<p>Joe Collins used to be Joey Connolly, alias Joey Kotex, an infamous enforcer for the Petucci crime family. He left that world behind to run a blues club in Chicago, but Carl Petucci finds Joe and forces him to do one last job. Joe&rsquo;s assignment takes him to Wesserunsett, a small Maine town that has seen better days. With a friend&rsquo;s life at stake, Joe must kill a porn director and recover a video starring Petucci&rsquo;s niece. Easier said than done, as the target&rsquo;s girlfriend, Wanda, is a Wesserunsett cop. Then there&rsquo;s Hag, a wannabe hitman, and his buddy Earl. Hag&rsquo;s looking to make a killing in the killing business. As Joey, Wanda, and Hag each pursue their own agenda, they move ever closer to a bloody showdown.<br />
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Praise for BITTER WATER BLUES:<br />
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&ldquo;A glorious boilermaker of noir and East Coast gothic. The action is as taut as a sprung snare and Bagley tightens the screws with every page.&rdquo; &mdash;Laird Barron, author of <em>Swift to Chase</em><br />
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&ldquo;There ain&rsquo;t much quaint and cuddly about Patrick Shawn Bagley&rsquo;s Maine, where the only folks more dangerous than the thugs and gangsters From Away are the locals. Bagley sandblasts the chipped veneer of small-town charm to expose the rot beneath. <em>Bitter Water Blues</em> is a vivid, unflinching portrait of desperate people struggling at the margins of society to survive.&rdquo; &mdash;Chris F. Holm, author of The Collector trilogy and <em>The Killing Kind</em><br />
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&ldquo;Bagley&rsquo;s debut novel is pitch perfect crime fiction, as dark and raw as it gets with a rich tapestry of intersecting characters who bring a beleaguered blue collar New England community to life with the style and powerful punch of a seasoned veteran&hellip;a story of redemption and revenge, second chances gone awry, double-crosses and finding loyalty where it counts, even if a little too late&hellip;a refreshingly masterful new voice in noir, and highly recommended.&rdquo; &mdash;Ed Kurtz, author of <em>Nothing You Can Do</em></p>