Trial of Tears

‘Pulp Fiction' with a dash of ‘This Is Spinal Tap'

Pete Watts is a former undercover narcotics cop who got way too close to his job. He now runs a music rehearsal studio that draws the underbelly of the industry: violent drug gangs, a strange assortment of hangers-on and a gorgeous ex-mercenary who wears makeup in the form of multi-colored tears running down her face. These tears are, in fact, decals on which different poisons are concealed. Some survive the Trial of Tears, some don't. The story's taut climax is set in a posh townhouse in which only the courageous will emerge unscathed.

An action-packed love-letter to New York City, it's a story of friendship and redemption, that provides a roller-coaster of laughter, drama and suspense, leaving the reader wanting more.

About the author:

Chris Semal was born in New York City and has lived there all his life. He is aware that other places exist and likes to visit them from time to time, but the city is a hard mistress to resist.

A musician, singer and songwriter, Semal has played pretty much every rock club and bar in Manhattan at one time or another since the early 80s in various bands. He’s seen the underside of the music industry – the good, bad and ugly – also through his solo work, under the lewscannon heading.

Semal went to the University of Miami to study Music Engineering, heading back north to do the only obvious thing possible, becoming a municipal bond broker and eventually working as a consultant building financial models.

In the early part of the millennium, between both consulting and band gigs, he wanted to expand on the 80 or so words he used in writing song lyrics to the 80,000 he would need for a novel. And so Semal’s debut thriller set in New York City, Trial Of Tears (Paperback & eBook, Cannon Publications, February 2012), was born, along with a passion for developing plots and characters.

"Chris Semal's writing is subtle as a flamethrower in a petroleum refinery. His sense of urgency will make you grit your teeth from the first page to the last. An excellent new author who deserves to be read."

- Joe Schwartz, author of The Games Men Play