The First Ward

Fingy Conners was a millionaire…and a serial murder.Get ready to be astonished at what this now-forgotten actual historical figure was not only capable of—but got away with.If Fingy Conners had sprung from some writer’s fanciful imaginings, such a character would be dismissed as outlandish and improbable, so thoroughly and so swiftly did this man accrue wealth, political power and cruel domination over so many.Based on over a thousand newspaper and magazine articles written about him, the character of Fingy Conners serves as a template for how thoroughly someone who asserts unmitigated authority, backed by audacious lies and unrelenting threats of violence and retribution, can rise to the top unchallenged.Fingy Conners’ domination is best viewed though the eyes of the First Ward’s Sullivan Brothers and their wary families. Living side-by-side in houses at river’s edge, police Detective Sergeant Jim Sullivan resists as best he might Conners’ smothering oversee, while his younger brother John P. Sullivan, obsessed with attaining political power, eagerly crosses over to the dark side as a Conners ally.Complicating matters is the presence of Jim’s brother-in-law David J. Nugent, mentored from a young age by Conners to assume the role of his chief lieutenant and enforcer of violence. Nugent’s persistent criminality stirs conflict in Jim’s otherwise strong marriage to Nugent’s apologist sister, Hannah.At the opposite end of the spectrum from Fingy Conners lies the great Samuel Clemens, aka Mark Twain. Whilst co-owner of the Buffalo Express newspaper, Clemens takes teenage Jim Sullivan under his wing, sensing the deep wounding having been suffered by the youth. Sam instills hope and purpose at the cusp of Jim’s manhood where little previously existed, even as Clemens himself continues to suffer great distress and deep personal loss.All of the personalties in The First Ward novel series are real. They lived and breathed and walked the streets. The core characters are the author’s own ancestors.The First Ward is a sweeping novel 5-part series set in Buffalo’s Irish waterfront First Ward, immortalizing the many actual historical figures who struggled to make their mark on this world, ranging from CIA founder Wild Bill Donovan, to those who have undeservedly faded into oblivion.Buy it now!