A Thousand Bridges

It was just an ordinary murder, a drug deal gone sour, leaving three dead teenagers and a drug dealer convicted of the crime. So, when Katherine Furay shows up at P.I. McDonald Clay's doorstep five years later to say her daughter had been a witness and that the murder wasn't ordinary at all, Mac suddenly finds himself in far over his head. The last thing Clay needed was a cause, and he wasn't looking for a reason to live. He just wanted to be left alone to grieve for his dead partner and girlfriend Patty Sheevers, brutally murdered the last time Clay had adopted a 'cause.' But Katherine Furay was Sheevers' best friend, and now she needs Clay's help, so he finds himself torn between responsibilities to the living and continuing a numbing, uninvolved self-indulgence. To his surprise, he discovers he does have some good qualities left. He starts out investigating Tommy Lovett, owner of a local pool hall in the north Florida city of Palmetto Bay, and winds up going head-to-head with a powerful gubernatorial candidate. In the process, he fights to regain his self-respect and to save the people he loves.

It was just an ordinary murder, a drug deal gone sour, leaving three dead teenagers and a drug dealer convicted of the crime. So, when Katherine Furay shows up at P.I. McDonald Clay's doorstep five years later to say her daughter had been a witness and that the murder wasn't ordinary at all, Mac suddenly finds himself in far over his head. The last thing Clay needed was a cause, and he wasn't looking for a reason to live. He just wanted to be left alone to grieve for his dead partner and girlfriend Patty Sheevers, brutally murdered the last time Clay had adopted a 'cause.' But Katherine Furay was Sheevers' best friend, and now she needs Clay's help, so he finds himself torn between responsibilities to the living and continuing a numbing, uninvolved self-indulgence. To his surprise, he discovers he does have some good qualities left. He starts out investigating Tommy Lovett, owner of a local pool hall in the north Florida city of Palmetto Bay, and winds up going head-to-head with a powerful gubernatorial candidate. In the process, he fights to regain his self-respect and to save the people he loves. A Thousand Bridges was released to critical acclaim in 1992 by Walker Books, NYC. In a hardbound edition, it received a coveted Starred Review in Publishers Weekly, who also chose the book as one of their Top First Fiction of the Year. Fantastic reviews followed in publications like Kirkus Review, The San Francisco Chronicle and The St. Petersburg Times, among others. The Library Journal chose it as one of their top First Novels in the October 1992 issue, which had the effect of delivering A Thousand Bridges to public libraries all across America. The Associated Press sent a lengthy review out on its news wires titled A Thousand Bridges Bats 1,000. Then, the division of Walker Books that released the novel folded. Times change. But this novel is as vital now as it was when it was first released. Kiki Olsen, a reviewer from Philadelphia, PA, wrote in a review published in the St. Petersburg Times Sunday edition, September 27th, 1992, that it was " an astoundingly articulate novel set in Florida..." She says of McDonald Clay, the protagonist, "Mac is a supremely engaging hero. He is brave, honest, bold and begrudgingly romantic....The all-but-impossible mission McKinney sketched out for him is packed with action, desire, suspense and mystery. McKinney does a sensational job of putting his ‘it could happen here' story together, and much of his art lies in the economy of words. He is succinct and precise in moving the action and emotions, making it unnecessary for readers to slog through dreary, unnecessary descriptions." We hope you enjoy the new release of A Thousand Bridges in this new and wonderful media of eBooks.

A published author, and singer/songwriter who has played music from Bandera, Texas, to Key West, Florida. From the main stage of the Florida Folk Festival to a sold-out concert at the legendary Linenhall Arts Centre in Castlebar, Ireland. With his wife, Maggie, they tour as the duo Lucky Mud, from the Southeast US to eight tours of Europe. His Novel, A Thousand Bridges, was released hardbound by Walker Books in NYC in 1992. The novel was given a coveted Starred Review in Publishers Weekly, who also selected the book as one of the Ten First Fiction of the Year. It received glowing reviews from Kirkus Review, The San Francisco Chronicle and the St. Petersburg Times, among others. The Library Journal chose it for their list of Best First Fiction, which sent copies of A Thousand Bridges to public libraries across the country. Michael McKinney lives with his wife on their seven acre farm along the wild Florida Panhandle. The novel, A Thousand Bridges, is as vital today as when released in 1992, fore-shadowing much of the political intrigues of the last twenty years.