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DKA File #3
Gone, No Forwarding
With the state threatening to yank their license over a slight infraction, the investigators at DKA, eager for fast cash, must track down a prostitute on the run. Reprint.
212 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1978
About the author
Joe Gores
80 books33 followersJoe Gores (1931-2011) was the author of the acclaimed DKA series of street-level crime and detection, as well as the stunning suspense novels Dead Man and Menaced Assassin.
He served in the U.S. Army - writing biographies of generals at the Pentagon - was educated at the University of Notre Dame and Stanford, and spent twelve years as a San Francisco private investigator. The author of dozens of novels, screenplays, and television scripts, he won three Edgar Allan Poe Awards and Japan's Maltese Falcon Award.
He served in the U.S. Army - writing biographies of generals at the Pentagon - was educated at the University of Notre Dame and Stanford, and spent twelve years as a San Francisco private investigator. The author of dozens of novels, screenplays, and television scripts, he won three Edgar Allan Poe Awards and Japan's Maltese Falcon Award.
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
July 16, 2026
Gone, No Forwarding
Book 3 of the DKA File, Skip Tracers series… by Joe Gores
Random House, 1978.
On the way from Harlem, Bart Heslip switched cabs three times, and then caught a plane from Newark because he was afraid they might be watching Kennedy and La Guardia. Six hours until the plane landed at San Jose … Sleep began to wash over him. He knew who’d hired them. He even knew what they were trying to do. But why?
It had to go back to that rainy Friday in November, almost a year ago, which he now knew had been
THE FIRST DAY
Sure. It happened the next day, …—“You have been legally served in the matter of the Accusation brought against Dan Kearny Associates by Thomas V. Greenly, Supervising Auditor for the Private Investigation Agency Licensing Bureau of the State of California.”
Dan Kearny —entered his bleak little cubbyhole office in the DKA’s basement, jabbed Giselle’s intercom button… —“You know what those bastards in Sacramento are up to? —‘WHEREFORE, it is prayed that the director’ —‘hold a hearing to suspend or revoke the license of the respondent’ —that’s us— ‘or take other actions that should be deemed proper.’
“Something Kathy was handling out of Oakland—“ —A General Motors deficiency judgement against a guy named Kashmir Pivarski.”
—“we got a writ of attachment on his wages from from Padilla Drayage Company.”
Giselle— “Oh, wow,” … an East Bay Mafia-connected concern… “Maybe just a coincidence. But why in hell Kathy didn’t alert me when that name came in the file…” “It wouldn’t have meant anything to her… You kept her out of that… you were afraid her kids made her too vulnerable.” [Kathy Onado, office manager, dead by blood clot the month before.]
“Ballard had never really liked the East Bay. No there there, as Giselle had once told him some lesbo writer back in the twenties had put it.” [Oakland would like a word] When Interstate 580 went through Oakland a few years before, it had reduced MacArthur Boulevard to a freeway-feeder street. The motels which once had catered to through-travelers slid—at the same time that girls from nearby recently black residential areas were growing up hungry for the good life. — He was glad to turn off —to the 3000 block of Thirty-fourth Street, where Verna Rounds was supposed to live.” —“I’m looking for Verna Rounds Is she—“ The face closed like a fist. “Verna ain’t here.” —“Look can’t you leave that girl alone.” —“She’s not in trouble.” —“Lot you know ‘bout trouble.” — “I’m going to ask Bart to work the file clerk. I’m the wrong color.”
“Verna’s now out on the street. Johnny Mack Brown, has her turned out, down New Orleans—‘Nawlens’ … she’s shooting up, and now pregnant….back where her daddy walked out when she was five. … Kearny: “What we need is an eyewitness…. And at the moment that’s Bart Heslip’s problem.” —“Mrs. Delbert, who ran the broken down rooming house— mid-February she all of a sudden told me she’d got a job. She was happy ‘bout that.” Her eyes misted… “She was a good girl, —Such a good girl in her heart.” “What was the job?” Her face clouded… “Topless dancing … in the Old Quarter”. Heslip thanked her… started down off the stoop. —she called suddenly after him. “Fleur?” — “the girl who got her the job…. Skinny little thing with freckles all over her face, light enough to pass, almost …”
From Verna’s ‘dad’ —Zeb Rounds, 110 Allerton Street in Roxbury, Massachusetts. But Bart’s not alone in his pursuit … first Verna’s father, and when he don’t provide, then Fleur… both bad and in the hospital… two heavies.
—Johnny Mack. “Man, I don’t know where that bitch—“ “There’s two men on the way up who cut the nose off her friend in New Orleans for giving them that answer. Talk, goddam you!” “I ain’t seen since she had the baby… Only heard she’d been inthe hospital after she was gone—“Which hospital?” “Boston Lying-In.”
Much is also occurring back in SanFrancisco… lawyers, cops, PIs, the mob. But it’s Bart, who truly steps out and up. A true hero in this tale. Corinne, his one and only woman… she knows Bart is a good one… a good man is hard to find, and he needs a good woman to believe and to understand. A strong good man needs a strong good woman… that’s Corinne.
[Boston Lying-In provided care for indigent women, merged in 1966/as Boston Hospital for Women, then in 1975, with the Peter Bent Brigham— Brigham Women’s Hospital. I’m certain that Gores’ writing this in 1978 knew this. But given the scam that Heslip pulls to get Verna’s medical information —how could Gores’ not call it, the Boston Lying In?]
The doctor: “two days after birth, he died.” “When Verna learned her baby was dead, She knew the cause of death.” Of what specifically?” “Not what. Who. Verna Rounds. God had given her a life to care for, and she’d murdered it.” “That’s her mammy talking.” “Verna talked a lot about her during withdrawal.” —“she kicked the habit?” “The coldest Turkey you ever saw. From the moment I told her that her child was dead.” “She’s still clean?” —“you wouldn’t believe…. What a . . . person she’s become. — Have you ever heard of Harris House? -in Harlem. [the actual Harris House is in St. Louis] —“care of about fifty children at a time who had been born to heroin-addicted mothers, keeping them there until the mothers were off drugs, rehabilitated and had a job which to support the kid and home to take it to. —She gave him the address … “I’ll call Mommy… tell you’re coming and why. After that it’s up to her and Verna.” Heslip agreed. He would let Verna call the shots, and he would play it her way. And his own, and to hell with what Dan Kearny might think. Playing his own way was the way he did it best, anyway.”
It’s Verna’s choice…
Book 3 of the DKA File, Skip Tracers series… by Joe Gores
Random House, 1978.
On the way from Harlem, Bart Heslip switched cabs three times, and then caught a plane from Newark because he was afraid they might be watching Kennedy and La Guardia. Six hours until the plane landed at San Jose … Sleep began to wash over him. He knew who’d hired them. He even knew what they were trying to do. But why?
It had to go back to that rainy Friday in November, almost a year ago, which he now knew had been
THE FIRST DAY
Sure. It happened the next day, …—“You have been legally served in the matter of the Accusation brought against Dan Kearny Associates by Thomas V. Greenly, Supervising Auditor for the Private Investigation Agency Licensing Bureau of the State of California.”
Dan Kearny —entered his bleak little cubbyhole office in the DKA’s basement, jabbed Giselle’s intercom button… —“You know what those bastards in Sacramento are up to? —‘WHEREFORE, it is prayed that the director’ —‘hold a hearing to suspend or revoke the license of the respondent’ —that’s us— ‘or take other actions that should be deemed proper.’
“Something Kathy was handling out of Oakland—“ —A General Motors deficiency judgement against a guy named Kashmir Pivarski.”
—“we got a writ of attachment on his wages from from Padilla Drayage Company.”
Giselle— “Oh, wow,” … an East Bay Mafia-connected concern… “Maybe just a coincidence. But why in hell Kathy didn’t alert me when that name came in the file…” “It wouldn’t have meant anything to her… You kept her out of that… you were afraid her kids made her too vulnerable.” [Kathy Onado, office manager, dead by blood clot the month before.]
“Ballard had never really liked the East Bay. No there there, as Giselle had once told him some lesbo writer back in the twenties had put it.” [Oakland would like a word] When Interstate 580 went through Oakland a few years before, it had reduced MacArthur Boulevard to a freeway-feeder street. The motels which once had catered to through-travelers slid—at the same time that girls from nearby recently black residential areas were growing up hungry for the good life. — He was glad to turn off —to the 3000 block of Thirty-fourth Street, where Verna Rounds was supposed to live.” —“I’m looking for Verna Rounds Is she—“ The face closed like a fist. “Verna ain’t here.” —“Look can’t you leave that girl alone.” —“She’s not in trouble.” —“Lot you know ‘bout trouble.” — “I’m going to ask Bart to work the file clerk. I’m the wrong color.”
“Verna’s now out on the street. Johnny Mack Brown, has her turned out, down New Orleans—‘Nawlens’ … she’s shooting up, and now pregnant….back where her daddy walked out when she was five. … Kearny: “What we need is an eyewitness…. And at the moment that’s Bart Heslip’s problem.” —“Mrs. Delbert, who ran the broken down rooming house— mid-February she all of a sudden told me she’d got a job. She was happy ‘bout that.” Her eyes misted… “She was a good girl, —Such a good girl in her heart.” “What was the job?” Her face clouded… “Topless dancing … in the Old Quarter”. Heslip thanked her… started down off the stoop. —she called suddenly after him. “Fleur?” — “the girl who got her the job…. Skinny little thing with freckles all over her face, light enough to pass, almost …”
From Verna’s ‘dad’ —Zeb Rounds, 110 Allerton Street in Roxbury, Massachusetts. But Bart’s not alone in his pursuit … first Verna’s father, and when he don’t provide, then Fleur… both bad and in the hospital… two heavies.
—Johnny Mack. “Man, I don’t know where that bitch—“ “There’s two men on the way up who cut the nose off her friend in New Orleans for giving them that answer. Talk, goddam you!” “I ain’t seen since she had the baby… Only heard she’d been inthe hospital after she was gone—“Which hospital?” “Boston Lying-In.”
Much is also occurring back in SanFrancisco… lawyers, cops, PIs, the mob. But it’s Bart, who truly steps out and up. A true hero in this tale. Corinne, his one and only woman… she knows Bart is a good one… a good man is hard to find, and he needs a good woman to believe and to understand. A strong good man needs a strong good woman… that’s Corinne.
[Boston Lying-In provided care for indigent women, merged in 1966/as Boston Hospital for Women, then in 1975, with the Peter Bent Brigham— Brigham Women’s Hospital. I’m certain that Gores’ writing this in 1978 knew this. But given the scam that Heslip pulls to get Verna’s medical information —how could Gores’ not call it, the Boston Lying In?]
The doctor: “two days after birth, he died.” “When Verna learned her baby was dead, She knew the cause of death.” Of what specifically?” “Not what. Who. Verna Rounds. God had given her a life to care for, and she’d murdered it.” “That’s her mammy talking.” “Verna talked a lot about her during withdrawal.” —“she kicked the habit?” “The coldest Turkey you ever saw. From the moment I told her that her child was dead.” “She’s still clean?” —“you wouldn’t believe…. What a . . . person she’s become. — Have you ever heard of Harris House? -in Harlem. [the actual Harris House is in St. Louis] —“care of about fifty children at a time who had been born to heroin-addicted mothers, keeping them there until the mothers were off drugs, rehabilitated and had a job which to support the kid and home to take it to. —She gave him the address … “I’ll call Mommy… tell you’re coming and why. After that it’s up to her and Verna.” Heslip agreed. He would let Verna call the shots, and he would play it her way. And his own, and to hell with what Dan Kearny might think. Playing his own way was the way he did it best, anyway.”
It’s Verna’s choice…
May 10, 2020
With sparse tough and taut writing, Gores goes back to the Hammett and Chandler days. Good stuff...man.
Want to Read
February 27, 2019Synopsis: with the state threatening to yank their licence, the investigators at DKA, eager for fast cash, must track down a prostitute.
April 15, 2024
First half hits you over the head with multiple characters and tedious procedure. What happened? Some rules were broken and the company risks losing their license. For a while, it’s difficult to determine who the protagonist is. If Gores had stuck to just a couple of main characters that the story could follow it may have been easier to read and enjoy.
The story gets better in the second half when it focuses on the Private Investigators Bart Heslip and Larry Ballard. But the complex legal nonsense never really goes away. In fact, several chapters are courtroom drama.
And this occurs to me now: if only there was a warning on the cover of every crime book that contained more than a couple of paragraphs describing a day in court. Would make things a lot easier next time I pick up a book.
The story gets better in the second half when it focuses on the Private Investigators Bart Heslip and Larry Ballard. But the complex legal nonsense never really goes away. In fact, several chapters are courtroom drama.
And this occurs to me now: if only there was a warning on the cover of every crime book that contained more than a couple of paragraphs describing a day in court. Would make things a lot easier next time I pick up a book.
December 16, 2020
Another excellent entry in the DKA Files series, which finds DKA's license threatened with revocation by Sacramento. Of course it's a frame, apparently part of an elaborate mobbed up assassination plot. An interesting mix of real-life PI birddogging (with nary a repo in sight!) and admin court action that keeps the pages turning. Although the nefarious plot that is ultimately exposed violates what I feel is the fundamental rule of life (Keep It Simple, Stupid), Gores makes the ride entertaining enough to quash any groans. Bonus notches for the authentic pre-yuppie SF setting!
May 15, 2022
Playing up the boring aspects of PI work while maintaining a level of excitement keeps this book on a knife edge, but there may just have been too many moving plot parts for this to have been wholly successful. We have investigators going off in different directions while a court case is happening that may cost their agency its licence. Spare, efficient and likeable, but I'm not sure we ever really felt a sense of jeopardy.
April 14, 2020
I love Joe Gores, and his quirky characters. Interesting storyline, that all hinged on a brief, 15 minute office encounter and threads through a whole sort of rushing to get the clues added up and the vanishing witnesses collected. This was a good ride!
February 2, 2019
4.5 stars, this DKA series keeps running strong. Love the solid detective procedural and detail of San Francisco locale.
August 12, 2020
Joe Gores did some great stuff. I think I'm going to re-read 32 Cadillacs.
October 24, 2022
The specialist PI skills of the Dan Kearney Associates mob return for a 3rd outing in Gone, No Forwarding. This hardboiled PI series takes a slightly different path from others in the genre by ignoring the single detective agency and embracing full-on teamwork. The hard working regulars from DKA make this another absorbing crime novel.
The very existence of the company is threatened when Dan is served with papers accusing the company of fraud and, if found to be true, could see him lose his license. DKA is a company of private investigators who specialise in car repossessions and chasing down skip traces. This time, they have to use their skills on saving their own company.
The events surrounding the supposed fraud occurred over a year previously and all employees involved have since moved on: 1 has died and the others quit or were fired. In order to save their business, two of the investigators, Larry Ballard and Bart Heslip have to track down the former employees who may be able to provide the evidence that will prove DKA’s innocence.
The story has two focal points running concurrently. The first is the hearing, which provides the drama and the second is on the investigation performed by Ballard and Heslip, which provides the action. The progress of the hearing is actually the stopwatch indicating how much time the DKA investigators have to find their potential witnesses. Roadblocks are thrown up to discourage effective work by the agency - it’s a full test of their mettle.
The DKA books provide all the necessary ingredients that fans of PI books appreciate, the sharp and snappy dialogue, a tight plot, barely a wasted word and constant high points to provide added entertainment. The series as a whole is enhanced by the fact that the agency is much larger than a 1 or 2 man business and so, there are plenty of opportunities for elaborate plans with plenty of moving parts carried out.
Gone, No Forwarding is a solid entry in the DKA Files and highlights once again the intimate knowledge Joe Gores had of the private investigations game. He demonstrates many of the tricks of the trade as the cast go through their paces closing cases, large and small.
The very existence of the company is threatened when Dan is served with papers accusing the company of fraud and, if found to be true, could see him lose his license. DKA is a company of private investigators who specialise in car repossessions and chasing down skip traces. This time, they have to use their skills on saving their own company.
The events surrounding the supposed fraud occurred over a year previously and all employees involved have since moved on: 1 has died and the others quit or were fired. In order to save their business, two of the investigators, Larry Ballard and Bart Heslip have to track down the former employees who may be able to provide the evidence that will prove DKA’s innocence.
The story has two focal points running concurrently. The first is the hearing, which provides the drama and the second is on the investigation performed by Ballard and Heslip, which provides the action. The progress of the hearing is actually the stopwatch indicating how much time the DKA investigators have to find their potential witnesses. Roadblocks are thrown up to discourage effective work by the agency - it’s a full test of their mettle.
The DKA books provide all the necessary ingredients that fans of PI books appreciate, the sharp and snappy dialogue, a tight plot, barely a wasted word and constant high points to provide added entertainment. The series as a whole is enhanced by the fact that the agency is much larger than a 1 or 2 man business and so, there are plenty of opportunities for elaborate plans with plenty of moving parts carried out.
Gone, No Forwarding is a solid entry in the DKA Files and highlights once again the intimate knowledge Joe Gores had of the private investigations game. He demonstrates many of the tricks of the trade as the cast go through their paces closing cases, large and small.
January 12, 2016
Another solid entry in the DKA Files series, this time with the gang all swinging into action to unravel why the State of California wants to yank their license over a relatively minor collections matter. Gores' style is exactly what it says on the cover: tough, taught. Very much like something his idol, Hammet might have written. But the DKA files are somewhat unique among hard boiled mysteries because they feature an ensemble cast, as opposed to your standard lone wolf PI. I'm surprised they never tried to make these into a T.V. series. Really, the plot is like an episode of a hour long TV show - there's very little down time once the action gets rolling.
My main criticism is that, in his effort to be "tough and taught," Gores has a tendency to reduce everybody to a set of stock characters and ethnic stereotypes: Like, virtually every time the character of Dan O'Banion appears Gores feels compelled to remind us that old Danny Boy has bright red hair, a quick temper, and is an alcoholic. At one point, we meet a woman married to a man with an Italian surname, so Gores has her refer to him as a "wop" about four times in a scene that's around three pages long in cased we missed that fact, I guess. Asians are smart and hard working, Hispanics are hot blooded, black folks all got lots of soul, hookers have hearts of gold, etc. Oh, there's also some stuff in there about the exotic, erotic appeal of gypsy women.
It's all mostly good natured, except for Gores' depiction of the gay community, which wouldn't win him any GLAAD awards these days. Basically, every gay man is either a prissy queen or a mustachioed leather daddy, and they're all vain and deceitful. Of course, "Gone, No Forwarding" was written almost 40 years ago, and attitudes have "evolved" over that time.
These distractions aside (and you can probably tell that they are fairly distracting, as I've gone on about them for two paragraphs) "Gone, No Forwarding" is a tightly plotted, entertaining, and fairly realistic thriller that you'll likely finish in one or two extended sittings.
My main criticism is that, in his effort to be "tough and taught," Gores has a tendency to reduce everybody to a set of stock characters and ethnic stereotypes: Like, virtually every time the character of Dan O'Banion appears Gores feels compelled to remind us that old Danny Boy has bright red hair, a quick temper, and is an alcoholic. At one point, we meet a woman married to a man with an Italian surname, so Gores has her refer to him as a "wop" about four times in a scene that's around three pages long in cased we missed that fact, I guess. Asians are smart and hard working, Hispanics are hot blooded, black folks all got lots of soul, hookers have hearts of gold, etc. Oh, there's also some stuff in there about the exotic, erotic appeal of gypsy women.
It's all mostly good natured, except for Gores' depiction of the gay community, which wouldn't win him any GLAAD awards these days. Basically, every gay man is either a prissy queen or a mustachioed leather daddy, and they're all vain and deceitful. Of course, "Gone, No Forwarding" was written almost 40 years ago, and attitudes have "evolved" over that time.
These distractions aside (and you can probably tell that they are fairly distracting, as I've gone on about them for two paragraphs) "Gone, No Forwarding" is a tightly plotted, entertaining, and fairly realistic thriller that you'll likely finish in one or two extended sittings.
June 11, 2020
Every one of these DKA books is both a fascinating time capsule of a past era, and an excellent example of detective fiction. All are well-written, but also are a fresh, different take on detective fiction. Instead of the usual grizzled PI in an office, this is an agency with multiple members.
DKA does not do general detective work; whatever they can manage to get, but instead is a specific agency that primarily handles tracking down people who jump bail and repossess autos for lack of payment. This gives the entire series a different feel than the usual hard boiled PI novel.
In this particular book, the agency its self is under attack, with a lawsuit and removal of their license by the state. The story is a war between lawyers trying various legal maneuvers, movements and countermovements by the accusers trying to prevent the agency from contacting witnesses and getting information and the agency tracking them down anyway. Its well crafted and has a strong feel of experience from the author Joe Gores, who was himself a PI who ran just such an agency for decades.
Overall its very satisfying even if one of my favorite characters in the series suddenly dies in it. Its been a pleasure to re-read these after over a decade, but this time in order to watch the tale and the characters develop.
DKA does not do general detective work; whatever they can manage to get, but instead is a specific agency that primarily handles tracking down people who jump bail and repossess autos for lack of payment. This gives the entire series a different feel than the usual hard boiled PI novel.
In this particular book, the agency its self is under attack, with a lawsuit and removal of their license by the state. The story is a war between lawyers trying various legal maneuvers, movements and countermovements by the accusers trying to prevent the agency from contacting witnesses and getting information and the agency tracking them down anyway. Its well crafted and has a strong feel of experience from the author Joe Gores, who was himself a PI who ran just such an agency for decades.
Overall its very satisfying even if one of my favorite characters in the series suddenly dies in it. Its been a pleasure to re-read these after over a decade, but this time in order to watch the tale and the characters develop.
Read
August 7, 2011Repo agent retraces the steps of a fellow agent, assaulted and left for dead, in order to find out why. Shares a chapter -- told from a slightly different point of view -- with Richard Parker's "Plunder Squad", as the detective drops in on a robbery crew's meeting with a few questions in his unrelated search.
July 16, 2009
I enjoyed this fast paced detective story. It is part of the DKA set, about a company of repo-folk. Here the agency is being prosecuted by the state over alleged misconduct, but WHO is setting this all up. A long chase brings down a mob lawyer and assorted bad guys. Lots of idle time fun.
December 25, 2014
In my opinion, the best of the DKA File novels. Great suspense.
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