(EMAILWIRE.COM, May 23, 2012 ) Bucks County, PA -- Lawrence Kaplan gripped the literary world with his hugely successful debut book, House of Ghosts. Now, four years later, Kaplan brings Detective Joe Henderson out of the dark again to unravel a true-to-life epic murder mystery.
Gene Killers focuses on a tragic mass murder which shakes the community of Westfield, New Jersey. Among his veteran whit, bravery and cool head, Detective Joe Henderson finds himself unprepared for what lies ahead. In short, the shooter is a fellow soccer Dad and a great friend.
However, Henderson’s nightmare has only just begun. Unknown to him, he is about to come face-to-face with biotech genius Dr. Mahli Lani and the Brooklyn Mafia family who gave $500 million to fund a flawed ‘miracle drug’ which is slowly marching America toward Nuclear War.
The book shines an all-too-true light on the FDA and its ineptitude, Wall Street’s infamous corruption, organized crime and how a madman in the White House can fail to do his job – as his country nears total destruction.
Those wanting to find out how the story unfolds are urged to read the book. However, Kaplan believes it’s a gripping tale that readers won’t want to put down.
“My aim was to take elements of a traditional murder mystery and fuse them with scientific discoveries that were literally torn from actual recent news headlines” Kaplan explains.
He continues, “Readers really should be able to personally relate to any story they read. Therefore, I wanted to give them an opportunity to dive into a complex medical murder mystery, while keeping events and affairs as true to life as possible.
The book is quickly creating word-of-mouth buzz among readers, pleased to see Detective Joe Henderson back to unravel another mystery.
Henderson is famous among readers for his hard-drinking, chain-smoking, politically incorrect personality. Being the heir to Philip Marlow and his voluptuous sidekick Alenia Gilbert, Henderson is back for a story which could see him victorious once again – or leave him with his credibility stripped for good.
The book is already garnering rave reviews.
“Here's the deal with author Larry (Lawrence) Kaplan--he writes non-nonsense detective fiction in the tradition of Raymond Chandler. The characters are vivid, you can cut the cynicism with a butcher knife, and every few pages you catch yourself laughing out loud when Kaplan's alter ego Detective Joe Henderson deflates yet another contemporary shibboleth” says Walter Kuenstler.
In all, Kaplan is delighted at the response the book is getting, and is adding an extra dose of suspense when talking about the future.
“I can’t say what Detective Henderson will be up to next. Readers will need to keep an eye out. Just like the real world, nobody knows when the next big mystery will come along,” he concludes.
Issued by Zolexa Publishing, the book is available in digital and paperback l format from Amazon, iBookstore, Barnes & Noble and Atlas Books.
The journeys we take on life's paths are never predictable. This one of the recurrent themes in Lawrence Kaplan’s writing In his first novel, “House of Ghosts”, Joe Henderson, a washed up detective, finds himself drawn into a mystery that starts with the death of an old neighbor, but takes him on an historical journey from present-day Westfield, New Jersey, to Princeton University, 1939, to the docks of Depression-era Brooklyn, and into the aerial battles above Italy and Poland in 1944. This unlikely but compelling journey leads Henderson to revelations of long-held secrets about thwarted bombing missions over Auschwitz.
Kaplan says, “I know about unpredictable journeys. A dentist in a solo practice in Scotch Plains New Jersey since 1983, I now find myself the author of a successful mystery book, and now publishing my second novel, Gene Killers.”
“How the heck did that happen? I grew up in a middle class section of Union, New Jersey with my parents, Jack and Selda and older brother, Ron. A child of the 1950s, I played punch ball in the street, didn't go to camp, and didn't talk back. It was a world where kids rode their bikes to get where they needed to go, mothers stayed home, and no one had two cars. And most important, people gave a damn about each other.”
Kaplan’s father was a dental technician--this inspired him to attend NYU's College of Dentistry, then complete a dental residency at Mount Sinai.
His interest in writing, Larry says, began, "When I realized I could write as well as the people I was reading. I had always been a passionate student of history, and I discovered I could combine those interests to create compelling, original mystery stories.”
His first book, “House of Ghosts”, was inspired by the stories of his late mother in law, about her memories of American bomber jets flying over the Auschwitz prison camp where she was being held prisoner. She often asked, “Why didn't they target the camps?”
Larry set out to discover the reason. His original plan was to write a book of non-fiction about it. Research was tedious and difficult. He spent hundreds of hours researching in Princeton's library; he interviewed people; he searched for information from sources around the globe.
During that time he became concerned, "I had DDS after my name, not a Ph.D. in history," he said. He feared that publication of a non-fiction book might be difficult without the scholarly credentials. So Larry began to frame all the research and information he had gathered into a mystery novel. He had already begun work on a book in what he hoped would be a series of detective novels, about a "washed-up Westfield NJ Police Department Detective, Joe Henderson."
With the completion of “Gene Killers”, which focuses on more recent history in the immediate pre-911 era, Larry manages to combine a gimlet eye for the foibles of modern society with the excitement and mystery of the detective genre. “Gene Killers” is much welcomed second instalment in what will be a long series of Joe Henderson books, from a compelling and original new voice in the world of fiction.
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Lawrence Kaplan
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