Showing results by author "Michael A. Black" in All Categories

Something's happening in the underworld of Cook County. Tensions are rising between two rival drug lords, and the streets are their battleground. Sergeant Frank Leal and his former partner, Olivia “Ollie” Hart, get involved when one of their informants turns up dead with his ear cut off. When one drug lord decides it’s time to eliminate the competition completely, the takeover becomes very hostile indeed. As blood flows in the gutter and retaliation rules the day, Leal and Hart have to stop two criminal armies....

How much do you owe a past love? Ever wonder about it? Private Detective Ron Shade does when he bumps into his former lover, Paula Kittermann, late one lonely December night in a hotel bar. Paula had once been a major factor in Shade’s life, but that was a very long time ago. Against his better judgement, he lets her back in, but when she’s gone, without so much as a goodbye kiss, leaving him once with only bittersweet memories of what might have been. Then Paula turns up dead, the apparent victim of a hit-and-run accident. Though shocked, Shade moves on with his life until Paula’s young cousin, Laurie, shows up in Chicago, asking him to look into the matter. Shade’s investigation takes a walk on the seedy side, and begins to attract the attention of some very powerful enemies. But whenever Shade gets close to the truth, somebody seems to end up dead, and he suddenly finds himself the prime suspect in a homicide investigation. Working to clear himself and find out who killed Paula, Shade goes up against some redoubtable foes who will stop at nothing to ensure his search for the truth won’t be completed.

Things couldn’t be worse for Sergeant Frank Leal. He’s assigned a homicide at a seedy motel that suddenly develops into a "heater". Leal’s regular partner‚ Olivia Hart‚ is reassigned to the SWAT team. He’s also saddled with a college intern tweeting his every move‚ and Hart’s replacement is a rubber-gun-squad candidate who has conversations with a hand-puppet named Oscar. Hart’s secretly assigned to an internal affairs investigation to determine which members of the SWAT team are stealing the money during drug raids.

It started as a simple missing person case. Maria Castro came to private detective Ron Shade because her friend, Juanita, was desperate to find her fiancé. It all seemed pretty standard...until the missing fiancé was found floating in a canal. From there the search for something resembling the truth led Shade deeper and deeper into the darkness, in a world of murder, conspiracy, and cover-ups. But Shade won't be satisfied with the truth. He's looking for justice.

The case wasn't just cold - it was ice-cold. But the murder of Miriam Walker had a pretty high profile in the middle of a tough re-election campaign, so the Cook County sheriff assembled a task force to get results... and put Sergeant Frank Leal on it.

Ten years ago the hillbilly king of rock-and-roll, Colton Purcell, was cryogenically frozen after his premature death. Or was he? Chicago-based magazine reporter Harry Bauer intends to find out as he becomes involved in a convoluted murder plot stretching from good-old Memphis to glitzy Las Vegas, where the 10th anniversary celebration of Colton's death is in full swing. When Harry's mentor and friend, a Vegas reporter specializing in conspiracy theories, turns up murdered, Harry is intent on finding out why. But in a city where illusion often transcends reality, the truth proves more elusive than a gambler's lucky streak.

Linc Jackson and his buddy Rick Weaver thought they'd seen it all on the brutal battlefields of Desert Storm, but found themselves displaced and forgotten men when they came back to the States. Now, a year later, the opportunity of a lifetime suddenly drops in their laps.... That is, if they don't mind tiptoeing on the dark side to make the score. During a freak flood that causes havoc in the downtown business hub of Chicago, Linc and Rick put everything on the line as they execute a heist that they hope will put them on Easy Street for the rest of their lives.

Whether it's family history, religion, aging, or his parents, Michael Ian Black always has something to say in the dry, irreverent voice that has captured a fan base of millions. When a medical diagnosis forces him to realize he's not getting any younger, he reexamines his life as a middle-aged guy - of course, in the deadpan wit and self-deprecating vignettes that have become trademarks of his humor.

In the summer of 2011, Meghan McCain and Michael Ian Black embarked on a balls-out, cross-country tour. Along the way, they spoke to politicians, gun lovers, abortion-rights advocates and opponents, gay parents, flag burners, Muslims, poker players, Tea Partiers, Minutemen, veterans, teen moms, bikers, fast-food workers, and a hooker or two. They toured the White House. They fired semiautomatic weapons. They stopped and ate at every Olive Garden along the way. But mostly they talked to each other.

Welcome, This Is A Music Quiz! This is a brand-new panel show podcast all about music, featuring team captains Michael Legge and Bethany Black with host Matt Hoss. Each week there is a new theme and guest comedians. It is a comedy show for people who love comedy, with an actual music quiz for music fans too!

Volume I of Saints and Feasts of the Catholic Calendar profiles the saints on the calendar of the Catholic Church from January through March, and includes reflections on the feast days of Lent and Holy Week as well. Each reflection provides a historically and spiritually rich snapshot of the great men and women whom the Church offers to her faithful for emulation and inspiration.

Will redemption ever come? That’s the question former Army Ranger Steve Wolf keeps asking since he served time for a war crime he didn’t commit.

Working as a bounty hunter for Trackdown, Inc. ex-con and former Army Ranger Steve Wolf has been trying to get his life back on track. Convicted of a war crime that he didn’t commit, he hopes to one day clear his name, but to do this Wolf must fit together the missing pieces of a complex puzzle, made more indecipherable by eight missing minutes from his memory that may hold the answers.

From the very beginning, the Lord's Supper has stood at the heart of Christian worship. If Jesus lives in us, and the Holy Spirit is poured out on us, why do we need to eat bread and drink grape juice or wine? Does it really matter? It does matter—and it's life-changing, says leading Pentecostal theologian Jonathan Black. With warmth and depth, he explores not only how the table is still a powerful place of transformation and encounter with Jesus, but also how we can experience Christ's promise of presence, glory, healing, forgiveness, victory, and intimacy.

That’s what Steve Wolf is starting to believe after a carefully planned appeal to clear his name—an appeal his high-priced lawyer assured him was a slam-dunk—mysteriously disappears from the Military Court of Appeals docket.

Ex-Army Ranger Steve Wolf is wondering just that after receiving a desperate call home from his mother. His younger brother, Jimmy, is in trouble. As Wolf heads back to North Carolina to set things straight, he realizes that things have changed—and not for the better.

Saints and Feasts of the Catholic Calendar: Volume III provides historically rich and spiritually vivid portraits of the greatest men and women who have ever lived in concise reflections that elevate the mind and challenge the serious Christian. Volume III covers all of the saints and feasts on the Church's official liturgical calendar in July, August, and September.

Saints and Feasts of the Catholic Calendar Volume IV provides historically rich and spiritually vivid portraits of the greatest men and women who have ever lived in concise reflections that elevate the mind and challenge the serious Christian. Volume IV covers all of the saints and feasts on the church's official liturgical calendar in October, November, and December.

When Military Intelligence team Army Ranger Sergeant Steve Wolf crosses paths with a Private Military Company known as the Vipers, he subsequently finds himself blamed for the deaths of some Iraqi civilians after a botched raid in Baghdad.

Saints and Feasts of the Catholic Calendar Volume II profiles all of the saints and feasts on the Church's liturgical calendar in April, May, and June, and includes reflections for Lent and Easter. Each reflection is rich in historical and spiritual detail, inspiring the listener to emulate the greatest men and women who have ever lived.