Liner notes:

This story is a sequel of sorts to “Goodnight, Gracie“, also published at Plots With Guns. Do not go and read it, though, as it contains certain spoilers for “Grace, Period”.

Though there’s plenty of adult content – sex, violence, and, especially, profanity – this story was intentionally styled as the sort of thing you might see in Ellery Queen’s or Alfred Hitchcock’s, if they ran this sort of thing, especially in the pacing. This isn’t a dirge, a long, lonely plod to a tragic ending; it’s a mambo. Conga line, everyone!

The story takes a few jabs at the bookselling world, but it’s not really a satire. More of an in joke for those who follow publishing new. I’m not really suggesting that strong-arm tactics could save bookstores. Although now that I think about it… The specific “bix box” bookstore I describe is modeled after the Borders where my writing group meets.

With the exception of Tommy Roccaforte, all the Italian names here are taken from well-known drummers:

Pete Morello – inspired by Joe Morello, jazz drummer for Dave Brubeck, who inspired me to use these names. Sadly, he died before this story was published. My all-too-predictable reaction was, “Joe Morello was still alive?!?”

Sal Porcaro – Jeff Porcaro, founding member of the rock group Toto and noted session drummer. He played on albums by Steely Dan, Paul McCartney, Michael Jackson, and many, many others.

Vito “The Libido” Fontana – DJ Fontana, Elvis’s drummer. DJ is from my hometown of Shreveport, Louisiana, and was the house drummer for the Louisiana Hayride, where Elvis first gained popularity.

Carlo Garibaldi – David Garibaldi, drummer for the influential funk group Tower of Power.

Finally, if you have half as much fun reading this story as I had writing it, well, you had fun. This story was as much fun to write as anything I’ve *ever* written. I hope it shows.

Graham’s Number

I envisioned this as being the perfect Plots With Guns story (sort of like David Allan Coe’s perfect country song) but Neil Smith went on hiatus before I could complete it. I’d always wanted a story in CrimeSpree, so there you are. I hope you enjoy it!

Flash at close range == better than Botox!

And I didn’t get very far. But the next day I got a little farther. In less than a month I was running 2.5 miles four times a week. From Labor Day to Christmas I lost nearly 25 pounds.

Then, inevitably, my body broke down.

See, I was born with a club foot (surgically corrected when I was an infant) and later I hurt my Achilles on that same leg, so I had a fallen arch on that side. This put a little extra pressure on my right knee, and finally something had to give. When it did it was the cartiledge over my kneecap.

So I sat around the house and waited for it to get better, and it never did. Nothing else seems to hurt except for running, but even a couple of running steps is painful. I later learned that it can be fixed, but the doctors recommend against it unless the pain is just unbearable. Apparently once you get your knee fixed it’s never the same again.

Fast forward to two weeks ago. I spent three days wandering around Universal Studios. I was on my feet about six hours a day, and while the standing around got old after a while, the walking didn’t seem to hurt too much.

So when I got back I decided to keep it going. In the past 8 days I have walked more than 35 miles, and it feels pretty good. So far I have lost a grand total of… 1 pound. But hey, in a year that will be 52 pounds! And I’ll be down to the what I weighted when I was 15.

Or maybe not.