What do you think?
Rate this book
Call-Back Blues: A Pink Molly Short Story
"Fresh and imaginative. Highly recommended."
~Ronnie Burch Woodhall author of Beyond the Trees
Word around town is that The Aphrodite hotel is a little... unusual. In this short story featuring Hotel Detective Molly Pinkerton, a trio of hopeful job seekers learn just how strange -- and dangerous -- the Aphrodite can be.
"Call-Back Blues" is a supernatural mystery set in the "Pink Molly" series, featuring a hard-boiled, high-heeled hotel detective who keeps order among the employees and guests of The Aphrodite. This story is the first in a continuing series of paranormal thrillers garnering interest from fans of urban fantasy and noir fiction. If you love mysteries with elements of horror and dark humor, the "Pink Molly" series is for you!
~Ronnie Burch Woodhall author of Beyond the Trees
Word around town is that The Aphrodite hotel is a little... unusual. In this short story featuring Hotel Detective Molly Pinkerton, a trio of hopeful job seekers learn just how strange -- and dangerous -- the Aphrodite can be.
"Call-Back Blues" is a supernatural mystery set in the "Pink Molly" series, featuring a hard-boiled, high-heeled hotel detective who keeps order among the employees and guests of The Aphrodite. This story is the first in a continuing series of paranormal thrillers garnering interest from fans of urban fantasy and noir fiction. If you love mysteries with elements of horror and dark humor, the "Pink Molly" series is for you!
- GenresShort Stories
16 pages, Kindle Edition
First published June 24, 2015
2 people are currently reading
17 people want to read
About the author
Dan Stout
22 books113 followersDan Stout lives in Columbus, Ohio, where he writes noir with a twist of magic and a disco chaser.
His tales of murder, mystery, and speculative fiction draw on travels around the world as well as an employment history spanning everything from subpoena server to assistant well driller.
Dan's work has appeared in publications such as Nature, The Saturday Evening Post, and Nightmare Magazine. He is the author of The Carter Archives, a series of noir fantasy thrillers from DAW Books.
Say hello at DanStout.com.
His tales of murder, mystery, and speculative fiction draw on travels around the world as well as an employment history spanning everything from subpoena server to assistant well driller.
Dan's work has appeared in publications such as Nature, The Saturday Evening Post, and Nightmare Magazine. He is the author of The Carter Archives, a series of noir fantasy thrillers from DAW Books.
Say hello at DanStout.com.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
October 22, 2016
There were three of us in the room, and it stank to hell. It reeked of cigarettes, coffee, and enough cheap perfume to gag a corpse. And undercutting all of it was the dank smell of desperation.
Me and two other candidates were sweating it out to see if we’d get hired, and each of us contributed to the odor. The girl smelled like nicotine and perfume, and while the man to her right was too far for me to get a whiff directly (thank God) the yellow stains on his fingers made it clear that he was adding to the pervasive smell of tobacco. Me? I stank of all the above.
Loved it.. Definitely curious about the next one :)
Me and two other candidates were sweating it out to see if we’d get hired, and each of us contributed to the odor. The girl smelled like nicotine and perfume, and while the man to her right was too far for me to get a whiff directly (thank God) the yellow stains on his fingers made it clear that he was adding to the pervasive smell of tobacco. Me? I stank of all the above.
Loved it.. Definitely curious about the next one :)
June 22, 2020
Hotels can be interesting places as they are frequently filled with lots of history and lore; Hotel Aphrodite is no exception in Call-Back Blues: A Pink Molly Short Story by Siff Daniels.
To read this, and other book reviews, visit my website: http://makinggoodstories.wordpress.com/.
Three people are applying for a position within the ranks of the Hotel Aphrodite's work force. But in addition to the copious amount of paperwork they've been filling out, there's another strange hurdle to overcome - a supernatural test conducted by the hotel's detective, Molly Pinkerton, who was tipped off about a spy trying to infiltrate the hotel. When Molly brings out a supernatural doll that responds to the truth of the applicant's responses to questions, things go from odd to down-right supernaturally strange.
As an introduction to a world of supernatural oddities housed within the confines of a hotel, this short story opens with a rather curious event in an endeavor to capture reader interest in the series of stories to come. There's not much in the way of character establishment or development in this brief glimpse into the world of the hotel, which makes it more difficult to connect with who is presented and the situation they find themselves in; there's some good potential to build the narrative from this limited start, which doesn't really delve into the mysteries of the hotel and there wasn't quite enough presented to really hook me in to continue on.
Overall, I'd give it a 2.5 out of 5 stars.
To read this, and other book reviews, visit my website: http://makinggoodstories.wordpress.com/.
Three people are applying for a position within the ranks of the Hotel Aphrodite's work force. But in addition to the copious amount of paperwork they've been filling out, there's another strange hurdle to overcome - a supernatural test conducted by the hotel's detective, Molly Pinkerton, who was tipped off about a spy trying to infiltrate the hotel. When Molly brings out a supernatural doll that responds to the truth of the applicant's responses to questions, things go from odd to down-right supernaturally strange.
As an introduction to a world of supernatural oddities housed within the confines of a hotel, this short story opens with a rather curious event in an endeavor to capture reader interest in the series of stories to come. There's not much in the way of character establishment or development in this brief glimpse into the world of the hotel, which makes it more difficult to connect with who is presented and the situation they find themselves in; there's some good potential to build the narrative from this limited start, which doesn't really delve into the mysteries of the hotel and there wasn't quite enough presented to really hook me in to continue on.
Overall, I'd give it a 2.5 out of 5 stars.
May 28, 2017
Daniels , as a new writer I have to say this was a good little read. I was anticipating the outcome of the interview and liked the flow. Keep writing, you got something there.
October 15, 2022
Wow! For a short story it sure is a wild read. I highly recommend it to anyone that loves supernatural reads!
February 13, 2017
Very intriguing short story about an interview call-back for a job at the mysterious Hotel Aphrodite.
January 31, 2017
This short is only about a chapter long and left me with no desire to read more. Perhaps more context would have helped as I assume it is part of a paranormal series set in this hotel but as is... just left me scratching my head.
April 21, 2017
Did I Miss Something???
I thought this story would be a little more interesting or spooky; perhaps I missed something, I don't know, but I'm a little bummed with this.
I thought this story would be a little more interesting or spooky; perhaps I missed something, I don't know, but I'm a little bummed with this.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews