One for the Monkey

by Scott William Carter

From the award-winning author of the Garrison Gage series, comes a gripping new mystery that buckles you in from the first car ride and never lets go.After flaming out of MIT in a blaze of bad choices, Ashton Byrd reinvents himself in Los Angeles as a financial advisor to the rich and clueless (while taking a tidy cut for himself, of course). Got a huge monkey on your back? Rule don't take life seriously. Rule see rule one.

But when the sun-kissed playboy reluctantly returns to his soggy Oregon hometown, life gets serious in a hurry. Like fresh corpse serious.

Larry O'Conner—private investigator, his father's former partner, and Ash's honorary uncle—turns up dead. On top of that, something important has gone missing. Not "the valet misplaced my car keys" important. More like "end of the world as we know it" important. And powerful people want it back.

Now Ash is dodging bullets, bad memories, and the long shadow of his larger-than-life father while trying to figure out what Uncle Larry died protecting. Plus he can't do it alone. To solve the case—and finally shake the monkey off his back—he'll need help from Stephanie "The Streak" Hart, who may start as his surly Uber driver but soon proves to be a valuable asset. Tough. Brave. And with a trunkful of secrets of her own.

364 pages, Kindle Edition

Published March 17, 2026

About the author

Scott William Carter’s first novel, The Last Great Getaway of the Water Balloon Boys, was hailed by Publishers Weekly as a “touching and impressive debut” and won an Oregon Book Award. Since then, he has published many books and short stories, his fiction spanning a wide variety of genres and styles. His book for younger readers, Wooden Bones, chronicles the untold story of Pinocchio and was singled out for praise by the Junior Library Guild. He is the author of the popular Garrison Gage mystery series set on the Oregon coast, as well as the provocative Myron Vale Investigations, about the private investigator in Portland, Oregon who works for both the living and the dead. He’s also the cartoonist behind the Run of the House comic strip.

If that wasn’t enough to keep him busy, in his “day job” life he works as an Instructional Designer and Digital Production & Publishing Specialist at Western Oregon University, where he manages the Digital Media Center and provides training and expertise to the campus community on a variety of topics, including Web page creation, digital video production, print-on-demand and ebook publishing, and many software applications related to publishing, distribution, and education in all its forms. He also teaches occasional classes for both the English department and the College of Education.

In past lives, he has been an academic technologist, a writing instructor, bookstore owner, the manager of a computer training company, and a ski instructor, though the most important job — and best – he’s ever had is being the father of his two children. He currently lives in Oregon with his wife and two children.

Reviews

[Michael Oakes · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Maltese Falcon meets The Secret Life of Walter Mitty

I should start by saying I've read all the author's Garrison Gage books and loved them. This book and these characters are harder to warm up to. Ashton Byrd is frenetic and quirky, but likeable. Stephanie Hart is a mess. The most endearing character is Ashton's mom. Nevertheless, taken with a good dose of suspended disbelief, One For The Monkey is worth the read. In book one the two characters appear to find themselves, so maybe nervous energy will convert to suspense in future installments.

[Rick Richards · Rating 5 out of 5]

yeah

The start of a great series. But what about Garrison? Please continue with those.
Love all of your books.
Great a new mystery series for me to read.
Can’t get enough.