Every large city has its dark alleys, run down warehouses, and dens of dubious virtue. A city's skyline, landscape and neighborhoods are but the basic colors of a much more interesting tapestry of life. Woven within it all are its citizens who add to the vibrancy of a city on the move, and give music and voice to its life. But the shrill off-key notes of a life of crime that make you grip your head in desperation of humanity doesn't begin in dark alleys, abandoned warehouses and dimly lit street corners. No! It happens at recess in elementary school. And, many times, it's a Catholic elementary school. "Rookie Noir" begins in the 1959-60 school year, and two 8-year-old gumshoes know that the Baltimore City Police don't have time to investigate crimes that occur right before their lunch break, and the Franciscan nuns at the Shrine of the Large Flower School are out-numbered. It's up to David and Mark to stop the wannabe jailbirds, aspiring hoods and fumbling ginks in their going-to-hell-at-any-cost fervor of shady dealing in baseball cards and comic books, shooting spitballs in class, and teasing the dickens out of dames. Those crimes won't make the headlines in "The Baltimore Sun," or "The News American" but if David and Mark don't act now, you'll read about really bad crimes in the local newspaper soon, maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but soon.
