A Brooklyn 8 Ballo Mystery: Book 2
Publication Date: July 31, 2024
Award-winning author Matt Cost brings us back to Brooklyn in the Roaring ’20s and Hungarian private eye, 8 Ballo, who is hired by Theda Lazar Vogel to prove that her husband was murdered. His colorful cast of friends returns, as well as legendary figures such as Dorothy Parker, Coleman Hawkins, Bugsy Siegel, and Lucky Luciano.
8 discovers that a priceless Aquila-an ancient eagle Roman standard carried into battle 2,000 years ago-was stolen from Karl Vogel when he was killed. This provides ties to a secret German organization known as the Batavi. But Vogel was also involved in the eugenics movement centered in Cold Spring Harbor on Long Island, as well as being involved with the Ku Klux Klan.
As 8 peels back layers of the underbelly of 1920s Brooklyn, the more complicated and dangerous it becomes for him and those who are important to him. What is happening at Cold Spring Harbor with Herman Wall and the eugenics movement? Who are the mysterious Germans threatening 8? And what is the identity of the charismatic Grand Cyclops? 8 must race against time to uncover the truth and put a stop to the most chilling triumvirate ever conceived.
City Gone Askew, by award-winning author Matt Cost, takes readers back to Brooklyn during the roaring 20s. However, we’re taken beyond the flashy lights and jazzy speakeasies to the dark underbelly where the mystery will unfold.
Our mystery begins when Private Investigator, 8 Ballo, is hired by recent widow, Theda Vogel. Theda’s husband was recently killed in a hit-and-run accident. However, Theda is convinced this wasn’t an accident but a planned murder by people who wanted to steal a priceless artifact her husband had in his possession, the Aquila. The Aquila is an ancient eagle Roman standard carried into battle 2,000 years ago.
With this information, Ballo begins to work the case only to uncover that Karl Vogel was involved in the Batavi, a secret German organization set on “purifying” the human race by disposing of “less superior” races. The Batavi is also tied to the Eugenics movement and the Ku Klux Klan. The deeper Balo dives into the case, the more sinister the plot becomes.
Will Ballo find who stole the Aquila? And can he stop the Batavi leaders before it’s too late? We follow along as Ballo, with the help of his rag-tag crew, race against time to thwart an evil scheme.
City Gone Askew by Matt Cost is a must-read for lovers of mystery and the 1920s. The novel takes you back in time to a world of prohibition, flappers, speakeasies, and mobsters with Tommy guns.
Cost does a great job of bringing actual elements into his story while adding embellishments to keep readers entertained. For example, the eugenics movement is mentioned a lot throughout the book. The eugenics movement happened in the early 1900s under state law, which authorized sterilization of people deemed incapable of making their own reproductive decisions. The goal was to better humanity by preventing the reproduction of people and races considered “inferior.” While his story is fiction, the true elements of the story put the adventures of the 8 Ballo on another level.
While I enjoyed the story, I took away one star for the novel’s length. I felt there were multiple times throughout where the story seemed to drag, and I got a bit lost in all the different character names and side missions that happened. However, I thought Cost did a great job of tying everything together in the end and showing how the connections Ballo made throughout the book paid off.
City Gone Askew is a must-read for mystery lovers. When a simple case turns into a fight against a sinister white supremacist group, PI 8 Ballo risks everything to protect the human race.
Matt Cost is the highly acclaimed, award-winning author of the Mainely Mystery series. The first book, Mainely Power, was selected as the Maine Humanities Council Read ME Fiction Book of 2020. This was followed by Mainely Fear, Mainely Money, Mainely Angst, and Mainely Wicked. Mainely Mayhem will publish in November of 2024.
His Clay Wolfe/Port Essex Mysteries include Wolfe Trap, Mind Trap, Mouse Trap, and Cosmic Trap, and now, Pirate Trap.
I Am Cuba: Fidel Castro and the Cuban Revolution was his first traditionally published novel. He had another historical released in August of 2021, Love in a Time of Hate., and in August 2022, Encircle re-released his originally self-published novel, At Every Hazard: Joshua Chamberlain and the Civil War.
Cost’s love of histories and mysteries is combined in the novel, Velma Gone Awry, book one in his new series featuring private eye, 8 Ballo, set in 1920’s Brooklyn. The second book, City Gone Askew, publishes on July 31st, 2024.
Cost lives in Brunswick, Maine, with his wife, Harper. There are four grown children: Brittany, Pearson, Miranda, and Ryan. A chocolate Lab and a basset hound round out the mix. He now spends his days at the computer, writing.
Thanks for the kind words! Write on.