FIGHT CARD #1: Felony Fists by Jack (Paul Bishop) Tunney

Have you jumped on the Fight Card bandwagon yet? Well, this is a great time to do it. The series is only nine months old, but it’s going like gangbusters. There are already nine books available, with many more on the way, and there’s even a spin-off series or two in the works.

The place to start, naturally, is at the beginning, and that’s Felony Fists, penned by Paul Bishop (who co-created the series with Mel Odom). And Felony Fists is a hell of a fine start.

Our hero in this one is Patrick "Felony" Flynn, an L.A. street cop and amateur boxer, who’s destined for greater things both in and out of the ring. The action takes place in 1954, with mobster Mickey Cohen working to consolidate his power, and an elite crew of detectives called the Hat Squad working to bring him down. Patrick Flynn boxes his way into the fray and finds himself on a path that just might take him all the way to the heavyweight championship.

Felony Fists is Rocky meets The Untouchables - the perfect blend of hardboiled crime fighting and two-fisted ring action. And Paul Bishop’s hard-hitting prose is perfectly suited to the task. This is a crime novel that makes you want to stand up and cheer.

Best of all, it’s only the beginning, so you (and I) have a lot more Fight Card action to look forward to. “Jack Tunney,” the house name used for the series is apparently a mash-up of Jack Dempsey and Gene Tunney, two of the greatest heavyweights of all time, and Paul and Mel have recruited a crew of writers who are sure to honor the name. Those involved so far (in alphabetical order) are Eric Beetner, Gerard Brennan, Henry Brown, Jeremy Brown, Wayne Dundee, Mike Faricy, David Foster, Heath Lowrance, Kevin Michaels and Bob Randisi. Yikes.

You and I have a lot of reading to do. And we’re going to enjoy it.

Visit the new Fight Card website HERE.