In his new novel, ‘SAX CLUB’, Les Cochran depicts the struggles of people in the neighborhoods and small entrepreneurs who refused to cave to the mafia.
In the late 1970s, Detroit mafias of every type — the Black Mafia, Italian Mafia, Greek Mafia, Iranian Mafia, and the Chaldean Mafia — were out of control. The FBI labeled Detroit “the most dangerous city in America”, and a mass exodus from the city left the area depressed and ripe for crime.
It was the most dangerous time in Detroit’s history when inner-city high school teacher and Wayne State University graduate, Les Cochran was there. Cochran uses his experiences from then as the backdrop for his “Thorn Birds of Detroit” series.
Inspired by The Thorn Birds by Colleen McCullough, SAX CLUB brings to life her popularized version of the Celtic legend. It’s about commitment, dedication, and love. Thorn birds are driven, sometimes blindly, to accomplish a goal; they’re on a mission. And so it is with the thorns birds of Detroit; they’re driven against all odds to take back their city.
The first novel in the series, SAX CLUB: Thorn Birds of Detroit Confront Mafia takes readers to the notorious Detroit strip club, Sax Club, which is now a vacant lot. Cochran portrays the days when the club and the mafia were thriving. SAX CLUBtells the story of the entrepreneurs and people of Detroit who took a stand against the mafia to pursue their dreams of owning their own businesses, free of mafia control.
Retired FBI Supervisory Special Agent Oscar F. Westerfield enthuses, “SAX CLUB is a smoothly crafted crime novel of Detroit’s gritty side in the late ‘70s inter-woven with historical facts that make for a very interesting and fascinating read.”
Cochran says, “Detroit’s glory days gave way to its darkest days less than twenty years later. The spirit of its people never died, though, and the entrepreneurs who refused to give in to the local Mafias embody that.”
After receiving his doctorate from Wayne State University, where he majored in industrial education, Les Cochran became the Vice Provost of Academic Administration at Central Michigan University. After that, he served as Provost at Southeast Missouri State University for twelve years and culminated his professional career as president of Youngstown State University. During his academic career, Les published four books, over fifty articles and administered over a million dollars in grants and research projects.
Since his retirement, Les has written a series of novels. His books, Signature Affair, Costly Affair, and Presidential Affair make up the “Love, Lies and Liaison” series which is available on Amazon and Barnesandnoble.com. His new book, Sax Club, is the first novel in the “Thorn Birds of Detroit” series which is about regular folks who fight back against the Detroit mob bosses of the late 1970s.
For more information, please visit: www.LesCochran.com or www.LesCochranBlog.com
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