Poet in the Gutter

Sam Turner #1

by John Baker

Sam Turner is trying to turn his life around. Newly divorced, he's kicked the habit of his wife and now he's working on the booze. Introducing himself at a group meeting one night, he succumbs to a sudden impulse to say he's a private detective, and the Sam Turner Detective Agency is born. Terry, one of the men from the meeting, comes to Sam because he thinks his wife is having an affair. Can he hire Sam on retainer? Piece of cake, Sam thinks. Follow her, snap a few photographs, pocket the money - how hard can it be? The case starts out so smoothly, Sam's convinced that life is really looking up. But then Terry is brutally stabbed to death, and the police begin to think they have a serial killer on their hands. Suddenly Sam's career as a private detective is taking off by leaps and bounds.

Genres: Mystery, Fiction, Crime

238 pages, Hardcover

First published August 1, 1996

About the author

I’m a novelist and blogger based in the UK. After some time spent in Norway and the South of France I came to settle in York.

On my blog are details of my published novels. My blog, in one form or another has been running since August 2002. The main focus of the blog is fiction and writing but it often expands into general cultural or political questions.

You may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Apart from the above the blog posts regular items of literary news, tips and hints on the writing process, quotations, interviews, extracts from novels and original shorter fiction, book, film, and theatre reviews. Go ahead, subscribe to the feed.

My latest published novel is entitled Winged with Death. It is partly set in Montevideo in the seventies in the midst of civil war. Another arm of the novel is set in the present day in the North of England. Winged with Death is about time and tango and revolution, abduction and denial. It is published in the UK by Flambard Press. You can read an extract from Winged with Death by following this link. You can read extracts from my earlier novels at John Baker’s Fiction Pages, together with photographs, interviews, reviews, quotations and biographical info.

You can also purchase any of my novels directly from me.

Reviews

[Saz Gee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just read this again, for about the 3rd time. Still brilliant.

[Jack Heath]

Synopsis: Turner suddenly tells people at a party he's a PI. So he has to become one. His first case is a possible adultery but the woman is killed.

[LJ · Rating 3 out of 5]

POET IN THE GUTTER (Private Investigator) – G+
John Baker – 1st in series
Indigo, 1995 – Paperback (U.K. Release)
Recovering alcoholic Sam Turner keeps telling people he’s a private investigator. But when a friend asks Sam to find out if his wife is being unfaithful and then ends up murdered, Sam, with the help of a retired schoolteacher, a homeless youth and his pool-hall friend, becomes an investigator for real.
*** Sam and the crew he picks up along the way are diverse and delightful. Although the dialogue is weak in points and the plot fairly light, it is definitely the characters that drive this book. I am definitely going to follow Sam and the crew to see where their adventures take them as this looks to be a very enjoyable new series.

[Kirsty Darbyshire]

the closest detective to home that i've found yet i think, presuming baker's location of york is closer to me than edinburgh which i'm fairly certain it is. this wasn't really a mystery in many ways, who dunnit with what and why were clear to the reader early on in the book. the plot really came from watching the cast of characters that sam turner assembled to solve the crime. this was very much a first act in a series, an introduction, and i'll reserve my judgement until i see what the cast can do from a flying start.

[Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some awesome characters and an interesting plot, but there are a few holes and 'clues' left unexplained.

I would definitely read Baker again, but might find it difficult to be drawn back in again, knowing that questions will be left unanswered.

[Maddy · Rating 4 out of 5]

RATING: 3.75