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Authors: Ace Atkins

Infamous

BOOK: Infamous
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Infamous
Ace Atkins
Putnam Adult (2010)
Tags: Mystery Detective, Fiction, Suspense, Historical, Fiction - General, Crime, United States, Thrillers, American Mystery Suspense Fiction, American Historical Fiction, Historical - General, Biographical, Biographical Fiction, Criminals, Kelly, Machine Gun, 1897-1954
Mystery Detectivettt Fictionttt Suspensettt Historicalttt Fiction - Generalttt Crimettt United Statesttt Thrillersttt American Mystery Suspense Fictionttt American Historical Fictionttt Historical - Generalttt Biographicalttt Biographical Fictionttt Criminalsttt Kellyttt Machine Gunttt 1897-1954ttt

EDITORIAL REVIEW: ** From "one of the best crime writers at work today" (Michael Connelly) comes a fast,f unny, violent new noir crime classic-a Coen Brothers movie come to life. ** He has been compared to Lehane, Ellroy, and Pelecanos, but Ace Atkins's rich, raucous, passionate blend of historical novel and crime story is all his own and never more so than in *Infamous*. In July 1933, the gangster known as George "Machine Gun" Kelly staged the kidnapping-for-ransom of an Oklahoma oilman. He would live to regret it. Kelly was never the sharpest knife in the drawer, and what started clean soon became messy, as two of his partners cut themselves into the action; a determined former Texas Ranger makes tracking Kelly his mission; and Kelly's wife, ever alert to her own self-interest, starts playing both ends against the middle. The result is a mesmerizing tale set in the first days of the modern FBI, featuring one of the best femmes fatales in history-the Lady Macbeth of Depression-era crime-a great unexpected hero, and some of the most colorful supporting characters in recent crime fiction. EDITORIAL REVIEW: ** From "one of the best crime writers at work today" (Michael Connelly) comes a fast,f unny, violent new noir crime classic-a Coen Brothers movie come to life. ** He has been compared to Lehane, Ellroy, and Pelecanos, but Ace Atkins's rich, raucous, passionate blend of historical novel and crime story is all his own and never more so than in *Infamous*. In July 1933, the gangster known as George "Machine Gun" Kelly staged the kidnapping-for-ransom of an Oklahoma oilman. He would live to regret it. Kelly was never the sharpest knife in the drawer, and what started clean soon became messy, as two of his partners cut themselves into the action; a determined former Texas Ranger makes tracking Kelly his mission; and Kelly's wife, ever alert to her own self-interest, starts playing both ends against the middle. The result is a mesmerizing tale set in the first days of the modern FBI, featuring one of the best femmes fatales in history-the Lady Macbeth of Depression-era crime-a great unexpected hero, and some of the most colorful supporting characters in recent crime fiction.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Table of Contents

 

 

Title Page

 

Copyright Page

 

Dedication

 

 

 

Chapter 1

 

Chapter 2

 

Chapter 3

 

Chapter 4

 

Chapter 5

 

Chapter 6

 

Chapter 7

 

Chapter 8

 

Chapter 9

 

Chapter 10

 

Chapter 11

 

Chapter 12

 

Chapter 13

 

Chapter 14

 

Chapter 15

 

Chapter 16

 

Chapter 17

 

Chapter 18

 

Chapter 19

 

Chapter 20

 

Chapter 21

 

Chapter 22

 

Chapter 23

 

Chapter 24

 

Chapter 25

 

Chapter 26

 

Chapter 27

 

Chapter 28

 

Chapter 29

 

Chapter 30

 

Chapter 31

 

Chapter 32

 

Chapter 33

 

Chapter 34

 

Chapter 35

 

Chapter 36

 

Chapter 37

 

Chapter 38

 

Chapter 39

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ALSO BY ACE ATKINS

 

 

CROSSROAD BLUES
LEAVIN’ TRUNK BLUES
DARK END OF THE STREET
DIRTY SOUTH
WHITE SHADOW
WICKED CITY
DEVIL’S GARDEN

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

G. P. PUTNAM’S SONS
Publishers Since 1838
Published by the Penguin Group
Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 375 Hudson Street, New York, New York 10014, USA Penguin Group (Canada),
90 Eglinton Avenue East, Suite 700, Toronto, Ontario M4P 2Y3, Canada (a division of Pearson Penguin Canada Inc.) •
Penguin Books Ltd, 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England Penguin Ireland, 25 St Stephen’s Green, Dublin 2,
Ireland (a division of Penguin Books Ltd) Penguin Group (Australia), 250 Camberwell Road, Camberwell,
Victoria 3124, Australia (a division of Pearson Australia Group Pty Ltd) Penguin Books India Pvt Ltd,
11 Community Centre, Panchsheel Park, New Delhi-110 017, India Penguin Group (NZ), 67 Apollo Drive,
Rosedale, North Shore 0632, New Zealand (a division of Pearson New Zealand Ltd) Penguin Books
(South Africa) (Pty) Ltd, 24 Sturdee Avenue, Rosebank, Johannesburg 2196, South Africa

 

 

 

Penguin Books Ltd, Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England

 

 

 

 

Copyright Š 2010 by Ace Atkins

 

 

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any
printed or electronic form without permission. Please do not participate in or encourage piracy
of copyrighted materials in violation of the author’s rights. Purchase only authorized editions.
Published simultaneously in Canada

 

 

 

The author gratefully acknowledges permission to quote from “My Forgotten Man,” words and music by
Harry Warren and Al Dubin, Š 1933 (Renewed) WB Music Corp. All rights reserved.

 

 

 

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

 

 

 

Atkins, Ace.
Infamous / Ace Atkins.
p. cm.

 

 

eISBN : 978-1-101-18685-5

 

 

1. Kelly, Machine Gun, 1897-1954—Fiction. 2. Criminals—United States—Fiction. I. Title.
PS3551.T
813’.54—dc22

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product
of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons,
living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

 

 

 

While the author has made every effort to provide accurate telephone numbers and Internet addresses
at the time of publication, neither the publisher nor the author assumes any responsibility for errors, or for
changes that occur after publication. Further, the publisher does not have any control over and does
not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.

 

 

[http://us.penguingroup.com] http://us.penguingroup.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This book is for

 

 

DORIS ATKINS and CHARLIE WELCH

 

 

 

 

 

I’m leading a trail that is crooked,

 

My foes lurk ’round every bend;

 

I know someday they will get me,

 

I dread to think of the end.

 

 

 

 

—GENE AUTRY, “GANGSTER’S WARNING”

 

 

 

 

Everything is funny as long as it is

 

happening to someone else.

 

 

 

 

—WILL ROGERS

 

 

 

 

 

 

1

 

 

 

Saturday, June 17, 1933

 

 

T
hey’d barely made it out of Arkansas alive after nabbing Frank “Jelly” Nash inside the White Front Café, a known hangout for grifters, thieves, and assorted hoodlums vacationing in Hot Springs. At first, Nash had made a real show of how they had it all wrong and that his name was really Marshall, and for a second it seemed plausible until old Otto Reed—the sheriff they’d brought along—ripped the toupee off Nash’s bald head and then started for the mustache. “That’s mine. That’s mine,” Nash had said. They’d ditched the plan to drive to Joplin after almost losing Nash at a roadblock of crooked cops. And now the old bank robber was seated across from them, riding the Missouri Pacific all-nighter out of Fort Smith, wearing a shit-eating grin, confident his hoodlum buddies would spring him.

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