July 28, 2020

It’s Release Day! EXIT STRATEGY Is Out!

July 28, 2020/ Jen Danna

It’s release day and EXIT STRATEGY is finally here! It feels like today has been a long time in coming, and I’m thrilled to say you can now get your hands on your own copy.

What are people saying about EXIT STRATEGY? Here’s some of the advanced praise:

“Tense and tightly plotted, Exit Strategy pulls you in and doesn't let go. A compelling page-turner.”—Marc Cameron, New York Times bestselling author of Tom Clancy: Code of Honor

“An energetic series launch with convincing descriptions of New York City neighborhoods and police tactics, along with flashbacks full of Italian family lore. Fans of contemporary police procedurals will hope to see a lot more of the capable Gemma."—Publishers Weekly

"Danna kicks off her first solo effort with a compelling, dramatic story while using the protagonist’s family background as motivation. Readers who love the TV show Blue Bloods, with its family of cops, will relish this launch."—Library Journal

“Coming in hot. This phrase in its military meaning of “all guns blazing” describes the first book in a new series by Jen J. Danna to a tee. Readers will be riveted to the spot as the clock counts down on a day rife with danger and suspense. Danna has done a superb job of introducing the Capellos and the NYPD Negotiators series to readers. I’m excited about this series and what Gemma and her negotiating team will face next.”—The Reading Room

“Fast-paced and packed with plenty of action. Reading Exit Strategy was like watching a movie, it had that cinematic, high-octane plot speed and plenty going on to keep the reader turning the pages.”—Bibliophile Book Club

“A terrific well-plotted storyline. My hat is off to this author and her attention to detail and the weaving of a great read.”—Rose Point Publishing

One more time for the people in the back, what is EXIT STRATEGY about?

In this taut new suspense series featuring NYPD detective Gemma Capello and her close-knit law enforcement family, a madman brings a halt to the heart of the city that never sleeps . . .

After her mother’s death during a bank robbery when she was a child, Gemma Capello grew up to become one of the NYPD’s elite hostage negotiators. In a family of cops, there’s rarely a day when a Capello isn’t facing down some form of threat. Still, despite their unpredictable schedules, they always find time for their annual family summer picnic. But this year, a sudden phone call changes everything.

A heavily armed gunman has taken hostages at City Hall. Gemma races downtown to join the rest of the Hostage Negotiation Team as they scramble to identify the captives—fearing the mayor may be among them. But as they scramble for answers and struggle to gain control of the circumstances, it becomes clear that the mayor is at the center of it all, just not in the way they initially believed.

With several lives on the line and a criminal who always seems to be one step ahead, Gemma is the only one able to connect with the suspect. Soon, she finds herself engaging in a battle of wits while enduring a battle of egos in the command center. With time running out and a mastermind who has proven he’ll do whatever it takes to get what he wants, Gemma risks it all—her career and her life—in a last-ditch effort to save the hostages. Now, she needs to figure out how to save herself . . .

You can find EXIT STRATEGY available now at these fine retailers: Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, Amazon.co.uk, Audible, Barnes and Noble, Books-A-Million, Bookshop.org, Hudson Booksellers, IndieBound, Indigo, Target, and Walmart.

These are difficult times and many people are stretched emotionally and financially. What’s a reader to do if they can’t afford to go out and buy a hardcover copy of EXIT STRATEGY? There are lots of ways you can still support me and EXIT STRATEGY’s launch:

Word of mouth is one of the best ways to sell new books, so please recommend EXIT STRATEGY to your reader friends.
Talk about the book on social media. Especially during the quarantimes, this a fantastic way to get the word out about a new book or a new series.
Request the book at your local library. I love libraries and they’re a great way for readers to find a new author. But a library member needs to request the book if it’s not already in the catalogue to start that off. That way you get to read it, but then you’re sharing the gift of that book with other library members.
Write reviews on commercial websites like Goodreads or Amazon. Other readers who are interested in the book will look at reviews when they are deciding whether to try a new book. A great review goes a very long way.
Think about book lovers on any upcoming birthday or holiday lists and give EXIT STRATEGY as a gift.

Many thanks to all for their support. Launching a book in the middle of a pandemic definitely has its challenges, especially when the sales from this book will 100% decide if the series will go beyond book #2. So I very, VERY much appreciate all the support from you, my fabulous readers!

And don’t forget the big book launch party tonight. You’ll find me and a group of bestselling Kensington authors here on Facebook tonight from 7 – 10pm EDT: https://www.facebook.com/events/755932971842445/

If you go to the event today, you can sign up so you’re right in the middle of all the action tonight. You can also see some of the prizes we’ll be giving away in posts in the Discussion tab. Seriously, so many prizes. Books, audiobooks, clothing, book tie-in packages, and much more. So please stop by tonight because you may be one of our lucky winners. Hope to see you there!!

Kensington July Mystery and Thriller Launch Poster Landscape (small).jpg

July 24, 2020

The Sites of EXIT STRATEGY – St. Patrick’s Old Cathedral

July 24, 2020/ Jen Danna

Just north of present-day Little Italy, in the Manhattan neighbourhood of Nolita (North of Little Italy) stands a Gothic Revival church which opened in 1815—the Basilica of St. Patrick’s Old Cathedral. This is the site of the final scene of EXIT STRATEGY, a location that is familiar to Gemma Capello, and her family, and where she makes a final stand against a man who threatens not only her own life, but the lives of everyone around them.

Designed in 1809 by Joseph-François Mangin, who also designed New York City Hall, it was the largest building in the city. Construction started in 1809 on a plot of land surrounded by farm land well north of the city and was completed in 1815. However, as the city grew, it enveloped this area of what is now Lower Manhattan. Within sixty years, the church was a cornerstone of Little Italy and the seat of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York until the more modern St. Patrick’s Cathedral was built in Midtown Manhattan in 1879.

The church is surrounded by a 10-foot-high brick wall, originally built to contain the church cemetery. It was used in 1836 as defense against attacks by Protestants who were concerned the church could be used as a stronghold from which the Pope could convert the largely Protestant Manhattan to Catholicism. Prior to Italian immigration, St. Patrick’s was largely a congregation of Irish immigrants. Those Irish congregants cut holes in the wall for musket barrels and posted armed men to protect the church and its property, even going so far as to patrol the streets outside the Basilica. This action finally discouraged the Protestants from their original plan to sack the church.

Inside the church, the sanctuary is marked by an arched Gothic ceiling supported by two lines of iron columns running parallel to framing stained-glass windows. At the front of the church on a raised dais, an intricate hand-carved reredos, an ornate wooden screen standing behind the alter, is leafed with gold and holds ten saints within its decorative niches. Rows of wooden pews fill the nave and, at the rear of the sanctuary, twin confessionals are set against facing walls next to statues of the Virgin and St. Francis with his lamb, both surrounded by candles. High in the balcony at the back of the church, the original 1868 pipe organ, which contains over 2,500 pipes, is still in use and is the last remaining large pipe organ designed by 19th century, world-renowned New York City organ builder, Henry Erben.

However, one of the most interesting aspects of the church lies underneath the nave—the church’s historic catacombs. Constructed following the church’s opening in 1815, the catacombs contain over fifty family crypts, each small door opening to stairs leading to a lower level large enough to hold up to twelve occupants. There are a number of well-known early-to-mid 19th century persons interred here: numerous members of the Delmonico restauranteur family; General Thomas Eckert, a Union Army officer who ran the War Department Telegraph Staff for most of the Civil War; Reverend John Connolly, the first bishop of New York; Thomas O’Connor, a prominent Irish journalist; and Congressman John Kelly, an advisor to President Abraham Lincoln. Recently refurbished, visitors to the cathedral can now tour the catacombs led by Tommy’s of New York.

Some fun facts about St. Patrick’s Old Cathedral: Martin Scorsese, who grew up in Little Italy and served as an altar boy at St. Patrick’s, used the cathedral cemetery for a scene in Mean Streets. The sanctuary and baptismal font were used by Francis Ford Coppola in the movie The Godfather. And, finally, each year money is raised to bring in a grounds crew for the cemetery—three sheep who spend their summer inside the outer walls maintaining the cemetery lawn, a little touch of what life around the church was like in its earliest days.

July 21, 2020

The Sites of EXIT STRATEGY – Little Italy

July 21, 2020/ Jen Danna

New York City has a colourful history. What began as New Amsterdam, a Dutch settlement in the 17th century, then became an English town, and finally a 19th and 20th century draw for people from all over the world including Ireland, Germany, Russia and Poland. And, of course, Italy.

Life in Italy in the mid-19th century was hard. Poverty, political strife, an overwhelmingly agricultural lifestyle, high taxes combined with low wages, and a lack of land pushed whole families, even sometimes entire villages, to emigrate. The United States was a desirable destination as it was not only known for its available land, but for its lower taxes and higher wages for skilled labour, as well as its growing industrial age businesses.

Italian immigration started as a trickle in the 1860s. Those who settled in Manhattan took up residence in perhaps the most dangerous area of the city—Five Points. They filled tenements on the south end of Mulberry Street, an area called Mulberry Bend, clinging to their original family and village groupings, maintaining the insular lifestyle to which they were accustomed in Italy. But Mulberry Bend was the city’s epicenter of poverty, crime, and gang life with a growing population squeezed into multi-family single room lodgings. In fact, at one point, this area of Five Points was designated the most densely populated area of the entire city, and was infamous for its disease, crime, and murder rates, far outnumbering any other part of Manhattan. As a result, in 1897, the city tore down the tenements and created Mulberry Park, known today as Columbus Park. Displaced Italian residents moved uptown, finding their homes further north on Mulberry, as well as on Mott, Elizabeth, Prince, and Grand Streets, to name a few. It is this area which is still known as Little Italy today.

The Italian community flourished, even more so as additional immigrants moved in. It is estimated that between 1880 and 1920, over four million Italians immigrated to America, and thousands flocked to the community in Manhattan that came to be called Little Italy. At its peak in 1910, 10,000 Italians lived inside this two-square-mile area.

The residents of Little Italy re-established their familiar lifestyle, and, in doing so, introduced it to New York City. Restaurants, bakeries, delicatessens, and food carts and shops opened. Churches were community centers of engagement. Organ grinders could be heard throughout the streets. And in 1926, the first Feast of San Gennaro was celebrated. Now an annual 11-day street festival each September, festivities include mass at the Church of the Most Precious Blood on Mulberry Street, as well as parades, live music, shopping, and, of course, food. However, with the good, came the bad as the Mafia moved in and established itself in Little Italy in the early 20th century, including the Morello, Gambino, and Genevese crime families. Almost seventy years later, New York City native Mario Puzo set his novel, The Godfather, with its Corleone crime family in Little Italy as a representation of that Mafia presence.

Now down to a handful of blocks from it’s original fifty square block spread, Little Italy contains few Italians, but remains a tourist destination in New York City. However, it maintains some of its colourful roots. If you visit the area, you can still get a taste of the late 19th and early 20th century charm in some of the original shops, still run by the founding families:

Alleva Dairy—Makers of fine cheeses, specially known for their ricotta and mozzarella; the oldest continually run shop in Little Italy since its opening in 1892.

Parisi Bakery—From 1903 through three generations of Parisis, an authentic Italian brick-oven bakery and delicatessen.

Di Palo’s Fine Foods—A specialty Italian grocery store opened in 1903 and currently operated by fifth generation Di Palos.

Piemonte Ravioli—Creating traditional fresh and dried Italian pasta since 1920.

This is the world in which Gemma Capello was raised. Her nuclear family may have lived in Brooklyn, but her Italian grandparents lived on Elizabeth Street, once the Sicilian bastion of Little Italy. It is here she learns her family’s history. It is here she retreats following the death of her mother, to her grandmother’s care, where she learns to cook all the traditional Sicilian family favourites. It is here where her best friend Frankie and Frankie’s father run their bakery/café. And it is here she comes when she needs to save lives, including her own.

On Friday, we’ll look at the site of the book’s climax, Little Italy’s early-19th century St. Patrick’s Old Cathedral, a site rich with history and which contains a series of hidden catacombs underneath.

All photos from The Library of Congress.

July 14, 2020

A Sneak Peek of EXIT STRATEGY

July 14, 2020/ Jen Danna

We’re two weeks away from the launch of EXIT STRATEGY and I’ve got a sneak peek for you in the form of Chapter One. Chapter One is really a self-contained, short-story introduction of Gemma Capello and what she does as a negotiator—holding lives in her hands. Click the link below to jump right in!

EXIT STRATEGY - CHAPTER ONE

Praise for EXIT STRATEGY:

Publishers Weekly: An "energetic series launch" with "convincing descriptions of New York City neighborhoods and police tactics, along with flashbacks full of Italian family lore. Fans of contemporary police procedurals will hope to see a lot more of the capable Gemma."

Marc Cameron, New York Times bestselling author of Tom Clancy: Code of Honor: “Tense and tightly plotted, Exit Strategy pulls you in and doesn't let go. A compelling page-turner.”

Bibliophile Book Club: “Fast-paced and packed with plenty of action. Reading Exit Strategy was like watching a movie, it had that cinematic, high-octane plot speed and plenty going on to keep the reader turning the pages.”

Rose Point Publishing: “A terrific well-plotted storyline. My hat is off to this author and her attention to detail and the weaving of a great read.”

EXIT STRATEGY is available for pre-order at these fine retailers: Amazon.com, Amazon.ca, Amazon.co.uk, Barnes and Noble, Books-A-Million, Bookshop.org, Hudson Booksellers, IndieBound, Indigo, Target, and Walmart.

And look what just arrived last night! Author copies of EXIT STRATEGY. New book deliveries are the best!

Kensington July Mystery and Thriller Launch Poster Landscape (medium).jpg

A reminder of the big Kensington July Mystery and Thriller Launch party coming up on July 28th from 7 - 10PM. You’ll find the link to sign up as going or interested, and to get updates and reminders of the event right here: https://www.facebook.com/events/755932971842445/. It’s going to be really great evening with lots of interesting conversation and a ton of great prizes for attendees. I hope to see you all there!

July 07, 2020

The Sites of EXIT STRATEGY – City Hall Subway Station

July 07, 2020/ Jen Danna

Before we start today’s post, just a reminder that the big virtual launch of EXIT STRATEGY will be July 28th from 7 – 10PM, from the safe, socially distanced location of your choice worldwide. I’m sharing the launch party with 10 other amazing Kensington authors, so please come join us that night.

Last week on the blog, I introduced New York City Hall, the site of the hostage taking in EXIT STRATEGY. But there is a hidden treasure under the adjacent City Hall Park which is not well known even to many native New Yorkers.

By the late 19th century, New York City already had an elevated train line through the city, but the Great Blizzard of 1888—which dumped 55” of snow on the city, left them with two-story high snow drifts, and closed down train travel for over a week—demonstrated the advantages of subterranean train travel. Plans for New York City’s subway system were approved in 1894 and four years of construction on the initial line began in 1900.

When the New York City subway system opened in 1904 there were twenty-eight stations over nine miles of track between City Hall and 145th Street (compared to the current four hundred and twenty-seven stations over two hundred and thirty-six miles of track). The system was constructed as a continuous line using a cut and cover technique. Sequential streets were closed to allow for the subway tunnel to be dug by blasting, shovels, and pickaxes, then a series of trusses and beams were built to form the tunnel before the road was laid on top of it. After this, the work could be completed underground without interruption to life above. It was dangerous, backbreaking work completed by 7,700 immigrant workers, and at least sixty men died during the project.

Of the twenty-eight stations, one was built as the “crown jewel” of the system—City Hall Station. Unlike other stations which were built using standard designs and practical materials, City Hall Station was built as a work of art. Architects George Lewis Heins and Christopher Grant LaFarge designed the station around a circular piece of track with curved ceilings and entryways, and enlisted Rafael Guastavino, a Spanish engineer who perfected the use of compression thin-tiling to create arched ceilings and vaults. Additionally, the station was lit by decorative glass skylights by day and brass chandeliers at night. The ticket room, up a short flight of stairs from the platform, had an ornate oak and iron ticket booth sounded by green and yellow tiling. It was a gorgeous piece of architecture.

By Rhododendrites - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0

However, as the line expanded and railways cars modernized, the station became antiquated. Newer cars were longer, with three sets of doors instead of the previous two, and while the cars could manage the curve in the track, the platform no longer reached all the doors. Additionally, the nearby Brooklyn Bridge Station, only minutes away by foot, was a larger station with a longer platform and connections to additional lines. Thus, on December 31, 1945, City Hall Station closed.

For decades the station and platform sat empty and the track was only used to turn around southbound trains emptied at Brooklyn Bridge Station before heading north again. For most of New York City, the station faded from memory.

However, a movement started in the 1990s to obtain funding to refurbish the historic station and open it for tours. Since 2006, the New York Transit Museum has conducted extremely popular tours for their members of the station. Tickets sell out in minutes and demand remains high. For those who haven’t had the chance to attend a tour, it is now permitted by the MTA for riders of the southbound 6 and <6> trains to remain onboard during the turnaround. The route takes you right through the station and you can see the vaults and platform and ticket room up the stairs for yourselves.

Now, how does this station relate to EXIT STRATEGY? Well, that would be telling. You’ll just have to read to find out how this station plays a crucial role in the hostage situation.

Next week, I’ll be dropping by twice. First to give you a sneak peak at the beginning of EXIT STRATEGY, and then later in the week when I return to Gemma’s roots as we dive into NYC’s Little Italy. See you there!

Blog

It’s Release Day! EXIT STRATEGY Is Out!

The Sites of EXIT STRATEGY – St. Patrick’s Old Cathedral

The Sites of EXIT STRATEGY – Little Italy

A Sneak Peek of EXIT STRATEGY

The Sites of EXIT STRATEGY – City Hall Subway Station

Jen J. Danna/Sara Driscoll - Mystery and Thriller Author