Carnegie Fitch can be called a lot of things. Ambitious is not one of them.

Months after escaping death in the circus ring at the hands of the Dead Clowns and the feet of a stampeding elephant, he is no longer a half-assed private eye with an office and no license, but instead a half-assed tow truck driver without either. Still, he manages to find ample time to drink lots of diner coffee, hang with fellow down-and-out diner denizens and have all those shiny daydreams about landing that BIG CASE.

Well, careful what you wish for, Fitch.

Because when a wealthy widow hires him to sniff along the trail of a soapbox svengali with a hobo history and several mysterious deaths in his wake, not only will it put Fitch, aka Gastown's Favourite Punching Bag, in harm's way as he navigates a twisted road of stolen coins, defrocked dentists, wacky hallucinogens, crooked cops, and cult crazies, but his past, present and future will also come a-calling, each with their own...]]> Mon, 28 Jan 2019 14:15:50 +0200 https://reverse-harem.library.land/r-daniel-lester/605735-dead_clown_blues.html https://reverse-harem.library.land/r-daniel-lester/605735-dead_clown_blues.html

A Finalist for the 2018 Arthur Ellis Award for Best Crime Novella!

Carnegie Fitch, once-upon-a-time drifter and now half-assed private eye, has a sharp tongue, a cheap suit and dog-bite marks on his fedora. Yes, that's just how he rolls through the downtown streets of Vancouver, BC, Canada, aka Terminal City, circa 1957, a land of neon signs, 24-hour diners and slumming socialites.

Fitch gets the case of a lifetime when he gets caught up in the death of a janitor with a checkered past as a circus performer and a stash of ill-gotten gains. And since nothing attracts the moths quite like the glow of a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, he will cross paths with a series of lowlifes and nut jobs, including a gang of criminal clowns, a femme fatale with beaucoup daddy issues and an off-kilter circus elephant named Mary with a taste for human fear.

See, Fitch has always dreamed of the big score, the buried treasure, the duffel bag full of...]]> Sat, 28 Jan 2017 14:15:51 +0200