Blurb:
Harry
Fletcher can’t for the life of him figure out what exactly the ‘nugget’ of
information his colleague, Eddie Concannon, uncovered prior to his death is.
Picking his way along the threads of information, Harry soon finds himself at
odds with government officials and his own newspaper seems to be involved in
the collusion. Join Harry as he deciphers the clues and enjoy a journey into
the world of investigative reporting set against a colorful back drop of
characters and locations.
Review:
Although
I wrote fiction as a child and teenager, I didn’t seriously consider writing as
a career until I worked at the National Public Radio affiliate in Charleston,
South Carolina. I was hired as the
secretary/receptionist fresh out of secretarial school, and I practically
venerated the four journalists for whom I worked. They talked about how great it was working in
Public Radio where they didn’t have to worry about their stories clashing with
the interests of advertisers or sponsors, because at the time PBS and NPR were
supported entirely by government grants.
My bosses had complete Freedom of Press.
Harry
Fletcher does not have that freedom. His
colleague, Eddie Concannon, was working on “A
Small Story for Page Three” prior to his death. A gurbernatorial candidate led a commission investigating
corruption in the judicial, State’s Attorney’s and police departments that led
to several indictments. It was that
commission that catapulted him into favor for the candidacy for governor. Concannon told his wife he’d uncovered a “nugget”
prior to his death, and Harry decides to follow it up before writing the
story. As he follows the leads, he
clashes with his publisher who makes it clear—the editors and reporters do not
determine what goes into the newspaper; he does. It doesn’t matter who has corroborated the
story—if the candidate says it didn’t happen; it didn’t. Printing it could hurt the man’s
candidacy. (And Richard Nixon never had
any tape recorders in the Oval Office because he said he didn’t. Printing the Watergate story could hurt Nixon’s
presidential legacy. Really?) Why is
Marcotte so invested in killing this story?
Harry
is an old-fashioned newspaper man. He’s
more interested in writing the whole story than in finding a sound-bite or
grabbing the front page. He tracks down
leads and corroborates them with more than one source, and he protects his
sources. But we don’t just see him at
work. We see him at home where his
marriage to a younger woman is going through a rough patch, which doesn’t help
matters. One of his sources is an
attractive woman whose husband is also out of town, and an envious colleague
reports a bit of flirtatious banter during an interview as a full-blown
affair. While the story is told in first
person, Mr. Germond’s characters are all fully-drawn, interesting, and
engaging. The story is fast-paced and a real
page-burner.
I
would love to see more from this retired newsman who finally wrote that novel
so many journalists have stuffed in a drawer, but he left us three days before
this book was released. At least he got
to see the galleys. RIP Mr. Germond, and
thank you.
Length: 224 Pages
Price:
$5.95
You’ll
notice I always include the publisher’s buy link. That’s because authors usually receive 40% of
the book price from the publisher.
Editors and cover artists usually receive about 5%. When you buy a book from Amazon, Barnes &
Noble or another third-party vendor, they take a hefty cut and the author,
editors and cover artists receive their cuts from what is left. So, if a book costs $5.99 at E-Book
Publisher.com and you buy from there, the author will receive about $2.40. If you buy the book at Amazon, the author
will receive about $0.83.
Thanks
for visiting. RIW
