The Killer Sex Game (Frank Boff) by Nathan Gottlieb

Frank Boff returns, taking on another righteous case. Boxer Danny Cullen, Frank's sidekick / friend, gets involved with the murder on another boxer, prompting Boff to investigate. He's still not fond of taking cases that involve getting people behind bars instead of away from them, but his wife insists, hoping it will mean he will go to heaven.
The case gets Boff involved with high class call girls and a dangerous mobster. The personal danger to Cullen and Boff is even higher than in the first novels, prompting Boff to come up with a pretty devious scheme that will show you why Boff is as much anti-hero as he is a hero. Written in Gottlieb's usual, easy to read and witty prose this is another great thrillride with some very funny but also very devious characters.

Love Stories Are Too Violent For Me (Vic Valentine) by Will Viharo

Vic Valentine spends his days and nights tracking down missing loved ones and jacking off to old movies. When he is hired to track down a ballplayer's missing lover the case gets very personal for Vic quickly.
This is as much a literary novel as it is a PI novel. It is about how lonesome a man's life can get and how hard it is to be a romantic and not get your heart broken time after time. I loved the references to B-movies and surf music as much as Valentine's wonderful voice. Anyone who has been lonely will find a lot in Vic to identify with.
Don't skip the intro by the writer, it is as interesting as the novel (which was published by Wild Cards Press years ago) and will make you understand the story better and give an understanding about why fantastic actor Christian Slater is painted on the cover.
Funny, tragic and dark. A great novel.

Q & A with Jason Ridler

Jason Ridler is an innovative writer who writes both horror and crime. His Spar Battersea ows enough to Sam Spade to make him a good person to interview...

Q: What makes Spar Battersea different from other hardboiled characters?
There's a lot of hardboiled characters who are rogues with a code. But most come from typical backgrounds: ex cop, ex soldier, ex hitman. BORING. 
 Spar's an ex-punk rock jackass who makes barely a living wage as a journalist. What makes him more hard boiled? He hates being a hero, but feels compelled to do it because he carries so much guilt from back in the day when he was drinking, drugging, and causing shit.

Q: How did you come up with the character?
 Honestly? From reading a lot of thrillers and realizing I hated most of them because every guy was the same (see above: ex cop, ex special forces, ex CIA, blah blah blah). What I love about noir is that it's street level high drama. If I was going to write a novel in that vein, I had to start there. Spar is a street level hero, who inherits a lot of my baggage from when I was in a punk band, but is far better in a fight than I am!

Q: What are your thoughts on the whole eBook revolution?
 There is no revolution. Just a punctuated equilibrium thanks to ebooks. I watched the rise and fall of this talk over the past four years and there's nothing revolutionary here. There now exists great opportunities for hybrid careers in ebooks and other kinds of publishing. All good. But those who want to burn down book stores and yell at major publishers because everyone will be as successful as Amanda Hocking or the creep John Locke? How about writing a great book to start. That would be good. That said, lots of great folks self publish, too . . . LIKE ME!

Q: What's next for you and Spar?
 Spar has three novels you can enjoy, starting with DEATH MATCH, then CON JOB, and DICE ROLL.  There's also a fun novella about the backstory of pro wrestler Keith "The Bullet" Winnick, called ONE BULLET, TWO SHOTS. I have yet to decide if Spar has another adventure in him because, unlike almost all heroes in thriller fiction, Spar gets hurt . . . and stays hurt. He HATES getting hurt and by the time DICE ROLL ends he's collection of broken bones. Honestly? I think one more novel will kill him. Not sure I want that to happen just yet.

Q: How do you promote your work?
Poorly, I guess. Word of mouth. Goodreads. I've tried a bunch of stuff and not much of it works beyond handselling online. What's lovely is so many people on Goodreads seemed to like my books. Check 'em out and see what the Ridler is cooking.

Q: What other genres besides crime do you like?
 Most. Fantasy and horror, literary, some science fiction. I try to keep my mind open, but mostly like the dark stuff.

 Q: What's your idea about the psychotic sidekick in PI novels like Hawk and Joe Pike?
It's a staple. That's why I tried to change it with the Bullet in DEATH MATCH and the other Spar novels. He's deadly as hell, but he'd rather be left alone if only Spar wouldn't keep getting throat deep in trouble.

Q: In the last century we've seen new waves of PI writers, first influenced by Hammett, then Chandler, Macdonald, Parker, later Lehane. Who do you think will influence the coming generation?
 If I was any good at predictions, I'd win every lottery. I will say that if you want to read some of the best crime fiction out today, check out Cara Hoffman, Elizabeth Hand, Christa Faust, Nick Mamatas, Joe Clifford, Tom Pitts, Trent Zelazny, Sean Craven and more. Pick up SWILL magazine, too.

Q: Why do you write in this genre?
 There's a strange beauty in crime fiction. It's like you can write with the epic grandeur of Greek tragedy or Shakespeare but shove it in the dark corners of the world where the freaks, geeks and desperate souls live. It allows you to write big about people in hard times. What's not to love?

Free Fiction: The Baby Trade part 4 (A Summer Black Serial)

Here's the 4th chapter of my new free serial of hardboiled fiction, starring Summer Black, the woman the streetwalkers of LA call when they have no one else to turn to...

The Baby Trade part 4 (A Summer Black serial)

by Jochem Vandersteen

 

My hands were shaking and my back was sweaty. I was in my car but had to relax myself before I could drive. I was just too worked up to drive safely.

I’d seen a lot of death and violence in the Army, I had even killed there. That was violence from a distance mostly, though. Guns firing, seeing people drop more or less in the distance as a result. Non-personal. Delivering violence like I had just done to Donny was different. Messy. Eye to eye with blood, fear. I did my share of hand-to-hand combat in the Army, but that was during training, not during actual fights. I wasn’t sure where the darkness came from that made me able to do to another human being like what I did to Donny. Maybe it was the rage still deep inside of me about what the johns and pimps did to me when I was still on the streets. Maybe just anger about what assholes like Donny to women.

I took a few deep breaths. I had to focus on getting Charlene back. I had to get to that lawyer.

I took my cell phone and called the number on the business card, dialing *67 in front of the number so the receiving end wouldn’t see my caller ID.

“Ecclestone,” a deep voice answered.

“Hello? This is June White. I heard you’re specialized in adoption?” I’m afraid I’m not that good at coming up with aliases.

“That’s right. Are you looking to adopt?”

“Yes, yes I am.”

“Good. I might be able to help you. Visit my office tomorrow morning at nine.”

“Great, I’ll be there,” I said and disconnected.

So, that went easy so far. I wasn’t exactly sure how I was going to handle the visit to Ecclestone. I’d probably end up improvising. I do a lot of improvising when I help out old sisters. I’m not really trained for the stuff I do, but I seem to have a knack for it.

I drove home, made a sandwich, drank some water and took a long shower before turning in.



Background Check on Bad Religion (Nick Kepler) by James Winter

James Winter was one of the first guys to tell me he liked my Noah Milano stories. It's great to see a new novel by him coming out, so I asked him to come over and tell us more about it.

Tell us what to expect from Bad Religion.
Bad Religion has Nick undergoing a lot of changes in his business and his life. It starts out as a simple case of a minister skimming the collection plate. When that turns out to be a dead end, someone gets upset and starts gunning for witnesses. In the meantime, Nick and Elaine's relationship is evolving. Her marriage is crumbling, and they both wonder if their one-night stand wasn't just a fluke.

How long did it take you to write?
The original draft took about four months to write. It's hard to gauge the revisions because my publisher went out of business. So I looked at it sporadically over the next five years before digging it out last year.

Tell us about how you were inspired to write it?
There's a big televangelism angle in the story, and I remembered seeing quite a bit of that freakshow when I grew up. I wanted Nick to start investigating a minister accused of being such a fraud and finding out he's actually the victim of someone else's scheme. At the same time, I had fun creating the character of Calvin Leach.

Will we see Kepler return after Bad Religion?
There's a new short in the can waiting for revisions. Beyond that, I haven't decided. Part of the problem is that I fixed Nick to the calendar, and in 2013, it's a bit hard to write a story set in 2005.

Did writing the book take a lot of research?
Some of it was calls back to Cleveland to see what changed from when I lived up there. I also have an angle that ties into a cult killing that actually took place in the area. I had to walk a balance between exploiting it and making it part of the background.

What scenes did you enjoy writing the most?I loved writing the scene where Nick and Elaine visit the taping of Leach's show. Nick is absolutely miserable there, and he's stuck next to one of those middle-aged true believers I had to deal with when I was a kid. You know the type: Badly dyed hair teased to fright-wig perfection and a gushing enthusiasm for the star of the show. I let Nick voice a little revenge for me, with Elaine pretending to be his wife and keeping him in check.

Who is your favorite among the characters in the book?I like Elaine a lot in this one. She really grows as a character. I also like Teasdale, who's kind of a throwback to Jim Rockford.

Is there anything else you'd like to say about the books?The print version will soon be available if it's not already.