Tattered Men by Michael Williams

When a body washes ashore downstream from the city, the discovery saddens the small neighbourhood south of Broadway. A homeless man, T. Tommy Briscoe, whose life had intertwined with a bookstore, a bar, and the city's outdoor theatre, had touched many lives at an angle. One was that of Mickey Walsh, a fly-by-night academic and historian, who becomes fascinated with the circumstances surrounding the drowning.

From the beginning there seems to be foul play regarding Briscoe's death, and, goaded on by his own curiosity and the urging of two old friends, Walsh begins to examine the case when the police give it up. His journey will take him into the long biography of a man who might have turned out otherwise and glorious, but instead fell into and through the underside of history, finding harsh magic and an even harsher world. Despite the story of Tommy's sad and shortened life, Walsh begins to discover curious patterns, ancient and mythic, in its events-patterns that lead him to secrets surrounding the life and death of Tommy Briscoe, and reveal his own mysteries in the searching.

Tattered Men is one of the novels of the City Quartet, an interrelated group of novels that can be read in any order that also includes Dominic's Ghosts, Trajan's Arch, and Vine: An Urban Legend.

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[Two days after Tommy's body washed up on the bank, the police came to visit Mickey Walsh]

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(@7thStarPress, 11 October 2019, 270 pages, e-book, copy from @TCMPublicity and voluntarily reviewed, #BlogTour 3 May via @TCMPublicity)

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This is the final book in the author's City Quartet. I've read them all and found them very enjoyable. This is no exception. I really enjoyed this book. The book starts with a mystery, Tommy, a homeless man who touched many lives is found dead, presumably drowned. His death saddens the community and people who liked him. Mickey becomes obsessed with the strange death when it's revealed the drowning was no accident. What really happened to Tommy? Why did he need to die? Who took his life? Mickey sets off in his own investigation when the police reach a dead end. The characters are well written and I really felt connected to them. I felt sad for Tommy and wanted to know the truth. I was touched by Mickey's determination to give a voice to someone often overlooked by society. The book blends magic and myth as well to tell and impressive story.