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Monk Buttman Mystery #1
Where Fools Dare to Tread
“… a well-crafted, enjoyable and intriguing mystery that, for better or worse, is a little heavy on the protagonist’s breast-level view of the world.” –IndieReader
It’s easy to be a nobody when you’ve got nothing to lose, but with his life and potential redemption on the line, can Monk be a somebody people will remember?
A dead man’s money is just waiting to be had. A band of fools and a nobody named Monk Buttman unwittingly find themselves caught in a web of murder and revenge between two unseen factions using them as bait. After a good day ends in murder, Monk is tasked with finding the killer. Why him? He’s a nobody! Stuck between powerful forces he can neither control or understand, Monk must survive both the fools and those pulling the strings while also dealing with the affections of two very different women, the troubled Agnes and the disaffected Judith, not to mention the irritation of his erstwhile partner, Mr. Jones. A beating forces Monk to question his own motives and to confront the past that led him to hide in LA. With love and life on the line, Monk must use his wits and guile for all of them to survive.
It’s easy to be a nobody when you’ve got nothing to lose, but with his life and potential redemption on the line, can Monk be a somebody people will remember?
A dead man’s money is just waiting to be had. A band of fools and a nobody named Monk Buttman unwittingly find themselves caught in a web of murder and revenge between two unseen factions using them as bait. After a good day ends in murder, Monk is tasked with finding the killer. Why him? He’s a nobody! Stuck between powerful forces he can neither control or understand, Monk must survive both the fools and those pulling the strings while also dealing with the affections of two very different women, the troubled Agnes and the disaffected Judith, not to mention the irritation of his erstwhile partner, Mr. Jones. A beating forces Monk to question his own motives and to confront the past that led him to hide in LA. With love and life on the line, Monk must use his wits and guile for all of them to survive.
309 pages, Kindle Edition
Published February 28, 2019
237 people are currently reading
2714 people want to read
About the author
David William Pearce
10 books48 followersAn engineer for 40 years, Mr. Pearce, following open heart surgery, decided to pursue his muse and write. After completing a debut novel, Mr. Pearce so enjoyed the experience that he began writing the Monk Buttman series. When not writing, Mr. Pearce is the accomplished recording artist, Mr. Primitive. He and his wife live in Kenmore Washington.
The true unabridged tale of how I came to write the Monk Buttman story.
Originally, I had planned to write a relationship story.
Fresh off the success of actually finishing a book, I dove right into the next one. Having always been fascinated by the idea of true love, love at first sight, soul mates; all that sort of bunk, I was raring to go. And I had characters and a broad plot outline bouncing around inside my head. Yet, when I sat down at the computer to begin writing, staring at the methodical cursor blinking at me, I had that quintessential writer's moment...
I got nothing.
Now it is a writing shibboleth, that ye shall write every day even if you ultimately end up sending it to deletion hell. With that in mind, I remembered that one of the main character's friends at work wanted to be a writer and had come up with a great idea. "I'm going to write gritty detectives novels, you know, pulp fiction, and I've got the perfect title: Monk Butman, hard-boiled private dick!" he says.
"That's terrible. Nobody's going to read that!" the main character replies.
Which made me laugh, but it also got me thinking. How would that go if one was actually going to write about a guy named Monk Buttman?
First, it would be serious, I'd write it straight up, no gimmicks or jokes. Monk was someone just doing a job. In this case, doing side work for a large LA law firm. People might laugh at the name, but Monk wouldn't care: it's just a name. And he was ok being a nobody doing grunt work. The rest of the world could kill themselves trying to make it, Monk was happy with just enough to afford him a simple hand-me-down life with no pressure, no commitments, no unhappy wives, uncommunicative daughters, any of it.
The fun in writing it, naturally, is that, no matter how Monk tries, trouble finds him.
Second, nothing about Monk would recommend him for detective work. That's the fun of the above title. And he knows this. He's not a former cop or agent, he didn't learn multiple ways to kill a guy in an elite branch of the military. He was a farmer. He's not a tough physical guy.
Monk has to get by on his wits.
I started writing...and I'm writing still.
The true unabridged tale of how I came to write the Monk Buttman story.
Originally, I had planned to write a relationship story.
Fresh off the success of actually finishing a book, I dove right into the next one. Having always been fascinated by the idea of true love, love at first sight, soul mates; all that sort of bunk, I was raring to go. And I had characters and a broad plot outline bouncing around inside my head. Yet, when I sat down at the computer to begin writing, staring at the methodical cursor blinking at me, I had that quintessential writer's moment...
I got nothing.
Now it is a writing shibboleth, that ye shall write every day even if you ultimately end up sending it to deletion hell. With that in mind, I remembered that one of the main character's friends at work wanted to be a writer and had come up with a great idea. "I'm going to write gritty detectives novels, you know, pulp fiction, and I've got the perfect title: Monk Butman, hard-boiled private dick!" he says.
"That's terrible. Nobody's going to read that!" the main character replies.
Which made me laugh, but it also got me thinking. How would that go if one was actually going to write about a guy named Monk Buttman?
First, it would be serious, I'd write it straight up, no gimmicks or jokes. Monk was someone just doing a job. In this case, doing side work for a large LA law firm. People might laugh at the name, but Monk wouldn't care: it's just a name. And he was ok being a nobody doing grunt work. The rest of the world could kill themselves trying to make it, Monk was happy with just enough to afford him a simple hand-me-down life with no pressure, no commitments, no unhappy wives, uncommunicative daughters, any of it.
The fun in writing it, naturally, is that, no matter how Monk tries, trouble finds him.
Second, nothing about Monk would recommend him for detective work. That's the fun of the above title. And he knows this. He's not a former cop or agent, he didn't learn multiple ways to kill a guy in an elite branch of the military. He was a farmer. He's not a tough physical guy.
Monk has to get by on his wits.
I started writing...and I'm writing still.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
January 10, 2022
Great read
Monk Buttman is a laid back guy living a simple life, doing a simple job. Then he witnesses a crime, gets assigned the duty of tracking a person of interest down, and all he'll breaks loose in his life. A fantastic mystery with the perfect amount of laughs. I look forward to the next book in the series, David William Pearce!
Monk Buttman is a laid back guy living a simple life, doing a simple job. Then he witnesses a crime, gets assigned the duty of tracking a person of interest down, and all he'll breaks loose in his life. A fantastic mystery with the perfect amount of laughs. I look forward to the next book in the series, David William Pearce!
June 5, 2019
A Crackling Mystery in the Great Detective Novel Tradition
Near the end of David William Pearce’s wonderful new novel, Where Fools Dare to Tread, our narrator Monk Buttman describes the situation: “Only three days ago, I was up north with a little girl, helping her in the herb garden. It was a million miles from here. Now I was standing at the door of a house with two dead guys outside and possibly more inside. All I could hear was the ocean off to my right. The front door was partially open.”
Such is the sharp, gripping prose of David William Pearce. Where Fools Dare to Tread is in the worthy tradition of terrific Los Angeles detective novels, in the class of Raymond Chandler, Ross MacDonald, Walter Mosley, and James Ellroy. Raised on a hippie farm collective and determined to be the last man in Los Angeles without of cell phone, Monk is a bit of an anachronism, which helps steep the novel in the corrupt past as much of as the high-tech present. While the story presents a crackling mystery, which is satisfyingly revealed in the climax, Monk and a series of likable yet troubled characters give the novel many layers. The demons that Monk and his girlfriend Agnes must confront from the past are both shocking and credible. Those scenes give Where Fools Dare to Tread a gravity and complexity rare in the genre.
If Monk is a nobody, as he likes to depict himself, he is a smart, funny nobody who ultimately manages to employ his distance and anonymity to his advantage. Balancing out the darkness of crime scenes are the many moments of wit, warmth, and humor. The interactions between Monk and Mr. Jones are entertaining as are the lively, recurring exchanges between Monk and his former girlfriend/neighbor Joanie. In the understated, hard-boiled detective tradition, Pearce writes clean, pithy prose (“We took our glasses and discomfort to the dining room”), prone to a deft turn of phrase (“She still looked terrible, but was now a better class of terrible”).
I loved this novel and can’t wait for the next installment of the series.
Near the end of David William Pearce’s wonderful new novel, Where Fools Dare to Tread, our narrator Monk Buttman describes the situation: “Only three days ago, I was up north with a little girl, helping her in the herb garden. It was a million miles from here. Now I was standing at the door of a house with two dead guys outside and possibly more inside. All I could hear was the ocean off to my right. The front door was partially open.”
Such is the sharp, gripping prose of David William Pearce. Where Fools Dare to Tread is in the worthy tradition of terrific Los Angeles detective novels, in the class of Raymond Chandler, Ross MacDonald, Walter Mosley, and James Ellroy. Raised on a hippie farm collective and determined to be the last man in Los Angeles without of cell phone, Monk is a bit of an anachronism, which helps steep the novel in the corrupt past as much of as the high-tech present. While the story presents a crackling mystery, which is satisfyingly revealed in the climax, Monk and a series of likable yet troubled characters give the novel many layers. The demons that Monk and his girlfriend Agnes must confront from the past are both shocking and credible. Those scenes give Where Fools Dare to Tread a gravity and complexity rare in the genre.
If Monk is a nobody, as he likes to depict himself, he is a smart, funny nobody who ultimately manages to employ his distance and anonymity to his advantage. Balancing out the darkness of crime scenes are the many moments of wit, warmth, and humor. The interactions between Monk and Mr. Jones are entertaining as are the lively, recurring exchanges between Monk and his former girlfriend/neighbor Joanie. In the understated, hard-boiled detective tradition, Pearce writes clean, pithy prose (“We took our glasses and discomfort to the dining room”), prone to a deft turn of phrase (“She still looked terrible, but was now a better class of terrible”).
I loved this novel and can’t wait for the next installment of the series.
March 14, 2019
A new, unique main character you’ll enjoy meeting
As with many good novels, Pearce introduces readers to a unique and interesting main character in Monk Buttman.
A self-proclaimed “nobody,” he’s forced to play the part of a private investigator after his real job as a courier for a law firm turns deadly.
Buttman is as funny as his name suggests, but he’s more resourceful than even he might give himself credit for.
The mystery he must solve gets larger and more complex as the story unfolds, and Pearce does a great job of tying Buttman’s tragic backstory to the mystery, and holding it back until it’s most emotionally impactful.
And while the plot is solid and engaging, it’s the strength of Buttman’s personality that will carry readers through this novel.
I would highly recommend this to readers who enjoy humor and a charismatic main character in their mystery novels.
As with many good novels, Pearce introduces readers to a unique and interesting main character in Monk Buttman.
A self-proclaimed “nobody,” he’s forced to play the part of a private investigator after his real job as a courier for a law firm turns deadly.
Buttman is as funny as his name suggests, but he’s more resourceful than even he might give himself credit for.
The mystery he must solve gets larger and more complex as the story unfolds, and Pearce does a great job of tying Buttman’s tragic backstory to the mystery, and holding it back until it’s most emotionally impactful.
And while the plot is solid and engaging, it’s the strength of Buttman’s personality that will carry readers through this novel.
I would highly recommend this to readers who enjoy humor and a charismatic main character in their mystery novels.
February 12, 2021
Thank you to author David William Pearce for this FREE Kindle copy of Where Fools Dare to Tread. And thank to Goodreads for hosting the opportunity.
A delight to read, and a solid 4-star. I'm pulling one star for editing issues. Other than that, this is a definite 'recommended read'. The story, characters, dialogue, interactions, humor, all came together for an enjoyable read. Nicely done.
A delight to read, and a solid 4-star. I'm pulling one star for editing issues. Other than that, this is a definite 'recommended read'. The story, characters, dialogue, interactions, humor, all came together for an enjoyable read. Nicely done.
September 9, 2025
Always Trouble
Who gives himself the name Buffman? That was never explained in this book. Monk Buttman is assigned a job where there were complications galore. The book has interesting characters, but a lot of it could have been edited out with no problem concerning the ending.
Who gives himself the name Buffman? That was never explained in this book. Monk Buttman is assigned a job where there were complications galore. The book has interesting characters, but a lot of it could have been edited out with no problem concerning the ending.
September 28, 2025
A Monk Mystery
This is the first in the series.It was a good introduction to all the characters.It was an interesting read I really enjoyed getting to know them all and found this a good read.
This is the first in the series.It was a good introduction to all the characters.It was an interesting read I really enjoyed getting to know them all and found this a good read.
November 30, 2019
Fun thriller
A modern LA tale with a noir vibe featuring a reluctant investigator and his colorful friends and distant family. I'll read the next on the series...
A modern LA tale with a noir vibe featuring a reluctant investigator and his colorful friends and distant family. I'll read the next on the series...
April 9, 2020
Interesting read... could not put it into a "box." Then heard the term pulp fiction, and that made sense. Tad bit of blood, sex, and intrigue... good stuff.
February 3, 2023
Very Interesting story
This book was hard to put down. Interesting story with some quirks to keep interest. It was a good read
This book was hard to put down. Interesting story with some quirks to keep interest. It was a good read
September 12, 2025
Cool story. From nobody to patsy to hero. Sunshine does it all. Probably read another.
May 5, 2019
A unique main character, that in a way reminded me of mashup of Monk and Columbo. Even though it is a mystery, there is a bit of humor thrown into the mix that will keep you reading until the end. An interesting mystery, even if I did have it partially figured out before the ended. A descent mystery that is worth adding to your TBR of you enjoy a bit of humor with your mystery novels.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews