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Gammy L. Singer

Adding to an already eclectic and impressive resume, actress and director Gammy L. Singer has brought another color to her artistic palette: author, and she explores storytelling from a perspective that many more-experienced writers wish they could tap. Singer has been a teacher, a masseuse, a clerical worker, a proofreader, an actress and director. Her second novel, Down and Dirty: Another Landlord’s Tale has likeable landlord Amos Brown back in action. The first, A Landlord’s Tale, was optioned for film and television by Laurence Fishburne’s film company, Gypsy Cinema Productions and the mass market version of the book, Hard Luck and Trouble: A Landlord’s Tale was released in 2007.

With more than 25 years of experience, Singer has been an award-winning stage, screen and television actress. She has received four Dramalogue Awards, an American Film Award from the San Francisco Educational Library Association, a Robbie Award, two NAACP Image Awards and four nominations. She’s proudest of her work in a successful PBS series, Up & Coming, in which she starred for two years, about an upwardly mobile Black family living in San Francisco that hit the airwaves two years prior to Bill Cosby’s launching his own landmark series.

Among her recent acting credits is the audio version of Lalita Tademy’s best selling novel Red River --an Oprah pick, a stage appearance in No Time for Comedy with Sharon Lawrence, the films Head of State with Chris Rock, Thirteen Conversations About One Thing with Alan Arkin, the television pilot of The Job with Denis Leary, as well as Broadway and Off-Broadway productions, including Old Settler, Whose Family Values, and August Wilson’s Seven Guitars. Watch for her next in an upcoming commercial for Las Vegas Tourism.

Ms. Singer earned a master’s degree in Writing Popular Fiction at Seton Hill University in Pennsylvania and has contributed theater reviews for the New York Amsterdam News and book reviews for online FlavahReviews.com. She is a member of Sisters in Crime and Mystery Writers of America. She resides in Harlem, the setting for her novels, having moved there from Los Angeles and has a daughter, son-in-law and two grandchildren living in Atlanta whom she visits regularly.

Down & Dirty

By Gammy L. Singer

Gammy L. Singer continues the tale of Amos Brown, reformed numbers runner turned landlord, in legendary Harlem, New York. It’s a bittersweet world where money may be tight, but there’s no shortage of excitement—or mystery…

Landlord Amos Brown hasn’t been nicknamed the Harlem Don for nothing. Ever since he inherited two brownstones from his estranged father, he’s taken on the weight of his neighbors’ problems, a wrenching habit that makes for sleepless—not to mention solitary—nights. From a dying tenant to a drug addicted single mom to an abandoned child, Amos’s gut twists as he sees first hand the ravages of desperation, disease, and poverty in his slice of Harlem. No wonder his last girlfriend broke up with him.

Still, now he can make a difference, instead of being part of the problem. In fact, Amos is finally feeling settled into life as a landlord and finished with a life of crime, when his old friend and mentor, Deacon Steadwell, is accused of murder. Amos is compelled to help the eighty-three-old, who is in jail and ailing. He doesn’t have the money to put up bail—but Amos does have his brownstones.

Just his luck, no sooner has he secured Deacon’s release than the old man suddenly recovers and disappears—leaving Amos and his property in some serious jeopardy. Amos has no choice but to search for Deacon. It’s a journey that nearly gets Amos killed, though he doesn’t know why or by whom. To find the answers, he will have to return to the streets and the life he’d left behind, among prostitutes and players, pimps and dealers. And when someone else is murdered, Amos discovers that he is only one part of a much bigger picture—and only one target of a surprising foe that threatens the Harlem he loves. Will he be able to protect it?

“Singer paints a vivid and gritty picture of vintage Harlem: there are neither angels nor saints and appearances are usually deceiving. In the end, this is a convincing love story about Brown's neighborhood. Readers of urban fiction will appreciate the snappy pacing and compromised characters.”

-Publishers Weekly-

“…subtle social commentary and thought provoking dialogue. Down and Dirty is a very good, complex and enthralling read filled with mystery and mayhem.”

-4 ½ stars, recommended read, Rawsistaz Black Book Reviews—

“…a book most readers won’t be able to put down. Singer is an author to watch…”

--4 ½ stars, Romantic Times Review—

“…Singer leaves us wanting to know more.”

-Booklist-

“Ms. Singer creates an unvarnished view of Harlem, peopled by a motley group of vivid characters that entertain even as they teach a subtle lesson…a memorable story, well executed and delivered.”

-FMAM Mostly Mystery Reviews-

“The scenes in the tunnel under New York will haunt you long after you finish reading the book. (And someone tell Jerry Bruckheimer he might have another hit series here if he moves fast.”

-New Mystery Reader-

“If you liked A Landlord's Tale, you will love Down and Dirty! Down and Dirty is for those of you who love mystery and suspense with a touch of old-school flavor. It is a fast-paced read that will grab your attention from beginning to end!”

-4 ½ stars, Shay of PeopleWhoLuvGoodBooks-