A new series from Richard Wake, the historical thriller author with a quarter-million books sold!

Henri La Rue is a family man in Paris in the late 1950s, a man who manages the day-to-day of the family business, with all of the accompanying complications and headaches. An uncle who is still his titular boss, a wife whom he butts heads with, a son who is a bit of a knucklehead, a daughter he never sees, employees who don’t always listen — Henri La Rue is an everyman in many ways, like you or me or the man next door.
That is, if you or me or the man next door ran whorehouses and casinos, and put out money on the street as a loan shark. That is, if you or me or the man next door broke the legs of the recalcitrant or murdered rivals, enemies, really anybody who got in the La Rue family’s way.
Conquest is the first installment of the La Rue family crime thriller series. When a rival crime family in a neighboring Paris arrondissement suffers a loss, Henri decides to make a move into their territory, valuable because of the presence of two train stations within its boundaries. Operated properly — that is, after paying off the correct people, including the police — a train station through which so many consumer goods pass can be a goldmine for a Paris gang. Henri wants the goldmine, both of them.
But when he takes them both, the Gare du Nord and the Gare de l’Est, a third rival gang becomes involved, and the resulting war threatens to destroy not only the La Rue family but everything that the La Rues have built up over the years.
Conquest, originally published in installments on the Kindle Vella platform, is the first book in the series by Richard Wake, author of the successful Alex Kovacs spy thriller series. He’s also written a series whose protagonist, Peter Ritter, is an East Berlin murder detective at the time of the building of the Berlin Wall. Readers have been generous in their praise of Wake’s books. One recently said, “I have read all 12 books in this series as well as all the Ritter books Richard Wake has written, and thoroughly enjoyed them. Wake is an excellent writer and I find Alex Kovacs' character to be very interesting. I enjoy all the quips and blunt humor. Looking forward to the next in the series!”
There will be more coming soon from Alex Kovacs. But in the meantime, Henri La Rue adds another multifaceted lead character to the works of Richard Wake.

Pick up Conquest today — you won’t be disappointed!

THE SECOND BOOK IN THE CRACKLING NEW SERIES FROM RICHARD WAKE, AN AUTHOR WITH MORE THAN A QUARTER-MILLION SALES!

Henri La Rue is a mob boss who still isn’t really in charge of the family business. The titular head of the family is his Uncle Gerard, and the complications caused by that relationship continue to grow and tangle. But there is more than that, more family, more issues.

Because, whether he likes it or not — and he doesn’t like it — both of Henri’s children have joined the family business. He had been against his son Guy performing anything more than tangential mob duties, but time and circumstances changed all of it and brought the son in to work for the father. And if he had been anti-Guy, Henri had been even more dead-set against his daughter Clarice, a financial whiz, getting within a mile of the La Rue family business. Yet, here she was — involved and successful. And Henri didn’t know how to feel.

The exploits of his children tugged at him. The infidelity of his wife infuriated him. A new series of problems with the rival Levine gang family tested his judgment. And through it all, the physical decline of his Uncle Gerard made Henri question exactly what the future might hold for him.

Power is the second book in the La Rue family crime thriller series. A favorite review of the first book in the series, Conquest , went like this:

“How does this guy do it? He releases a new book a couple times a year, and no matter what series they are in, the Alex Kovacs WW2 series, or the one about the East German police officer in the 1960's, or this new one, they are just tremendous fun to read. His characters are well done, so real, and his plots are realistic and fascinating. I read every thing ha has published as soon as they are released. This new series is about a crime family in Paris in the late 1950's and he paints quite a vivid scene of the city and the times. Start reading this book and you will soon want all the rest of his books.”

I hope you feel the same way.