The Book: Jingo Street

The Author: Sharon Ervin

The Story: Max Marcowitz murdered his first man when he was eight years old. Removed from their single mother’s custody, Max and his mentally disabled older brother Rosco failed in foster care and were sent to Delete, a state facility for wayward boys.

By the time they were twelve and fifteen, Max and Rosco ran away. A natural con man, Max shined shoes, ran errands, posed for pornography, pimped, anything to support himself and Rosco. Eventually, Max became a hit man.

Max is thirty-six years old, notorious, charming, and semiretired when he meets Anne Krease, twenty-four, a naive lawyer. who grew up sheltered like a hothouse flower.

JINGO STREET is Max’s story told from Anne’s viewpoint. Although badly mismatched, the chemistry between Max and Anne sizzles.

JINGO STREET is not a happily-ever-after romance, but rather women’s fiction.

About Sharon Ervin:

A former newspaper reporter, Sharon Thetford Ervin has a B.A. degree in journalism from the University of Oklahoma.  She is married, has four grown children, and works half-days in her husband and older son’s law office as probate clerk and gofer.

JINGO STREET is Sharon’s eleventh published novel.

Review by Velda Brotherton: Sharon Ervin is the best at twisted plots, and believe me you won’t see this coming. A love story so beautiful, so different you’ll not forget it for a good long while. Set in and around a homeless shelter on Jingo Street, a rough part of town, young attorney Ann serves her time for misbehaving with a judge and learns that all is not what it seems.

Especially when it comes to the intriguing, charming, unreachable Max. I read a lot of books. This one captured my heart in a way none has in a good long while.

Review by Jacqueline Seewal: New lawyer Anne Krease is sentenced to eight weeks of community service, two evenings a week helping out in a homeless shelter soup kitchen on Jingo Street (skid row).
She meets some colorful characters. One of them, Rosco, a rough giant of limited mental ability, develops a crush on her. His brother Max who keeps an eye on Rosco is also attracted to Anne. She soon feels the same attraction to Max.

However, her friend, A.D.A. Todd Harbison, warns her about Max, telling her he is a hoodlum and a killer. The relationship also draws the enmity of Max’s boss placing Anne in a dangerous position. Sharon Erwin draws her characters with bold lines, developing them fully. The reader is quickly pulled into the story, soon caring about the fate of Anne and her complicated love for Max.

I won’t discuss the plot any further except to say that there is complexity. A fine read for both crime and romance readers.