A body in a barrel just appeared on the shore of Lake Mead, and Lenny Battaglia is worried. Forty years ago, when Lenny was a henchman in the Las Vegas mafia, his partner, Frank, whacked the victim, and Lenny helped dump the body. But there’s another victim in another barrel somewhere in the lake, and it’s got Lenny’s name on it. For now, that barrel’s underwater, but the drought-ravaged lake keeps dropping, and Frank is talking to the cops. Lenny tows his fishing boat to the lake to haul his barrel farther from shore, but his boat’s too small, the barrel’s too heavy, and he’s too old. Lenny needs a new plan. Can he cover the horror of his crooked past before it catches up to him in the present? A cross between Martin Scorsese’s Casino and Fyodor Dostoevsky’s Crime and Punishment , Body in a Barrel is a suspenseful, gritty, noir novella about organized crime, violence, murder, fear, guilt, grace, and unlikely friendship in Sin City, inspired by true events. “. . . real gravitas and deeply felt humanity. Aaron Mead is a writer of tremendous skill and empathy.” —Scott Teems, writer-director-producer, The Lowdown, Narcos: Mexico, Rectify “Taut and engrossing . . . Aaron Mead has given us crime fiction with wit and heart.” —Chad Holley, author of Shield the Joyous: A Novel “A tight and compelling story of regret and redemption. Body in a Barrel is . . . thrilling!” —Claire Gibson, author of Beyond the Point: A Novel “Mead's character-driven narrative draws you in from the very first page . . . The plot is well-paced and thoroughly engrossing . . . the character development is nothing short of stellar . . . Recommended to readers of well-written crime thrillers.” —Readers' Favorite (5 stars) "...a gripping crime drama...about a man trying to free himself from the baggage of his past...character-driven narrative draws you in from the very first page...The plot is well-paced and thoroughly engrossing. But it's the characters that shine the brightest...the character development is nothing short of stellar...The author also excels at creating an atmosphere of tension, suspense, and intrigue, making the narrative all the more absorbing...Recommended to readers of well-written crime thrillers." (5 STARS) READERS' FAVORITE "Propulsive but never rushed, topical but never preachy, Body in a Barrel has real gravitas and deeply felt humanity. Aaron Mead is a writer of tremendous skill and empathy." -- Scott Teems, writer-director-producer, The Lowdown, Narcos: Mexico, Rectify "Taut and engrossing, Body in a Barrel is a short tale playing the long game, tracing the arc of one man's moral redemption across decades. Aaron Mead has given us crime fiction with wit and heart." -- Chad Holley, author of Shield the Joyous: A Novel "In Body in a Barrel , Mead writes a tight and compelling story of regret and redemption. With endearing characters and a stirring setting, Body in a Barrel is a thrilling accomplishment!" -- Claire Gibson, author of Beyond the Point: A Novel By day, I work as an engineer at the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, focused on water imports from the Colorado River. In July 2022, Lake Mead, the largest reservoir on the Colorado River (and the largest in the United States), dropped to its lowest level since it filled in 1935. The low level was due to a combination of too much water use and atrophied inflows caused by drought and climate change. As the reservoir dropped, things long-submerged began appearing on newly exposed mud beaches. Things like bodies. Investigators concluded that most of the bodies were drowning victims, but one of them showed up in a barrel with a gunshot wound. Based on clothing and footwear still worn by the victim, authorities concluded he was killed in the late 1970s or early 1980s, a period during which organized crime was rampant in nearby Las Vegas. Understandably, people began to speculate about who the victim was and the circumstances of the killing. (The best survey of possibilities I've found is on the blog of the Mob Museum in Las Vegas.) Soon after the grim discovery, a colleague sent a tweet around on our work chat that said something like, "Breaking: Las Vegas mobsters become climate advocates." After I stopped laughing, the tweet set my imagination spinning on a darkly comic short story centered on a washed up mobster in his 60s who is alarmed by news of the body in the barrel. My jokey first draft ended with the protagonist, Lenny, making a donation to a climate action group. Some writer friends who read the first draft convinced me there was potential for a more complex and interesting story about Lenny, so I went away and wrote some more. After many drafts, the result was a story that was too long for most magazines but shorter than a novel. So I decided to publish it independently as a novella. My sense is that there may yet be more to tell in this story, which could end up as a novel. Aaron Mead is a writer of fi