Kansas City Breakdown Sizzles with Classic Noir Vibes
Kansas City Breakdown Sizzles with Classic Noir Vibes
MISSOULA, MT and LIVINGSTON, TX, April. 14, 2026
The new collaboration between crime writers Russell Thayer and M.E. Proctor, Kansas City Breakdown, is available in print and eBook today. Published by Cowboy Jamboree Press, this is the anticipated follow up to Bop City Swing, released last year. The lead characters are back: San Francisco Homicide Detective Tom Keegan and his unlikely ally Vivian Davis, aka Gunselle, a professional assassin.
This is May 1952. Crime bosses and their entourage are meeting in Kansas City. One of the attendees is a high-ranking San Francisco gangster who will travel by train with a couple of bodyguards. The FBI sees an opportunity to get close to the man and set a honey trap, if they can find the right woman.
Tom Keegan knows the perfect candidate, but will she agree? Vivian Davis doesn’t work for the police. But Tom is doing the asking and that changes everything. She also might have her own reasons to want to go to Kansas City. Betrayal is part of the deal.
Here’s what reviewers say about the Tom Keegan/Vivian Davis series:
“Thayer and Proctor have given us a classic contemporary take on old school noir that leaves the readers so satisfied they’ll want to fire up a Chesterfield and pour a double bourbon in the afterglow!”
“A pitch-perfect, period-piece mystery that seamlessly fuses the writing styles of two of our neo-noir greats: M.E. Proctor, whose short stories can be described as the lovechild of Ruth Rendell and Ray Bradbury, and Russell Thayer, whose antihero Gunselle simultaneously creates and exemplifies the niche of the professional hitwoman of the black-and-white era.”
“I can’t get enough of crime novels set in the 50s, so this collaboration between Thayer and Proctor was a must read. Thayer brings his character, Gunselle, and Proctor brings her character Tom Keegan, and the mix is an explosive one. Pulp charm, plenty of atmosphere, and music in the violence.”
M.E. Proctor lives in Texas. She’s the author of the Declan Shaw detective mysteries and the author of two short story collections. She co-wrote two retro-noirs with Russell Thayer, Bop City Swing and Kansas City Breakdown. Her fiction has appeared in various magazines and anthologies. She’s a Shamus Award and Derringer Award short story nominee.
Russell Thayer’s work has appeared in magazines like Mystery Tribune, Bristol Noir, Rock and a Hard Place, and Literary Garage. He’s working on a short story collection. Russell received his BA in English from the University of Washington and currently lives in Missoula, Montana.
Kansas City Breakdown by M.E. Proctor and Russell Thayer
Published by Cowboy Jamboree Press, April 2026
Cover design: Frank Vatel
Available in Paperback – Amazon
207 pages – ISBN 979-8902431831 – $14.99
Available in eBook – Kindle – $8.99