The Pittsburgh Hamlet - Ron Shafer

After Jude Hepler and his girlfriend Cory Mohney unwittingly stumble onto the zealously guarded secrets of the highly intelligent Abe Badoane (as narrated in the prequel The Rose and the Serpent), the enraged Abe vows revenge. To advance his scheme, he dupes fellow mine employee Duke Manningham into an attempted heart-stopping rape of the beautiful Cory and ultimately enlists Duke's aid to rid the mushroom mine of Jude forever. To frame Jude, Abe lulls a stooge into sabotaging Duke's gem '57 Chevy. Upon seeing Jude's fingerprints on his car, Duke errantly deduces that Jude is guilty and, to regain Cory's favor, agrees to join Abe at a live production of Hamlet in Pittsburgh. Brilliant and cunning as Hannibal Lecter, Abe Badoane smugly sits in the theater with the incriminating fingerprint evidence, but unbeknown to him, Jude and Cory have plotted a dangerous mid-peformance scheme to trap him.

Who will win the battle between these towering intellects, wherein the compelling Cory and Jude story of love, faith, and gripping heroism runs parallel to—and actually intermeshes with—Shakespeare's masterpiece, Hamlet? Do Jude and Cory actually think they can take down the ingenious Abe Badoane during the live performance of the famous tragedy? Who will survive this epic white-knuckle clash?

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'The subtle interweaving and ingenious double-plotting of The Pittsburgh Hamlet--stirring, sustained, and stunning--culminates in a breath-taking climax that is one of the extraordinary milestones in modern American fiction.'

--Corbin Wyant, former publisher, Naples Daily News

'Masterful! The most moving novel I have read in years-I couldn't put it down.'

--Dr. Coral A. Norwood, Lee University