Good Blood

According to Rosemary Luce, 1968 Mahoningtown, Pennsylvania, was as true as the movie's exaggerations--a flash of technicolored bliss. But under the falling soot of train engines and steel mill stacks her vibrant Italian-American community is riddled with morbid secrets. Eleven-year-old Rosie's curiosity in a mysterious group of men precipitates her discovery of the Italian Mafia. When she gets caught in the Mafia's path she learns that her honorable and honest family has incestuous Mafia ties. And, the golden age of the mob is coming to a self-detonating end. Her struggle to rescue her family from its generational curse begins to blur her own distinctions between corruption and justice, good and evil, sin and saving. In her journey, she discovers the power of friendship, the consequences of evil, and the hard decisions that come with unconditional love.


""'Flannery O'Connor meets The Godfather'--that's how I'd describe Pastore's gripping debut novel, Good Blood. Full of insight and intrigue, this haunting tale follows a girl coming of age in a 'family' that is both more and less than what she imagined.""
--Sandra Glahn, Dallas Theological Seminary

""Pastore masterfully blends the psychological thrill of a crime novel with the contemplative cadence of poetry, making for a story that not only keeps you at the edge of your seat, but holds your thoughts captive long after the last page turns.""
--David L Henderson, MD, Psychiatrist and Founder of FourStonesCollaborative


K. C. Pastore is a writer and visual artist from New Castle, Pennsylvania. She currently dwells in the city that never sleeps where she spends plenty of time caring for plants and dining with friends. This is her debut novel.