NOVELS

In addition to his many scientific publications, Chris Frueh has also published nine historical crime novels under the pen name Christopher Bartley. Kicking off with “THEY DIE ALONE” (2013) and most recently “A SEASON PAST” (2019), these novels form a collection of stories about men with guns and their search for meaning and intimacy.

Eight of these works form a series set in 1934 America at the end of Prohibition as the country was still in the grip of the Great Depression. The protagonist, Ross Duncan, is a world weary bank robber and roving conscience haunted by the death of his partner during a recent bank heist. Duncan, who is on the run from J. Edgar Hoover’s fledgling FBI is caught grasping for a chance of moral redemption from his life of crime. Set in the era of the Public Enemy, these are cool yet fast-paced and violent stories of Tommy guns, cold gin martinis, sharp repartee, piles of cash, and deadly betrayals. 

They Die Alone: A Ross Duncan Novel by Christopher Bartley featuring a grey stone building a iron gate with two cars parked in front of it in the background and a car driving on a cobblestone road with headlights on in the foreground
THEY DIE ALONE
Sleep Not My Child: A Ross Duncan Novel by Christopher Bartley featuring a grey building on the left and slick road with two cars on the right, a night-time cityscape in the background
SLEEP NOT MY CHILD
To Catch Is Not To Hold: A Ross Duncan Novel by Christopher Bartley featuring a slick road at night with two cars with headlights on
TO CATCH IS NOT TO HOLD
book cover of For A Sin Offering: A Ross Duncan Novel by Christopher Bartley featuring the entrance of a nightclub with a blue banner and red carpeted entrance, cars and people mingle outside
FOR A SIN OFFERING
Unto the Daughters of Men: A Ross Duncan Novel by Christopher Bartley featuring men in suits and one woman in a white fur coat sitting at a wrap-around bar
UNTO THE DAUGHTERS OF MEN
book cover of A Bullet to Dream Of: A Ross Duncan Novel by Christopher Bartley
A BULLET TO DREAM OF
book cover of Every Secret Thing: A Ross Duncan Novel by Christopher Bartley featuring a wooden desk with an open bible with a hun resting on top and a glass of hard alcohol to the left and the bottle behind it
EVERY SECRET THING
book cover of Naked Shall I Return: A Ross Duncan Novel by Christopher Bartley featuring a black background with a martini glass, golden bullets, and a slim piece of dark wood with gold asian lettering
NAKED SHALL I RETURN
A SEASON PAST

Click to read Chris Frueh’s favorite crime novel classics!