Hot Metal Hobo by David Chadwick

Summer 1976 in the pre-election days in DC. The wounds of Vietnam are still fresh. Two generals, Keith Zetchik and ‘Holy Joe’ Tedstone, are itching for the same Pentagon opening. Washington Tribune crime reporter Wat Tyler (former Army Special Forces Captain, spec ops and CMH award recipient) is good friend of Holy Joe’s son Johnny Tedstone. One fateful night, Zetchik and Johnny are gunned down. This follows a few days earlier when Zetchik’s wife was killed at their Chesapeake Bay home.

Tedstone and Zetchik were in Vietnam together. Each ended up being involved in a My Lai style slaughter. And one was involved with a local drug smuggler funneling cash to the VC. Wat had a young local girl on the inside of the smuggling ring and was closing in on the American connection until she was brutally murdered.

A third general, Hector Weschler, is retired and positioning himself for a cabinet post in whatever new administration is put into office. Has done well for himself. Married into an old money family, politically middle of the road, hoping for the Secretary of State, Defense, or NSA with an eye on the oval office following. He provides Wat with valuable background intel from Vietnam about Zetchik and Tedstone.

DC Homicide is hot to trot on this high-profile case. Three murders and worried there are more to come. So it the DEA. So is the CIA. The CIA agent is a Vietnamese national who used to work for the VC, got turned and joined up with the CIA. This all makes for an uneasy set of alliances between Metro DC cops, DEA, CIA, and a nosy reporter who’s connected by his friendship with the now-deceased Johnny Tedstone and wondering if he might be next on the killer's list.

Wat is far from just a curious reporter. The connections to Vietnam and Johnny drive Wat to dig far deeper and faster than DC Homicide, finding a tangled web of connections between and amongst the players of this saga. We are kept at a distance about just how it all comes together until very late, so be patient. You will be reworded. Wat is an engaging character and having him partner with the CIA agent is fortuitous. Apparently this book is part three in the author’s Nixon’s America trilogy. Do the other two feature Wat or is the link that all three are set in the middle 1970s.The time frame and location are right up my alley.

I’ll let you know.

Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC. Published a month ago, Feb 28, 2025. 

 

East Coast Don