The Adventures of Harry Morgan by @ClabePolk is a Beach Reads pick #action #beachread #giveaway
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    • Jul 18, 2020
    • 4 min read

The Adventures of Harry Morgan by @ClabePolk is a Beach Reads pick #action #beachread #giveaway



Title: The Adventures of Harry Morgan, Volume 1

Author: Clabe Polk

Genre: Crime, Action

Book Blurb:

An action-packed collection of three interlocking related novellas focused on Harry Morgan. Harry is not an average retiree. Trouble sticks to Harry like a magnet!

Collegial Conspiracy - Two retired guys, Harry and Wiley, robbing a Florida bank is odd enough…but Wiley is terminally ill. Really? What’s up with that?

Emilio - Wiley has a son, Tony, who is charged with the blackmail and death of two college students in Oregon. Were they murdered? If so, by whom? Is Tony guilty, or is he a scapegoat for someone else?

The Pirates of Cayo Pelau - Harry loves to sail and tell his other friends tall tales about pirates along the Florida coast, but an encounter with modern pirates while on a sailing vacation unwinding from the Oregon ordeal puts them in real danger. Can they survive an encounter with modern pirates?

Excerpt:

The next day dawned clear and sunny, with light traffic that allowed Harry to arrive at Field’s right on time. Wiley was already there.

After parking next to Wiley, Harry took out a canvas bag from his trunk. Wiley got out of his car with a plastic grocery bag.

“Let’s see it,” said Harry.

Wiley opened the bag and took out an old blued Smith and Wesson Model 10 revolver with a three-inch barrel. Harry took it from him, opened the cylinder, looked down the barrel, closed the cylinder, and dry snapped it a few times. “Nice,” he pronounced, handing it back to Wiley. “You say you got this from your uncle?”

“Yeah, he was a cop back in the day. They gave him his service revolver when he retired and he left it to me when he died.”

“Great. It’s in good condition. Don’t shoot your foot off with it.” Harry picked up his canvas bag and started toward the door.

“I’ll try not to,” Wiley said dryly as he followed.

In the next few minutes Wiley learned about the limitations of his older gun and newer commercial ammunition. He couldn’t help but be disappointed. After all, he’d wanted some major firepower to invoke respect during his robbery. After purchasing ammunition, Harry led Wiley outside to the parking lot where in a quiet voice he did his best to convince Wiley that all anyone would see during a robbery was the gun. No one in the bank would ever care whether it was a conventional .38, a newer +P .38, a .357 Magnum, or even a .44 Magnum. It didn’t matter; to someone being robbed, all guns were the same. However, it mattered to Wiley. To someone who envisioned carrying a twelve-gauge sawed-off shotgun to invoke respect, carrying a conventional .38 Special was a letdown. It made him feel like an underdog.

The shooting went much as Harry had expected. Once Wiley had learned to hit the target sheet at all, he consistently hit the paper target, but exactly where he hit the target remained unpredictable.

Looking ruefully at his target, Wiley quipped, “It looks like gun control isn’t my talent.”

“It’s your technique, “said Harry. “Hold the gun firmly like this.” He demonstrated a two-handed stance. “Then, make the sights look like this.” He drew a picture in the corner of the target sheet. “Then take the slack out of the trigger like this.” He unloaded the revolver and demonstrated pulling the trigger partway. “Continue pulling and wait for a clean trigger break.” He pulled the trigger until the hammer snapped forward. “See, if the gun had been loaded you would have fired a clean shot. If your site picture was right, you could have hit what you shot at. That’s gun control.”

Wiley gradually improved but ran out of ammunition before seriously threatening the bullseye ring.

Harry was gratified to learn he could still shoot. Every round he fired hit the center of mass or head. Not a perfect bullseye by any means, but pretty good considering the lapse of years.

“Wiley, you did good. Now it takes practice. Can we meet here at ten o’clock every morning this week?”

“Ammunition’s expensive. Do you really think we need to?”

“Your call. You’re the one whose ass is going to be hanging out during a bank robbery. It’s dollars to donuts Barrow was better with a gun than you are, and look where it got him.”

“Yeah, but the gun is just for show. You know, a prop.”

“If you show up with it at all, chances are you’ll have to use it, and if you have to use it, you’ll damned sure wish you knew how,” said Harry.

Buy Links (including Goodreads and BookBub):


Why is your featured book a must-read?

A balanced reading blend of intrigue, adventure, and humor, mixed with a dash of sadness and tragedy makes a delightful read that’s a little bit zany and out of the ordinary! Not the average “run of the mill” crime fiction.

Giveaway –

Enter to win an e-book bundle of all 51 books featured in the Beach Reads Bookish Event:

Open Internationally.

Runs July 17 – 22, 2020.

Winner will be drawn on July 30, 2020.


Author Biography

CLABE POLK is a multi-genre author of several novels, novellas and short stories. Originally trained in biology and natural sciences, he is a life-long reader with a curious mind, who is retired from more than thirty years in professional environmental protection and law enforcement and who has too many interests to list.

He lives in Powder Springs, Georgia with his wife, two daughters, and the family’s Cockapoo named Annie.

Social Media Links

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/clabe.polk.mystery.adventure

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