Pickup At Union Station

On a rainy night in Denver, cab driver Murph picks up a shady character at Union Station. His name is Zelner and he's worried that the police might be following him. When Murph reaches his passenger's destination, Zelner is dead. Now it's not just the police who are interested. Murph, who never wants to get involved in the lives-or deaths-of his fares, is about to be swept up in international intrigue. This is the seventh novel in The Asphalt Warrior series by the late Gary Reilly.

Pickup At Union Station (Literary Mystery)

By Gary Reilly

Running Meter Press www.runningmeterpress.com

ISBN #978-0990866619

Price $16.96

251 Pages

Rating 5-Stars

“A Taxi Ride Into Espionage”

Rocky Mountain cab driver, Brandon Murphy just wants to reach his quota and go home. He doesn’t drive a taxi to become rich, he leaves that to the best seller he’s going to write. Driving a cab in Denver is just to exist until the publishers discover him. Then on a rainy night, his world comes crashing down. Picking up a mysterious passenger at Union Station, he delivers him to his destination, only to discover he has a dead man in the back seat. He does everything right, and the police find out that the man simply had a heart attack, so Murph is in the clear. Then strangers come into his life, and Murph is thrown into international intrigue of spy versus counter spy, and a sinister plot is unraveled.

This was the 7^th novel in the Asphalt Warrior series about Denver cab driver, Brandon Murphy. It also shows that the author was capable of writing real men’s action novels, which he loved to read. This novel could easily have been written as a spy thriller from the 1960s. We have mysterious foreign spies after some deadly secret, plus the beautiful femme fatale, who might be on either side: a mysterious US Government agency, guns, and a hidden base where citizens can be secreted away for interrogation purposes, and manipulation. So fans of The Asphalt Warrior, or just the writing of Gary Reilly, you will enjoy PICKUP AT UNION STATION also as a taxi ride into espionage. Highly recommended.

Tom Johnson

Detective Mystery Story

Dark Night of The Soul by Gary Reilly

The utopian world carefully created by Denver cab driver Brendon Murphy is about to be shattered. In fact, it’s about to be the worst day of his cab driving career. There’s the Land That Forward Motion Forgot. There’s a guy Murph comes to thinks of as “Mister Twenty.” And there’s an old woman who wants to pay her fare with a saucepan full of pennies.

            In Dark Night of The Soul, the sixth adventure in The Asphalt Warrior series, Murph’s plan to carefully monitor the intake of cash—for fear of earning too much—challenges every math skill he can muster. Messes grow around Murph “the way a pearl grows around a pebble.” Of course, “It’s best not to think about what might have happened if you had done this instead of that,” but it’s hard not to wonder what went wrong when you’re kissing the asphalt and police have you surrounded with guns drawn.

            To wiggle out of his latest spot, Murph must stare long at and hard at who he is and what he’s all about. It’s the most eye-popping journey of all time.

Dark Night of The Soul (Literary Mystery)

By Gary Reilly

ISBN #978-0984786091

Running Meter Press

221 Pages

Price $14.95

Rating 5-Stars

 “Entertaining - Smooth, And Intelligent Writing.”

Murph has had bad days before, but Monday has to be his worst day ever with Rocky Mountain Cab Company. Before his day is even started well, a fare gives him a twenty-dollar bill for a three-dollar trip, taking all his start-out change. Then an old lady tries to pay the fare in pennies. Then a bank robber hires his cab to make his escape. Now he’s a suspect in the bank job, and accused of assaulting the old lady, who threatens to sue RMCC.

This time Murph has to do some deep soul searching, and discovers his dark soul hiding beneath the surface. Will he go over the deep end, or come out smelling like roses once more? It’s too close to make the call, and he may not pull through this one without help.

This was another fun story of the Asphalt Warrior, and the problems the Denver cab driver gets into during a normal day-to-day shift. Gary Reilly’s writing is smooth, intelligent, and entertaining, and the reader chuckles at Murph’s laid-back philosophy, and determination not to make money. How can such a mild soul step into so much trouble? If a series was ever written for cab drivers, this one is it. But you don’t have to be a cab driver to enjoy these little mystery adventures; they capture all of us, in our day-to-day jobs, just wanting to exist in a crazy world. I also want to say how much I like the cover art on these books. The folks at Running Meter Press beautifully produce the books, and the covers are eye-catching. The art by John Sherffius would look nice hanging on anyone’s wall. Highly recommended.

Tom Johnson

Detective Mystery Stories

The Enlisted Men's Club

The Enlisted Men’s Club (Military Fiction)

By Gary Reilly

ISBN #978-0984786077

Running Meter Press Publisher@RunningMeterPress.com

372 Pages

Price $13.92

Rating 5-Stars

Private (James Palmer on his Dog Tags) Palmer, a draftee during the Vietnam War is stationed at the Presidio Army base in San Francisco, a dream assignment so we’re told. But for the young soldier, it may not be so. Palmer had already been through Basic and MP School. Still a private, he’s assigned to Company D of the MPs, with the 6^th Army, and a member of STRAC. Company A handles the stockade, while Companies B, C & D rotate duties; one month on MP Duty, one month on training, and one month on details. He’s a young man away from home, a loner, and a man that likes to drink, while staying away from details, and out of view of lifer NCOs. Somehow, he seems to always mess up without really trying.

The story follows Palmer during all his mishaps during the stay at Presidio. Though he talks some about his Basic and MP School, it is his first duty assignment where we follow him through trials and tribulations, learning about the private person, and how he only wants to get through this period of Army life and back home to Denver again, without any stops in Vietnam. At the end of the story, however, he’s on his way to South East Asia.

This was a fun story by the author of The Asphalt Warrior series, well written, and easily followed. I’m not sure it’s for everyone, but I think anyone that ever wore a military uniform will love the book, as it brings back those memories of life in the Army as young men. The author based the story on his own military background, and his time as a military policeman. He also served in Vietnam, and we will probably see that portrayed in the second volume.

As a twenty-year career man, it brought fun memories back to my time in the Army, and my first duty assignment, though things were a little different, I’m sure. Most of my assignments were in Texas, post like Fort Hood, Fort Bliss, Fort Wolters, Fort Sam Houston, and elsewhere like Fort Brag, and Korea, with a tour in Vietnam. My only dream assignment was a three-year tour in France. But the Army is always the same. From a private, I became one of Palmer’s dreaded lifer NCOs, and I knew young men just like Palmer. I had to laugh as Palmer falls into the clutches of a salesman trying to sell him a gold four-leaf clover with a diamond in the center to send to his mother. I did the same thing at my first duty station in 1959, although I bought it. My mother still wore it until her death.  My wife wears it now. Palmer’s story will bring a smile to your face, as you also remember your military service. None of us were all that different. Highly recommended.

Tom Johnson

Author of COLD WAR HEROES & BAD MOON RISING

Doctor Lovebeads

Doctor Lovebeads (Literary Mystery)

By Gary Reilly

ISBN #978-0984786053

Running Meter Press

Price $16.95

296 Pages

Rating 5-Stars

“Murph Joins The Hippies”

Brendon Murphy, a Rocky Mountain cab driver in Denver tends to get involved too often with his passengers’ personal lives. While parked in front of a hotel waiting for fares, he spots three kids dressed like hippies, panhandling. Fearing the doorman of the hotel will call the police he offers the kids a free ride to a safer location. The next day he spots the same kids panhandling at a bus stop in town, and pulls up to ask them what they are doing. A bus stop isn’t a good place to panhandle either. Learning that two of the girls have free tickets to a concert miles away, and knowing they don’t have the money to get there – or the time, as it’s only a few hours till the concert starts, he feels sorry for them and offers to take them there in his cab – free.

Everything is fine until he learns the girls are missing, and the police are investigating the case. Murph discovers that the girls are staying at a commune with more hippies, and decides it’s his fault. Yep, he gets involved again. But this time he dresses like a hippy and enters the commune, hoping to talk the girls into coming back to their families. It begets more problems than he can imagine.

Murph’s latest problems appear set to fail from the start, as the girls are there of their own will, and the members of the commune are willing to protect them from outside interference. Maybe this time the Asphalt Warrior has bitten off more than he can chew.

As always, the adventures of the Asphalt Warrior are an entertaining and fun read. Somehow, you just know the cab driver will find a way – if he can live through the experience. I was also amused as Murph thought back to reading Doc Savage and wanting to grow up to be like Doc. The Doc Savage series must have influenced a lot of young men and women growing up. I knew several who became doctors because of Savage. It is little wonder the Asphalt Warrior has become highly recommended reading.

 Tom Johnson

Detective Mystery Stories

Home For The Holidays

Home For The Holidays (Holiday Special)

By Gary Reilly

ISBN #978-0984786060

Running Meter Press

187 Pages

Price $14.95

Rating 5-Stars

“A Miracle In Wichita”

When the Murphy clan gathers in Wichita for Christmas, Brandon’s Maw calls Murph home. It’s been twenty years since the Asphalt Warrior was home, so he leaves the mean streets of Denver and Taxi #123, and heads home for the holidays. His sisters, their families, and his evil brother, Gavin are all present.

But true to form, you can take Murph out of his taxi, but you can’t take the taxi driver out of Murph. He runs into an old school friend who is determined to work over the holidays, and Murph decides to talk him out of it.

We get to meet the Murphy clan, and learn a lot about Gavin and Brandon’s childhood. In fact, I was laughing so hard at one point, I had to quit reading the book until the chuckles went away. The scene where Brandon talked Gavin into swinging on a rope from off the top of the garage was just too much.

This light-hearted tale of a homecoming of sorts was a nice read over the holiday season. For readers not familiar with “Murph”, this would be a good book to start with. For those who have followed the Asphalt Warrior in his previous tales, you will finally get to meet his family, and learn his Irish Catholic background in Wichita, Kansas. You’ll come away with a new perspective for the Evil Gavin, and laugh at their childhood antics. Highly recommended reading.

Tom Johnson

Detective Mystery Stories