The First Ward

Fingy Conners was a millionaire…and a serial murderer.
Get ready to be astonished at what this now-forgotten actual historical figure was not only capable of—but got away with.
If Fingy Conners had sprung from some writer’s fanciful imaginings, just such a character would be dismissed as outlandish and improbable, so thoroughly and so swiftly did this man accrue wealth, political power and cruel domination over so many. Based on over a thousand newspaper and magazine articles written about him, the character of Fingy Conners serves as a template for how thoroughly someone who asserts unmitigated authority, backed by audacious lies and unrelenting threats of violence and retribution, can rise to the top unchallenged.
Fingy Conners’ domination is best viewed though the eyes of the First Ward’s Sullivan Brothers and their wary families. Living in houses side-by-side at river’s edge amid industrial bedlam, Police Detective Sergeant Jim Sullivan resists as best he might Conners’ smothering oversee, while his younger brother John P. Sullivan, obsessed with attaining political power, eagerly crosses over to the dark side as a Conners ally.
Complicating matters is the presence of Jim’s brother-in-law David J. Nugent, mentored from a young age by Conners to assume the role of his chief lieutenant and enforcer of violence and murder. Nugent’s persistent criminality stirs conflict in Jim’s otherwise strong marriage to Nugent’s apologist sister, Hannah.
At the opposite end of the spectrum from Fingy Conners lies the great Samuel Clemens, aka Mark Twain. Whilst co-owner of the Buffalo Express newspaper, Clemens takes teenage Jim Sullivan under his wing, sensing the deep wounding having been suffered by the youth. Sam instills hope and purpose at the cusp of Jim’s manhood where little previously existed, even as Clemens himself continues to suffer great distress and deep personal loss.

All of the personalties in The First Ward novel series are real people who lived and breathed and walked the streets. The core characters are the author’s own ancestors.

THE FIRST WARD is a sweeping 5-part novel series set in Buffalo’s Irish waterfront First Ward, from 1850 to 1935, immortalizing the many actual historical figures who struggled to make their mark on this world, ranging from America's CIA founder, "Wild Bill" Donovan to those who have undeservedly faded into oblivion. Buy it now!

Richard Sullivan is the great grandson of THE FIRST WARD's protagonist, Detective Sergeant James Sullivan of Buffalo Precinct 7. The author's father was born and raised in the First Ward and brought up his nine children on stories of his youth spent there, which at one time terrified them, but in more recent times, fascinates. Volume 2, titled FINGY CONNERS & THE NEW CENTURY, was released in 2012. Volume 3, titled MURDERERS, SCOUNDRELS AND RAGAMUFFINS was released in 2015. Sullivan is the author of two very successful award-winning Hawaii photo-guidebooks, DRIVING & DISCOVERING OAHU and DRIVING & DISCOVERING MAUI & MOLOKAI, as well as a fitness book for people over 40, titled RECLAIM YOUR YOUTH and a genealogy research guide, FAMILY SECRETS AND GENEALOGY RESEARCH TIPS.