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Song & Dance
A fledgling GenX detective follows the trail of a runaway Boomer down a rabbit hole of suburban strip clubs and Atlantic City casinos, laying bare the price paid for selling short your dreams.
Song and Dance introduces PI Frank Rotten as he struggles to gain traction in the ethically ambiguous world of private investigating. The story unfolds in the mid-Nineties at the dawn of the digital age. Frank opts for the detective biz after a short stint as a cubicle-bound insurance adjustor, looking for easy money and a taste of adventure. Operating on the analog/digital divide, Frank solves cases the old-fashioned way, up close and sometimes personal. He lives in a gentrifying neighborhood in Pittsburgh and relies on friends and neighbors for aid. The up-tempo tale interweaves snatches of pop music and echoes the narrative tone of classic hard-boiled fiction.
Song and Dance introduces PI Frank Rotten as he struggles to gain traction in the ethically ambiguous world of private investigating. The story unfolds in the mid-Nineties at the dawn of the digital age. Frank opts for the detective biz after a short stint as a cubicle-bound insurance adjustor, looking for easy money and a taste of adventure. Operating on the analog/digital divide, Frank solves cases the old-fashioned way, up close and sometimes personal. He lives in a gentrifying neighborhood in Pittsburgh and relies on friends and neighbors for aid. The up-tempo tale interweaves snatches of pop music and echoes the narrative tone of classic hard-boiled fiction.
192 pages, Paperback
Published March 27, 2025
About the author
Michael Glennon
3 books14 followersMichael Glennon was born and raised in Upper Darby PA and currently resides along the Jersey Shore. He attended Antioch College and has worked a variety of day jobs (kindergarten teacher, desk clerk, insurance adjustor) since graduating. His stories have appeared in The Red Herring Mystery Magazine, Horror Sleaze Trash, and Short-Story.me. He recently launched Hardboiled Books to build a home for Frank Rotten. Song and Dance is the inaugural entry in the series.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
June 21, 2025
Michael Glennon is a very funny author. This was an interesting read and quite entertaining. It is definitely worth picking up.
September 24, 2025
Thank you for this complimentary copy of Song & Dance. Rated 3.5 stars rounded up to 4.
Song & Dance follows Frank Rotten, a PI based in Pittsburgh, PA in the mid-90s, as he is on the search for a missing elementary school teacher. The basic story seemed like a sure fit for me. I lived in Pittsburgh in the mid-90s and I enjoy a good mystery.
The mystery and Frank's hijinks kept me hooked, and I finished this quick 185 pages in a day. I think a huge portion of Gen X readers can identify (or remember a time when they did) with this young PI who is at loose ends, not really sure what he wants to do in life and just kind of floundering. Frank doesn't know what he is doing but through some miracle, manages to stumble in the right direction just enough times that it is charming.
That being said, the author takes a noir tone throughout which I found very off putting. As that is a preference, and there are many readers out there who won't be put off by the jarring 1920s tone in a 1990s setting. I probably wouldn't have found Frank Rotten as a character so off putting if not for the tone. Keeping is straight that this is the mid-90s but the main character routinely says things like "she was quite a dish" or "this bossy babe could definitely inspire ambivalence" or "how to approach this prickly pear" was a weird effort. I would have liked this better if it was either set in the 1920s with the quirky noir tone or set in the 1990s with a more typical Gen-X tone but this in between thing didn't really do it for me.
Song & Dance appears to be the first of a planned series. I will not be reading any other books in the series.
Song & Dance follows Frank Rotten, a PI based in Pittsburgh, PA in the mid-90s, as he is on the search for a missing elementary school teacher. The basic story seemed like a sure fit for me. I lived in Pittsburgh in the mid-90s and I enjoy a good mystery.
The mystery and Frank's hijinks kept me hooked, and I finished this quick 185 pages in a day. I think a huge portion of Gen X readers can identify (or remember a time when they did) with this young PI who is at loose ends, not really sure what he wants to do in life and just kind of floundering. Frank doesn't know what he is doing but through some miracle, manages to stumble in the right direction just enough times that it is charming.
That being said, the author takes a noir tone throughout which I found very off putting. As that is a preference, and there are many readers out there who won't be put off by the jarring 1920s tone in a 1990s setting. I probably wouldn't have found Frank Rotten as a character so off putting if not for the tone. Keeping is straight that this is the mid-90s but the main character routinely says things like "she was quite a dish" or "this bossy babe could definitely inspire ambivalence" or "how to approach this prickly pear" was a weird effort. I would have liked this better if it was either set in the 1920s with the quirky noir tone or set in the 1990s with a more typical Gen-X tone but this in between thing didn't really do it for me.
Song & Dance appears to be the first of a planned series. I will not be reading any other books in the series.
March 29, 2025
In Song and Dance, the inaugural entry in his Hardboiled books detective series, author Michael Glennon introduces us to the ethically-challenged, wise guy sleuth, Frank Rotten. Underneath the slick exterior and the ambition, Rotten is a young man in search of a dream. Fast-paced, clever and engaging, this is an elegy for lost innocence. Smart, propulsive, eminently readable. Highly recommended.
June 11, 2025
Song & Dance is an entertaining story that kept me engrossed from beginning to end. PI Frank Rotten is hired to find a missing husband. Frank finds himself in some precarious situations, and mayhem ensues. This story was fast paced, thoroughly enjoyable, and I highly recommend it. I hope there are more Frank Rotten books in the future.
July 17, 2025
I read this in a matter of a few hours. Didn't want to put it down. Definitely gives that hard boiled-edgy parts of society- and slimy unethical characters vibe.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews