Kansas City, 1939.
In a world of fixed fights and mob influence Ray Ward and his brother Rex are two of the only clean fighters in town. With Ray in the corner and Rex in the ring they are headed for the big time. Until that fateful night. Now Ray has a score to settle using a lifetime of lessons in how to fight back.
Dean Fokoli is a detective with a new partner, an alcoholic wife and a guilty conscience. At least the boxer on the radio who just got beat to a pulp won't end up in his homicide file. But when the dregs of the crooked fight world start turning up dead, Fokoli is on the hunt for the killer. The chase will take him to the underbelly of the Kansas City night and hopefully keep him one step ahead of his past.
A razor-edged story of revenge, redemption and what happens when you confront the ghosts of the past.
"One Too Many Blows to the Head feels like a long-lost pulp you find in a favorite bookstore. A delicious mix of classic hardboiled grit and the heart-heavy world of film noir, it's a one-sitting read that sends you back to a lost time of fight halls, Chicago boys and last chances."
-Megan Abbott, author of Dare Me and Queenpin
"A powerful tale of vengeance, rife with pounding action and colorful, complex characters. One Too Many Blows To The Head is a first round knock-out!"
- Stephen Jay Schwartz, LA Times best selling author of Boulevard and Beat
"The prose is hardboiled and lean, and there's plenty of violence. There's a surprise or two along the way, and you'll want to know what happens to Fokoli and Ray. They're deeply flawed, but Beetner and Kohl keep them human, which is quite an accomplishment when you consider the circumstances."
- Bill Crider, author of the Sheriff Dan Rhodes series
"The writing is crisp, the characters finely drawn. Ray's motivation to avenge his brother's death, murder really, may seem to be simple, but in actuality is deeply complex. One Too Many Blows To the Head is quite remarkable in how it takes a relatively simple story and develops an intricate, compelling tale of two men on a mission to identify who killed Rex Ward . . . but also on a search for their own."
-Mysterious Reviews (FOUR STARS)
"Boxing and noir once went hand in glove, but you don't see many boxing novels anymore, and that's a shame. Here's one that dredges up all the blood and spit and sweat and money of the fight game, and wraps it around a tough noir storyline full of revenge and dark secrets. Kohl and Beetner get it exactly right."
- Steve Brewer, author of the Bubba Mabry series
"One Too Many Blows to the Head is a novel set in the fight world of Kansas City 1939 and it's everything you love about classic film noir only bound and printed."
- Hardboiled Wonderland