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The Artisanal Grifter
by George Bixley
Don’t mess with the hothead—or he might just mess with you. Slater Ibáñez is only interested in two kinds of guys: the ones he wants to punch, and the ones he sleeps with. Things get interesting when they start to overlap. A freelance investigator, Slater trolls the dark side of Los Angeles, rooting out insurance fraud, not afraid to use whatever means necessary to get things done, and not about to hold back with his fists. A queer antihero for a new age, Slater walks the line between ordinary life and the frayed fringes of society, keeping his balance with the back-channel support he gets from his idiot cop ex-boyfriend, Conrad, and regular squeeze Andy.
Pulled into negotiating with a blackmailer as a favor to his mother, Slater soon finds there’s more going on than just her old friend’s inability to keep it in his pants. More victims of the grift turn up, including Etta, an educator with secrets of her own who teams up with Slater to run a con on one of the key players. Unraveling the mystery leads Slater into an old-school photo lab, a late-night stakeout in a bar wearing disguise drag, and pugilistic encounters with a button man and a sleazy property developer. Zeroing in on the extent of the grift, Slater’s plan to plant evidence—the only way to make sure the right person gets arrested—inevitably goes awry, leaving him with a dilemma that strikes to the heart of his already tenuous ethics.
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Selected praise:
“With Slater I waffle between concern for his bad habits and getting turned on by his raunchiness. Rarely do we meet a character … so in touch with his id.”
“Slater is the quintessential bad-boy protagonist, and I so enjoyed the ride. Really easy to get lost in this fast-paced mystery that has plenty of fun twists and turns, hot sex, and a peek into LA’s darker side.”
