Based on the true life book Fall Guys by retired FBI agent Jim Fisher, Strange Boys is a period crime drama, that explores the epic levels of corruption a police department can reach when run by an ambitious district attorney and filled with political appointees. Not even the children they swore to protect are safe when the cops in Precinct 11 have to decide between their aspirations and their ethics. A mix of LA Confidential film noir and the emotional roller coaster of Primal Fear, Strange Boys will have you questioning who to root for from beginning to end.

November 1959, Eddie Boyle wins the District Attorney position in Pittsburgh Pa by a landslide, but from the moment he steps into office his term is plagued with problems. On the night of Boyle’s inauguration, Helen Zubryd, a 41 year old working class widow is brutally murdered in her own home, leaving her 8 year old devoted son Charlie Zubryd orphaned. Her clothes are ripped from her body and a hatchet is lodged so deeply into her skull, it takes two police officers to pull it out. The community is shocked by this unprecedented savagery and turns to Boyle and his boys in blue for answers and assurance. Boyles’ best men, Sergeant Teddy Botula and Detective Joe Start are assigned to the case and assure him he’ll have a conviction by Christmas.

Nearly 2 years after Helen’s murder, 1500 interviews and 50 lie detector tests, Helen’s killer still roams free. Boyle, who took office with gusto, now spends his days drinking in social halls, and the community that once adored him is calling for his resignation. Frustrated that his leads have all dried up, Sgt. Botula reviews the crime again from a new angle, exploring the possibility that Charlie killed his mother to avoid being beaten with his father’s heavy army belt. While Sgt. Botula builds his case, Detective Start encounters a “crazy eyed man” who tells him a story about a woman he met that sounds an awful lot like Helen Zubryd.

As the heat rises on Sgt. Boyle the suburbs are rocked again by a second vicious crime. Lillian Steveck was walking home from the bust stop after visiting her husband in the hospital when she is savagely raped, beaten and left for dead in a neighbor’s back yard. Jerry Pacek, a 13 year old boy with an endocrine condition that causes premature physical maturation finds her and alerts the police. Jerry, unlike Charlie, is built like a brick house and looks like a delinquent. Sgt. Botula, who now wonders if he didn’t already overlook one child murderer isn’t about to let a second one go free. He holds Jerry for the next 66 hours, questioning him, recording his confessions and even having him reenact the crime at the scene for television cameras.

Time is running out for everyone. If Boyle gets ousted from office his appointees will soon follow. Start attempts to track down the homeless crazy eyed man to bring him in when he is shot during a bust and must struggle to survive. While Jerry waits for trial, Sgt. Botula becomes convinced that Charlie, whose own relatives describe as cold, petulant and “strange”, killed his own mother. Detective Start and Sgt. Botula race against the clock to solve their cases while Charlie and Jerry’s futures hang in the balance.