healed. Though he caught Teddie’s killer, people don’t know that it was he who mistakenly told the killer how to find her.
Out for a stroll with his new dog, Rogers encounters the neighbor’s housekeeper walking her employer’s Yorkies. Marisol Rivera is young, pretty, Mexican, and illegal. And she has a problem. Her brother’s been found dead. The police say un accidente, but Marisol believes it was murder. She thinks they’re reluctant to invest time and effort in the case because Carlos, too, was undocumented.
Eventually Rogers persuades Marisol to let him help her, but wading into a highly charged political swamp is a good way to encounter alligators, and soon there’s a second body to account for—this one a man high in the bureaucracy of the Catholic Church. When he turns up dead shortly after visiting Rogers, the local police figure him a person of particular interest.
Marks writes with an easy style that carries you through the story and creates engaging characters to spike your interest. His Los Angeles is familiar and believable. He softens Rogers around the edges by giving him a new dog needing care, a friend who has earned and receives unswerving loyalty, and a woman he would like to reconnect with. She’s the sister of the dead starlet Teddie Matson, and his guilt over Matson’s death keep him from picking up the phone. Yet he obsesses about her. Perhaps a bit too much.
Marks places this story in the broader political context of California Proposition 187, a 1994 ballot initiative aimed at curbing the flow of illegal immigrants into the state and denying them public services. Characters in the story represent various stakeholder groups and positions that resonate with today’s vicious public policy debates.) But this is, of course, not a political essay, but a mystery, and, in the quest for Carlos’s killer, Rogers must peel back the masks worn in public by these various elected officials and community leaders. It’s always a treat to see hypocrisy stripped bare, and Rogers finds that what these stalwarts say to their constituents about immigration is more a reflection of self-interest than principle.
Part of the story is told from the point of view of Eric Davies, a disbarred lawyer whose downward spiral has landed him in a cockroach-infested apartment in Venice, California. He is out of luck and out of prospects unless someone answers his desperate advert saying he will “do anything for money.” Someone does. The writing of Eric’s chapters is very close in. You are inside his addled, frustrated head, and hope that when the time comes, despite all indications to the contrary, he will do the right thing.
Maybe it’s something about Los Angeles—too much sun, too much tinsel, too many people trying too hard, too much too much—that makes it the perfect setting for so many great noir novels. The prologue describes a quintessential Los Angeles move: the suicide of an aspiring actress who takes a dive off the iconic Hollywood sign. Her death hangs out there, disconnected, waiting for PI Rogers to reel it into the story.
Rogers is a famous guy around LA, famous for a detective, anyway. He’s the one who solved the murder of up-and-coming starlet Teddie Matson, recounted in White Heat. The frequent acknowledgements of his success rub salt in a wound that has not healed. Though he caught Teddie’s killer, people don’t know that it was he who mistakenly told the killer how to find her.
Out for a stroll with his new dog, Rogers encounters the neighbor’s housekeeper walking her employer’s Yorkies. Marisol Rivera is young, pretty, Mexican, and illegal. And she has a problem. Her brother’s been found dead. The police say un accidente, but Marisol believes it was murder. She thinks they’re reluctant to invest time and effort in the case because Carlos, too, was undocumented.
Eventually Rogers persuades Marisol to let him help her, but wading into a highly charged political swamp is a good way to encounter alligators, and soon there’s a second body to account for—this one a man high in the bureaucracy of the Catholic Church. When he turns up dead shortly after visiting Rogers, the local police figure him a person of particular interest.
Marks writes with an easy style that carries you through the story and creates engaging characters to spike your interest. His Los Angeles is familiar and believable. He softens Rogers around the edges by giving him a new dog needing care, a friend who has earned and receives unswerving loyalty, and a woman he would like to reconnect with. She’s the sister of the dead starlet Teddie Matson, and his guilt over Matson’s death keep him from picking up the phone. Yet he obsesses about her. Perhaps a bit too much.
Marks places this story in the broader political context of California Proposition 187, a 1994 ballot initiative aimed at curbing the flow of illegal immigrants into the state and denying them public services. Characters in the story represent various stakeholder groups and positions that resonate with today’s vicious public policy debates.) But this is, of course, not a political essay, but a mystery, and, in the quest for Carlos’s killer, Rogers must peel back the masks worn in public by these various elected officials and community leaders. It’s always a treat to see hypocrisy stripped bare, and Rogers finds that what these stalwarts say to their constituents about immigration is more a reflection of self-interest than principle.
Part of the story is told from the point of view of Eric Davies, a disbarred lawyer whose downward spiral has landed him in a cockroach-infested apartment in Venice, California. He is out of luck and out of prospects unless someone answers his desperate advert saying he will “do anything for money.” Someone does. The writing of Eric’s chapters is very close in. You are inside his addled, frustrated head, and hope that when the time comes, despite all indications to the contrary, he will do the right thing.
September 27, 2018
Broken Windows
Mysterious Book Report No. 349
by John Dwaine McKenna
One of the hottest, most emotional and controversial issues facing the nation today is immigration. Say it once at a cocktail party and a discussion will start. Say it twice and an argument breaks out. Dare utter the word for a third time and the fist fight is on . . . metaphorically speaking, of course. Now, a bold young Shamus Award-winning author has penned a thrilling, private investigator murder mystery that takes the reader all the way back to the dim, dark and unenlightened past of the early ‘90s . . . a time before the world had been brow-beaten and politically corrected into gender-neutered language, thoughts and deeds lest someone, somewhere, get their feelings hurt and have to go to a safe room and snuggle with a teddy bear for a little while . . . because it appeared that the minority opinion, rather than the majority one, would rule.
Broken Windows, Down & Out Books, PB, $18.95, 334 pages, ISBN 978-1-948235-07-5) by Paul D. Marks, is the second of his Duke Rogers PI series, and it opens in 1994 in Los Angeles: The City of Angels, the city of Hammett, Chandler and James Ellroy, of Marilyn and Sunset Boulevard and the Black Dahlia. It’s just after the Rodney King riots and a firestorm is raging over Proposition 187, an anti-illegal immigrant ballot initiative that would deny hospital, school and other services to those without US citizenship. Against that backstory, a despondent young woman climbs to the top of the famous Hollywood sign and leaps to her death. An undocumented day laborer is murdered, while a disgraced and disbarred lawyer in Venice Beach is so desperate that he puts an ad in the LA Times newspaper that reads: Will do anything for money.
Private Investigator Duke Rogers, and his very un-politically correct associate Jake take on the pro-bono (non-paying) case of Carlos, the murdered day laborer as a favor to his sister Marisol, one of the Duke’s neighbor’s housekeeper. Somehow, all three tragedies are related, and it’s up to Rogers to wade through a labyrinth of murder, corruption and intrigue between the Catholic Church and the State of California, and it all that has to do with the immigration debate. This electrifying novel will jolt your sensibilities, stir your conscience and give every reader plenty of ammunition for the next mixed group where the I-word is spoken!
Mysterious Book Report No. 349
by John Dwaine McKenna
One of the hottest, most emotional and controversial issues facing the nation today is immigration. Say it once at a cocktail party and a discussion will start. Say it twice and an argument breaks out. Dare utter the word for a third time and the fist fight is on . . . metaphorically speaking, of course. Now, a bold young Shamus Award-winning author has penned a thrilling, private investigator murder mystery that takes the reader all the way back to the dim, dark and unenlightened past of the early ‘90s . . . a time before the world had been brow-beaten and politically corrected into gender-neutered language, thoughts and deeds lest someone, somewhere, get their feelings hurt and have to go to a safe room and snuggle with a teddy bear for a little while . . . because it appeared that the minority opinion, rather than the majority one, would rule.
Broken Windows, Down & Out Books, PB, $18.95, 334 pages, ISBN 978-1-948235-07-5) by Paul D. Marks, is the second of his Duke Rogers PI series, and it opens in 1994 in Los Angeles: The City of Angels, the city of Hammett, Chandler and James Ellroy, of Marilyn and Sunset Boulevard and the Black Dahlia. It’s just after the Rodney King riots and a firestorm is raging over Proposition 187, an anti-illegal immigrant ballot initiative that would deny hospital, school and other services to those without US citizenship. Against that backstory, a despondent young woman climbs to the top of the famous Hollywood sign and leaps to her death. An undocumented day laborer is murdered, while a disgraced and disbarred lawyer in Venice Beach is so desperate that he puts an ad in the LA Times newspaper that reads: Will do anything for money.
Private Investigator Duke Rogers, and his very un-politically correct associate Jake take on the pro-bono (non-paying) case of Carlos, the murdered day laborer as a favor to his sister Marisol, one of the Duke’s neighbor’s housekeeper. Somehow, all three tragedies are related, and it’s up to Rogers to wade through a labyrinth of murder, corruption and intrigue between the Catholic Church and the State of California, and it all that has to do with the immigration debate. This electrifying novel will jolt your sensibilities, stir your conscience and give every reader plenty of ammunition for the next mixed group where the I-word is spoken!
December 17, 2018
4 stars
Duke Rogers installment 2
The after math of Rodney King, the color tags of properties affected by the Northridge earthquake, pending voting on a proposition that has inflamed everyone, it seems California is amiss in direction. Politics in the height of corruption and Duke is uneasy in the notoriety bestowed him in solving the recent murder of a movie star. Once again Hollywood is in the news, a wannabe starlet has flung herself from the iconic Hollywood sign, but is it suicide or murder? The brother of the maid for Duke's neighbor is found floating in the Los Angeles river, Duke feels duty-bound to get to the bottom of it. With times as they are undoubtedly this case will be sent to the dead file with no further investigation, but the unknown factors and backroom proceedings pit Duke against some very powerful people. Can he solve the case and still stay alive, in this gritty tale it's anyone's guess!
Duke Rogers installment 2
The after math of Rodney King, the color tags of properties affected by the Northridge earthquake, pending voting on a proposition that has inflamed everyone, it seems California is amiss in direction. Politics in the height of corruption and Duke is uneasy in the notoriety bestowed him in solving the recent murder of a movie star. Once again Hollywood is in the news, a wannabe starlet has flung herself from the iconic Hollywood sign, but is it suicide or murder? The brother of the maid for Duke's neighbor is found floating in the Los Angeles river, Duke feels duty-bound to get to the bottom of it. With times as they are undoubtedly this case will be sent to the dead file with no further investigation, but the unknown factors and backroom proceedings pit Duke against some very powerful people. Can he solve the case and still stay alive, in this gritty tale it's anyone's guess!
October 8, 2018
Broken Windows by Paul D.Marks was an amazing book. It involves Private Eye Duke Rogers and his loyal friend and companion Jack. Duke and Jack are ex Navy SEALS and have a tight bond. Although the subject matter is quite serious humor and intrigue abound. It will take you on intense trip involving politics, crime, murder, illegal immigrants, the Catholic Church, a fallen lawyer, and police procedures. The character development is enthralling and very entertaining with no slow spots in the entire book. You get a natives view of LA, Hollywood and the environs of Southern California. I found the plot and the authors style reminiscent of a good John D MacDonald novel with a bit of Carl Hiaasen humor mixed in. Well done! I look forward to your next!
March 23, 2020
Broken Windows- Paul D. Marks
I don’t know how I stumbled onto this book, I know I bought it from Powell’s but wow what a fantastic piece of story telling. You have to love an author who quotes an obscure song by The Clash (somebody got Murdered) to end a chapter.
The story takes place in LA in 1994 after the earthquake and during the lead up to Prop187 the anti immigration bill.
A girl kills herself by jumping from the H in the Hollywood sign.
A disbarred lawyer is so desperate for money he places an classified ad stating will do anything for money.
A illegal Mexican day laborer new to America is murdered.
How do all 3 items tie together?
Read the book to find out, because this is an excellent book.
I don’t know how I stumbled onto this book, I know I bought it from Powell’s but wow what a fantastic piece of story telling. You have to love an author who quotes an obscure song by The Clash (somebody got Murdered) to end a chapter.
The story takes place in LA in 1994 after the earthquake and during the lead up to Prop187 the anti immigration bill.
A girl kills herself by jumping from the H in the Hollywood sign.
A disbarred lawyer is so desperate for money he places an classified ad stating will do anything for money.
A illegal Mexican day laborer new to America is murdered.
How do all 3 items tie together?
Read the book to find out, because this is an excellent book.
September 18, 2018
Broken Windows by Paul D Marks: Duke Rogers case is so timely, and this mystery is compelling. The plot is one I cannot recommend strongly enough. Broken Windows is a 5 Star Must Read!
March 11, 2021
Marks captures L.A.'s nuances as a backdrop for this noir crime thriller. Compelling characters.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews