“Machine Guns & Typewriters” by Robert W. Wallace has been released worldwide. In 1934, the most feared gangsters in Boston were anonymous to the police. The crew was well-equipped and motivated by an apathy for human life or property. After they steal a Thompson submachine gun from state police, they are a seemingly unstoppable force. Days later, in Needham, the gangsters fire the weapon during a bank heist, killing two on-duty police officers.
The headlines grip citizens around the Commonwealth. While police clash over jurisdiction and command, the killers once again run free with a loaded submachine gun still in their control.
During the darkest hours, state police detectives known as “The Four Aces” arrive hellbent on shifting the tide. Challenging them are two rival crime reporters from the city’s mightiest newspapers. Hostility and pressure mount between law enforcement and journalists racing to find the outlaws before they kill again, and during the largest manhunt in the state’s history, the crime reporters find themselves in the crosshairs of the machine gunner’s nest.
Tackling the intricate complexities of the historic case, Wallace weaves together a compelling, often brutal narrative supported by meticulous research in this fascinating novel. There are undertones of society’s struggles with gun control, mental wellness, capital punishment, bureaucracy, and political corruption that transcend to modern civilization. At its core, the arc of the journey captures urgency and panic at the intersection of pursuing justice and the fragile reality of innocence lost at the moment the weapon’s first shot is fired.
The author’s connection to the people and region adds an atmosphere of sensitivity to this debut novel and helps establish a sense of familiarity as the characters – real people interacting with real places – move through the world.
Wallace’s background in television journalism helped prepare him for the exhaustive work of poring over archives, court documents, newspaper snippets, and testimonies to build an accurate portrait of these events, and the medium of historical fiction allowed for an expansive, yet responsible treatment that honors the lost lives and their grieving families. He shows the heroism of the brave journalists who put themselves in harm’s way, and takes a patient, objective approach to telling a story that faces ugly truths head on.
Both entertaining and educational, the novel memorializes and illuminates a major event often overlooked in American history, expertly combining aspects of the crimes, the perpetrators, the investigation, and the trial that will leave readers reeling from this gritty tale of a bygone era.
Machine Guns & Typewriters (ISBN: 9781961532052) can be purchased through retailers worldwide, including Barnes and Noble and Amazon. The hardcover retails for $25.99 and the ebook retails for $2.99. Review copies and interviews are available upon request.
Learn more at www.rwwauthor.com.
From the back cover:
In 1934, a backyard auto mechanic, his dullard brother, and an M.I.T. graduate fleece the Massachusetts State Police at a Boston auto show when the trio steals a Thompson submachine gun from an exhibit. Five days later, the bandits turn the weapon on hostages used as human shields, while killing two police officers during a bank heist in the sleepy suburb town of Needham. For the first time in Massachusetts a machine gun has been used in a crime. It is yet another job during a ruthless deluge of bloodshed which leaves two more citizens dead and a pair of taxi cab drivers caged in a courtroom surrounded by a legion of vengeful witnesses on the verge of convincing a jury to sentence the friends to death by electrocution.
“Robert W. Wallace’s debut novel packs a wallop. Long before the grisly glory days of Whitey Bulger, the City of Boston was terrorized by blood thirsty gangs hell bent on carnage and cold hard cash.
In his blistering crime novel, author Robert W. Wallace illuminates his characters, action and intrigue with a richness that puts Machine Guns & Typewriters among the very best of Boston Noir.”
– Casey Sherman, New York Times Bestselling Author of HELLTOWN and HUNTING WHITEY
“Robert W. Wallace uses his imagination to rev up an energetic narrative… the story delivers a heap of grit.”
– Tony Mulvoy, Former Managing Editor, The Boston Globe
“…A bracing tale of gangsters, police and newspapermen in the long-vanished world of the 1930s… meticulously researched…”
– Chuck Hogan, Author of GANGLAND and THE TOWN
About the Author:
Robert W. Wallace has worked in broadcast media for regional and national networks, including ESPN and NBC.
As a coordinating producer at NESN, he was nominated for a New England Regional Emmy Award in the category of Writing for the documentary, Curt Gowdy: Cowboy at the Mic. He lives in MidCoast Maine where he jumps waves on his Boston Whaler. Machine Guns & Typewriters is his first book.
About MindStir Media:
MindStir Media LLC is an award-winning book publisher. To learn more about publishing a book with MindStir Media, visit http://mindstirmedia.com or call 800-767-0531.
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