Costello's
Books
Costello's
Books
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Writing About Philadelphia
Historically accurate books about life in America.
These amazing stories of kids on the streets who fight for survival. In a country with the highest crime rate, kids who defy organized crime and the police spotlight the danger of the whipsawed American cities.
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But there is more to these stories than crime. The On the Hill series showcases the American way of life — when growing up didn't include computers and cell phones, and guns did not settle disputes. They're also about a police officer, Detective George Rausher, who grew up on the Hill, where he and Dot raised three boys. Rausher is a highly regarded lawman who appears in all of Costello's On the Hill books.
Detective Rausher goes after crime his own way, fighting fire with fire and going rogue in the upcoming addition to the series, Alone in the Fight.
The Hill, Belmont Hills, is located on the edge of Philadelphia across the Schuylkill River from Manayunk. During the 1960s, when Costello's books take place, the Hill was a wonderland of first and second-generation immigrant families. The author, a native of the Hill, draws from his experiences and the stories he remembers growing up to create a vivid and authentic portrayal of life in Philadelphia.
Today, Costello lives in South Philadelphia, where a changing demographic is reshaping America for the better: New immigrants are settling in South Philadelphia, creating a multicultural population where Italian-Americans once dominated.
1. Dead Kids Don't Speak
While stealing cherries in a neighbor's yard, four rugged kids witness a double homicide. They jump from the trees and run for it. The killer sees them, and unfortunately, it was a mob hit. But the kids are hard-bitten and resilient, and with a death sentence on their backs, they take to the woods and streets to stay alive.
2. Insomnia
The President discovers the Russians working on a deadly bacteria to sneak into the United States. But where? And how? The Russians go undetected until the people on the Hill begin acting strangely. They no longer needed to sleep. With the help of the Irish mob and a biker gang in Fishtown, the Hill fights back.
3. The Visitor
Camping in the woods, the Hill kids meet an extraterrestrial being. But the CIA and Air Force know about it, too. Everybody — including the Russian and South Philly mobs, wanted the Visitor. But only the kids knew where it they hid it. The Visitor came for its brother, and it didn't take no for an answer.
Go Ahead, play the clips...
Dead Kids Don't Speak
Insomnia
The Visitor
Alone in the Fight
Coming, End of Summer
Alone in the Fight
Human bodies — or cadavers — are not as scarce as they were in the late sixties, when Alone in the Fight takes place. Today, you can have your driver's license indicate that you want to donate your body to research. But back then, medical research — namely medical schools — couldn't get the bodies needed to teach future doctors.
The Camorra mafia, centered in Naples and Salerno, Italy, was making a profit shipping cadavers to medical schools in Europe. However, the Camorra got greedy and set its sights on American medical schools. Camorra sent people to the outskirts of Philadelphia to set up the business. It also sent its hitman, the Frenchman or Frenchy, a transgender hitwoman, to assist. The American Federation, Camorra's competition, also set up business with their hitman — Chief Red Cloud, who does his killing with Africanized honey bees.
Alone in this story is LM Detective George Rausher, shortly before he retired.
He came upon the fighting for bodies — however, no one believed him. Even the superintendent asked Rausher to retire. But the detective wouldn't hear of it and, upon Georgie Scavello's suggestion, got his own hitman: "Detective," Scavello said. "You've got to fight fire with fire," and introduced him to Butcher Hicks.
They all meet on the Hill, where the real fun begins. If you think the other Hill books were unputdownable, wait until you read Alone.
Darkness They Could Not See
Before the On the Hill Series, the author Costello wrote a historical fiction book about Columbus's first voyage in 1492. If you think it's boring because it's history, think again. But here's the thing: the author presents the facts and allows the reader to decide on Columbus's past voyages and the accusations of genocide. Go to 1492 above.
Columbus Defends Himself
Vai avanti, riproduci la clip / Go ahead play the clip
