Little Boy Dead by Marshall Thornton is a short story prequel meant to promote the latest in his "Boystown" series of mystery/suspenses featuring PI Nick Nowak, free courtesy of m/m romance specialty publisher MLR Press.
Free in PDF to download directly @
at the top of MLR Press's front page, and here is the official listing for the book it is a prequel to, which will be released on March 31st:
A Time for Secrets: Boystown 4.
Description (none given, so I've cribbed the ATFS blurb, which should be reasonably similar since this is a tie-in prequel)
In the first full-length novel of the Boystown series, it's late summer 1982 and private detective Nick Nowak is asked to find a retired gentleman's long lost lover.
Instead, he finds himself embroiled in a decades old murder connected to the man who wants to be Chicago's next mayor. Meanwhile, an ambitious young reporter develops a friendship with Nick's lover Bert, making Nick wonder exactly what where their relationship may be heading.