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Temporary Detective
Temporary Detective is an anthology of stories of one man's fateful temporary assignment to the Nick Drake Detective Agency.
Sam Callow, drifts from one temporary job to the next, shadow-like, imminently dispensable, all but invisible. Sam works for SuperTemps the largest temp agency in Los Angeles, a city like many, that has systematically traded full time workers with a tenuous mass of bewildered temps working at jobs they know little about and care even less. Sam, like many of us, has a dream. He dreams of a darker more dangerous life. That dream is about to come true.
The stories and poem included in Temporary Detective were all inspired by Sam's first case, Noir to Hide, written by the equally mysterious Hansen Scott.
Stephanie Carlisi sets the noir tone with Stranger Desires, a lyrical poem of lost and found and the impermanence of relationships.
In Noir to Hide, Sam receives an assignment for the Nick Drake Detective Agency. Sam can’t believe his great fortune. All his life Sam had envied the noir, hard-boiled detectives of dime novels. And now he has a chance to work for one!
Nick Drake is hardboiled but he’s no cracker detective. He’s a loser. But he plays the part close enough for Sam. Sam’s eager to assist him on a case. But that’s not to be. Sam is to stay at the office and wait for a package to arrive. That’s it. Nothing else. 'No one ever comes in, so don’t get any ideas about playing detective!'
Nick leaves and Sam slips into a noir frame of mind. Before Sam can find Nick’s hidden bottle of scotch, in walks Lauren Inveigle-Gray, a sultry dame looking for a dick.
Sam doesn’t have time to explain that he’s not actually Nick Drake before Lauren’s pulling 100's from her garter belt. She hires Sam to find proof of her husband’s (current) indiscretion. Sam takes the case but quickly realizes he’s in over his head. So he turns to the only place he knows he can get real the Psychic Partyline, more specifically, his girlfriend, Mistress Novena (aka Nova Vance) who works there as a temp.
What should have been a simple case of blackmail becomes a complex web of murder and intrigue with Sam up to his neck in it. Sam resorts to hiring his faithful friend, sidekick and fellow Jack Atramentous–always a bad move.
Nick Drake's (aka Sam Callow) adventures continue in Karin Hallén's, The John and Jane Doe Case, in which Nick is faced with a tabula rasa client and is forced to chase clues down some of LA's darkest corridors. While Sam is in no way prepared to deal with the way this case goes down, Nova handles it all with her usual aplomb.
In Matt Powell's Valley Dick, Nick and Nova team up with David Steele, a west side private dick, to solve a complex murder that appears to have ties to some very big players. While Sam prefers to remain in the valley, this case forces him out of his comfort zone, both physically and emotionally. And as bullets fly all over the southland, Sam wonders just how close are Nova and Steele?
L.D. Hansen's Black Snow finds Sam confronted by a strange encounter with his past. Could an innocent event from so long ago really be raising its ugly head after all these years? It certainly appears that way.
The Nick Drake saga will continue in Temporary Detective 2. Fans of the series who fancy themselves writers of the noir will have the opportunity to submit their own Nick Drake story. Those chosen will have the temporary honor to be included in Temporary Detective 2.
Sam Callow, drifts from one temporary job to the next, shadow-like, imminently dispensable, all but invisible. Sam works for SuperTemps the largest temp agency in Los Angeles, a city like many, that has systematically traded full time workers with a tenuous mass of bewildered temps working at jobs they know little about and care even less. Sam, like many of us, has a dream. He dreams of a darker more dangerous life. That dream is about to come true.
The stories and poem included in Temporary Detective were all inspired by Sam's first case, Noir to Hide, written by the equally mysterious Hansen Scott.
Stephanie Carlisi sets the noir tone with Stranger Desires, a lyrical poem of lost and found and the impermanence of relationships.
In Noir to Hide, Sam receives an assignment for the Nick Drake Detective Agency. Sam can’t believe his great fortune. All his life Sam had envied the noir, hard-boiled detectives of dime novels. And now he has a chance to work for one!
Nick Drake is hardboiled but he’s no cracker detective. He’s a loser. But he plays the part close enough for Sam. Sam’s eager to assist him on a case. But that’s not to be. Sam is to stay at the office and wait for a package to arrive. That’s it. Nothing else. 'No one ever comes in, so don’t get any ideas about playing detective!'
Nick leaves and Sam slips into a noir frame of mind. Before Sam can find Nick’s hidden bottle of scotch, in walks Lauren Inveigle-Gray, a sultry dame looking for a dick.
Sam doesn’t have time to explain that he’s not actually Nick Drake before Lauren’s pulling 100's from her garter belt. She hires Sam to find proof of her husband’s (current) indiscretion. Sam takes the case but quickly realizes he’s in over his head. So he turns to the only place he knows he can get real the Psychic Partyline, more specifically, his girlfriend, Mistress Novena (aka Nova Vance) who works there as a temp.
What should have been a simple case of blackmail becomes a complex web of murder and intrigue with Sam up to his neck in it. Sam resorts to hiring his faithful friend, sidekick and fellow Jack Atramentous–always a bad move.
Nick Drake's (aka Sam Callow) adventures continue in Karin Hallén's, The John and Jane Doe Case, in which Nick is faced with a tabula rasa client and is forced to chase clues down some of LA's darkest corridors. While Sam is in no way prepared to deal with the way this case goes down, Nova handles it all with her usual aplomb.
In Matt Powell's Valley Dick, Nick and Nova team up with David Steele, a west side private dick, to solve a complex murder that appears to have ties to some very big players. While Sam prefers to remain in the valley, this case forces him out of his comfort zone, both physically and emotionally. And as bullets fly all over the southland, Sam wonders just how close are Nova and Steele?
L.D. Hansen's Black Snow finds Sam confronted by a strange encounter with his past. Could an innocent event from so long ago really be raising its ugly head after all these years? It certainly appears that way.
The Nick Drake saga will continue in Temporary Detective 2. Fans of the series who fancy themselves writers of the noir will have the opportunity to submit their own Nick Drake story. Those chosen will have the temporary honor to be included in Temporary Detective 2.
ebook
First published October 30, 2012
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