Brawl in Bardo

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.

Helping his business partner, Max, track down a bail jumper, Slater spends the night in a dusty Mojave Desert town. Things look different in the liminal space between LA and Vegas, like the bardo state between lives, and Slater soon finds himself stalking a sleazy dermatologist who’s in a custody battle with another croaker for a seemingly worthless statue. With high-tech surveillance and a late-night break-in, bouncing between the metropolis and Sin City, Slater zeroes in on the truth while navigating some irksome emotional entanglements and his own sobriety.

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“I am hooked on reading about Slater Ibáñez. I read the last two as fast as they arrived. He scares me and entices me all at the same time!”  —C. Scribner

Chiseler with a Glass Jaw

by Chester Henry

Never one to let a bully get away with harassing someone, Celeste intervenes with a knockout punch, and in the melee Truman winds up in possession of the bully’s cell phone. Through Truman’s inventive online stalking and Celeste tracking down the victim, they uncover a seedy nest of grifters bent on profiting from human misery. Truman gets involved with Isaac, a closeted lawyer with a quick temper, but how does he fit into the scam? Running down leads at hotel bars, hip boutiques, and a grimy body shop, Truman and Celeste go all in, posing as wealthy airheads to go undercover in a night club and getting intimate with the lowlifes to disrupt their insidious con game. Join the bar-hopping, booze-swilling duo as Celeste sets the ultimate trap at her art gallery, and Truman is forced to decide how far he’s willing to go for justice.

In this second book in the series, Celeste finds that longtime friend Truman fills some of the gaps in companionship, leaving her the luxury of being choosier in her romantic pursuits. Truman has his own issues chasing guys, in his perpetual quest for the right man, and the pair of them manage not to get jealous when they target the same ones.

“Once again Truman and Celeste solve an intractable mystery, outsmarting some nasty con artists and macking on guys all the way. Long live the booze hounds!”  —Christopher Church, author of Stealth Glasses

The Eagle and the Weasel

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.

Hired by tenacious journalist Elvaine to look into a college student who went missing decades ago, Slater finds himself sparring with film-industry lowlifes, a delusional New Age herbalist shilling cure-all supplements, and an enigmatic synchromystic who challenges his understanding of the very nature of reality. After a night at a séance with Pike and then a ghost hunt in an abandoned hotel, Slater pulls enough threads to get a bead on the missing man. The quest leads him out of town, where he meets the eagle and lands a gig that might pay off big time—if he can manage not to get greased along the way.

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 main squeeze Pike, business partner Max, and operatives Andy and Etta.

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“The Bixley books just keep getting better … This book is a fast page turner that is crisp in style, catchy in tone, and fully engrossing. I highly recommend all the author’s work!”  —Amazon reader Bob G.

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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“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.”  —Chester Henry, author of Stalking the Scratch Man

Project Chartreuse

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.

On an insurance job, Slater’s hunt for missing beneficiary Daniel takes him from wrangling the hardscrabble grifters of Skid Row to infiltrating the sleazy pieds-à-terre and private jets of the city’s moneyed elite. Eventually the quest takes Slater to New Mexico, where he rents an old pickup and revisits his equestrian past in pursuit of a shadowy group dedicated to flying saucers. Galliform, an old quarry, pops up in the sprawling desert, and Slater has to navigate around law enforcement, not quite willing to collaborate with them but intent on not winding up in the hoosegow. Hooking up with all the wrong guys and drinking way too much, Slater gradually starts to see what’s really going on. As Galliform increases the pressure and things heat up, Slater has to decide between doing what’s right and preserving his own neck.

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“It draws you in from the first page … like me, you will anxiously be waiting for the next one in the series.”  —Amazon reader Out East

A Desperate Frame-up

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.

Hired by a desk jockey to stalk her ex-husband and dig up dirt, Slater shadows the brawler Harold and his kid, trying in vain not to get too close and get made. Harold’s pushback sends Slater into a more compelling mystery, about Lance, a crypto bro who’s gone missing with a whole lot of dough. Working undercover on a film set, Slater tangles with aging child actors, the surreal world of reality television, and a bare-faced frame-up orchestrated by a cold-blooded player. As he struggles to stay one step ahead of an arms smuggler and the feds that are in pursuit of him, Slater also has to figure out how to navigate his burgeoning “narrative complex” love affair, and how to renegotiate his relationship with Andy. Never hesitating to slap a lowlife around, Slater follows Lance’s faint trail, trying to determine whether he’s alive somewhere enjoying his hoard or planted in a shallow grave in the mountains, all the while trying not to wind up there himself.

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“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.”  —Chester Henry, author of Cryptic Paisley

The Man from Grapalia

by Christopher Church

When Etor shows up on the doorstep of the wealthy Whitby family claiming to be a long-lost relative, Henry, the scion of the Los Angeles dynasty, hires psychic investigator Mason to find out whether the interloper really did come from a parallel universe. Why does the matriarch, Margaret, hiding upstairs in her room, refuse to meet Mason? And why has Henry taken such a personal interest in Mason? With help from a bizarre splinter of his own personality and his burgeoning psychic insights, Mason snoops around the palatial Whitby estate, digging into the long-held secrets of the family and staff, and with an excursion to New Mexico, uncovers the truth about Etor, the man from Grapalia.

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“Every foray by Church’s wonderful psychic detective Mason Braithwaite is a truly suspenseful page-turner in the most unusual crime series ever, and certainly one that no aficionado of crime fiction should miss.”  —David Osborn, author of the best-selling Cold War thrillers The French Decision and Love and Treason

The Margarita Solution

by Chester Henry

Sometimes all a woman needs is a decent man—even if she’s not sleeping with him. For Celeste, her longtime friend Truman fills some of the gaps, leaving her the luxury of being choosier in her romantic pursuits. Truman has his own issues chasing guys, in his perpetual quest for the right man, and the pair of them manage not to get jealous when they target the same ones.

In this first novel in the Truman and Celeste series, Truman stumbles into a detective gig while trying to imbibe a margarita, and soon finds himself hunting for a guy named Jaime in a rough neighborhood, getting embroiled with a series of increasingly troublesome lowlifes, none of whom ever seem to tell him the truth. Drawn into the mystery, Celeste works her contacts in the art world and meets a guy who’s all sweet chocolate on the surface but has some toxic secrets underneath, all the while helping Truman avoid his more boneheaded instincts in his research and working up some job prospects for herself.

Join Truman and Celeste as they troll the gritty underbelly of Los Angeles, never hesitating to slam that cocktail, hit on guys, or ask the next relevant question.

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“Truman is like that twinkie who slipped through your fingers that time—sweet and a little naive but whip-smart. And every man should have a reliable friend like Celeste. With these two booze hounds running around, the city promises to be a little wilder, and a whole lot more exciting.”  —George Bixley, author of That First Heady Burn

Chiseler in Jade

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.

Slater meets Bucky on an airplane and gets drawn into a mystery—the guy can’t remember his name or where he is. As he works to track down his identity, Slater uncovers a blackmail scheme run by a pair of frat-boy grifters, and digging deeper, uses his Russian tech to run surveillance on the players, revealing a string of other victims. He befriends straitlaced smoke-show Walter, who turns out to have an explosive temper, and collaborates with a couple of the other patsies. With the help of a canny drag queen, he sets up a sting operation that might just shut down the extortion racket, if he can manage not to have it blow up in his face. Negotiating his evolving relationship with Pike, and keeping one step ahead of a series of belligerent lowlifes, Slater struggles to balance the world’s relentless demands on him and not punching the wrong person in the face.

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 main squeeze Pike, business partner Max, and operatives Andy and Etta.

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“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.”  —Chester Henry, author of Cryptic Paisley

The Hillside Roble

by George Bixley

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 jobs that his employer, Della, throws his way, and the back-channel support he gets from his idiot cop ex-boyfriend, Conrad, and regular squeeze Andy.

Investigating a million-dollar heist at a gallery in the Arts District, Slater can’t get a face-to-face with the owner, Eli, until he applies a little pressure, which leads to an evening invite to a tony mansion in the hills. Eli turns out to be a minor celebrity, physically flawless but obsessed with his own image, and flaky in that uniquely LA way. Gallery manager Pilar and her girlfriend are hiding something too, but Slater works to uncover the dirt with some surveillance and subterfuge, briefly posing as a straight guy to get some answers. Eli’s nephew Ty seems guileless at first, but what is he really up to at his massage-parlor job? Join Slater as he closes in on the truth, never hesitating to use his fists or his libido to cut through the secrets and deception

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“This book is a page turner. Its fast and breezy writing style is a delight. And best of all, the mystery is a real surprise.”  —an Amazon reader

Stalking the Scratch Man

by Chester Henry

Hired to figure out whether his client’s husband, Ray, has been sleepwalking or just faking it, Truman pulls his best friend, Celeste, into the mystery. The duo digs deep—rifling medical files, running late-night stakeouts, stalking witnesses in bars—to find there’s more to it than Ray’s secretive trips to Chinatown and his habit of macking on women. Truman tries to stay objective with his new crush, Larry, not sure how much he knows about the boss’s lowlife activities, while Celeste contends with her own man troubles in the stalwart but suspicious Alejo. Celeste uses her stealthy instincts to interview the players without showing her hand as Truman, relying on his 1930s-era detective handbook, delves into the dark side of the import business.

Join the bar-hopping, booze-swilling duo as their digging pushes things right to the edge, where Truman and Celeste have to figure out whether to do what’s easy or do what’s right.

“Truman is like that twinkie who slipped through your fingers that time—sweet and a little naive but whip-smart. And every man should have a reliable friend like Celeste. With these two booze hounds running around, the city promises to be a little wilder, and a whole lot more exciting.”  —George Bixley, author of The Window-Shade Job

Signs Point to Yes

by Christopher Church

After quitting his dead-end job, Mason enacts his dream of becoming a psychic investigator, despite skepticism from his boyfriend. Eluding sketchy Hollywood thugs, surviving his first lap dance, and paying close attention to his dreams, he manages to solve a few mysteries and even surprise himself with his psychic skills.

“Looking for a page turning detective yarn which will keep you riveted right to the last word? Signs Point To Yes features a whole new exciting slant on private eye-ing and is the book for you. May we see more of Mason, his unabashedly psychic detective and a lot more of Church’s no nonsense plotting. I loved it. Couldn’t put it down.”  —David Osborn, author of Murder on Martha’s Vineyard and The French Decision

Delta Red

by David Osborn

Kasie Sanders, a young rising-star New Orleans police detective, is busted after a bodega shootout and is working as a wedding and children’s party photographer when she is picked for a dangerous special assignment by the FBI, investigating American ties to a sex-slave ring in Malaysia and Thailand. Going undercover as a photojournalist for Great American Families magazine, Kasie joins Louisiana’s famed Warriner family, one of whom, a prominent congressman, is suspected of pedophilia, and soon encounters, in the idyllic setting of the Warriner’s historic antebellum Lonsdale House, vicious racism as well as crimes even worse than pedophilia, and herself in far more danger than she ever experienced as a police officer.

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“There won’t be a better book published in America this year.… brilliantly plotted … infinite complications … as audacious as it is original …”  —Alastair Maclean, reviewing David Osborn’s Love and Treason

The Landers Mystique

by Christopher Church

On a weekend break in the Mojave, psychic investigator Mason stumbles across the story of a bygone journalist, Geraldine, who expired in the desert on her way to one of the early flying saucer meet-ups. Unable to shake the pointlessness of the tragic tale, Mason trades a favor with his psychic-world mentor, Hanh, who sends him to the East Coast to attend a wedding where he doesn’t know anyone. Wracked with guilt about his role in disrupting the event, Mason grapples with the cost of intervening in Geraldine’s life, and gains new resolve to change the outcome.

With help from his mid-century friends Billy and Flattop, and with the unflagging support of his boyfriend, Ned, and their roommate, Peggy, Mason shifts to Geraldine’s era, and on a long road trip to Landers, manages to rearrange things enough to shake the foundations of his own timeline.

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“Every foray by Church’s wonderful psychic detective Mason Braithwaite is a truly suspenseful page-turner in the most unusual crime series ever, and certainly one that no aficionado of crime fiction should miss.”  —David Osborn, author of the best-selling thrillers The French Decision and Love and Treason

Cold Case 369

by David Osborn

When two women detectives in the CID division of a large city police force, one a forty-year veteran, the other a rookie, are forcibly teamed together in an unfriendly partnership, the rookie follows the many-years-old cold case of a painting found in a stolen deposit box. As she traces its path from obscurity to potential world fame at auction, the older detective, disdaining the efforts of her younger partner, investigates the more recent and seemingly unrelated violent homicide of an important city councilman. The paths of both widely different investigations merge, however, united by evidence in the cold case, and the two detectives become as one to successfully hunt down those guilty of the homicide.

“A good tale of mystery and murder. Its plot twists and turns in and out of an intriguing whodunit that packs a punch at the end powerful enough to floor one.”  —Western Morning News

From a Desert Playa

by George Bixley

Trying to sort out the cause of shipping delays at a mine in a remote part of Nevada, Slater grills the driver Bender and the armed guard Vitale, responsible for trucking the shipments to the city, and ferrets out some of their secrets. Not sure whether the enigmatic Hernán is a birthright airhead or an exquisitely talented con artist, against his better judgment Slater winds up in the sack with him. Finally heading to the mining camp in a cargo plane, Slater and his operative Etta meet more of the players and see some strange things in the vast empty desert. The trip back to LA takes an unexpected turn, leaving Slater with a dilemma that threatens his very survival.

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.

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“I am hooked on reading about Slater Ibáñez. I read the last two as fast as they arrived. He scares me and entices me all at the same time!”  —C. Scribner

Night on the Water

by Christopher Church

A chance encounter on an airplane with the woolly academic Rovski leads psychic investigator Mason onto a college campus, where he works to figure out why math professor Emily is hassling the guy. As he digs into the mystery, his psychic mentor Hanh instructs him to connect with his client in the dream world. Mason works to get lucid in his dreams and struggles to understand the symbolism and the meaning of his experiences in that realm, and how it intersects waking life. It soon becomes clear that he’s seeing things that other people don’t, and the plucky redhead has to grapple with the classic psychic’s dilemma: how to relate paranormal experiences back to mundane reality. His boyfriend, Ned, and their roommate, Peggy, help Mason keep his feet on the ground, and old friend Gilbert shows up in ways that transcend helpful and dive into annoying. As Rovski gets more rattled by Emily’s behavior, Mason gets closer to the truth, sailing across a mountain lake in the dead of night, chasing his quarry on his trusty bicycle, and ultimately unfolding a hidden part of reality.

“Church vividly constructs a world peopled with characters I did not want to leave behind when I finished the book.”  —an Amazon reader

Cryptic Paisley

by Chester Henry

When gallerist Celeste meets an old friend at an art show, the artist explains that someone has jacked one of her fashion designs, and soon Celeste’s bestie, Truman, is on the case, diving headlong into LA’s fashion industry to investigate. Truman and Celeste soon get entangled with a hinky company run by a trio of enigmatic lowlifes who produce a very unusual fashion line. Are they full-on grifters, or just not that competent? Truman goes undercover with an industry supplier, and Celeste agrees to work for the trashy fashion folks, digging deeper into their secrets and getting way too close to the blustery Flavio and his cryptocurrency scheme. As Truman tracks down other victims of the fashion scam, he finds himself drawn to a talented swimwear designer.

In this installment of the Truman and Celeste books, the duo uses their smarts and cunning to confront the crooks head-on, never hesitating to ask the next relevant question or to slam that cocktail.

“Truman is like that twinkie who slipped through your fingers that time—sweet and a little naive but whip-smart. And every man should have a reliable friend like Celeste. With these two booze hounds running around, the city promises to be a little wilder, and a whole lot more exciting.”  —George Bixley, author of Project Chartreuse

The Desert Rats

by Christopher Church

Strange things start to happen as soon as psychic investigator Mason and his boyfriend, Ned, and their roommate, Peggy, arrive in the high desert. An old friend sends him on a quest to identify an artifact found hidden among his dead father’s possessions, and the journey brings him into contact with a series of odd characters—not least the enigmatic Laura, who’s camping out on the desert but seems to be up to something else. With the help of a manicurist, a librarian, and a revealing side-trip back to Los Angeles, Mason manages to sharpen his psychic skills and gain insights into Gilbert’s artifact—and perhaps even the hidden structure of the world.

“A whole new exciting slant on private eye-ing … may we see more of Mason, his unabashedly psychic detective and a lot more of Church’s no-nonsense plotting. I loved it—couldn’t put it down.”  —David Osborn, best-selling author of Open Season, Murder On Martha’s Vineyard, and The French Decision

Trail of the Blue Agave

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 main squeeze Pike, business partner Max, and operatives Andy and Etta.

Pulled in on a case by a colleague from his former life in the landscaping world, Slater uses illicit surveillance gear to track a stolen blue agave to a seedy dive bar, where the patrons are not what they seem. Working undercover at a shady tequila factory, he starts to figure out what’s really going on, and uncovers a deeper grift preying on newcomers in Koreatown. Frustrated by his inability to shut down the racket, Slater collaborates with some of the victims, temporarily distracting himself by playing best man at a wedding, only to face an inadvertent turn of events that might send him to the hoosegow for good.

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That First Heady Burn

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 jobs that his employer, Della, throws his way, and the back-channel support he gets from his idiot cop ex-boyfriend, Conrad.

In this introductory novel in the series, Slater runs surveillance on an injured tech worker, soon finding that there are secrets lurking beneath the surface at his company. How do they generate so much revenue without employing anyone? Why does the founder spend so much time at the border? And why does a tech company need such heavy security? Tangling with blackmailers, party girls, late-night hookups with a gamut of guys, and a lot of bourbon, Slater uses his wits and a strong right hook to sort out bad from worse.

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“Not bound by manners or even the law, but smart enough not to get caught, Slater is a raunchy badass who takes no guff. Who wouldn’t want to get involved with a guy who sleeps around so much? Climb in Slater’s T-bird—you’re in for a wild ride.”  —Christopher Church, author of the Mason Braithwaite Paranormal Mystery Series

The Mythical Blond

by Christopher Church

Strange things happen in the desert Southwest. Hired to work a contract job at a remote military base in Nevada, psychic investigator Mason soon finds the Navy’s real motivation for luring him there involves an old friend and her ratty jalopy. On the way back to Los Angeles he gets entangled with Effie, who has an intensely dysfunctional relationship with her husband, and Iris, who recruits him to do an episode of reality TV. His understanding of the world begins to warp as Effie and Iris act out ancient mythologies in their own lives, dragging Mason into exploits that include safecracking, a séance, and a time-travel excursion.

This latest installment in the Mason Braithwaite Paranormal Mystery Series sees the disheveled redhead honing his psychic chops while digging deeper into paranormal phenomena. His boyfriend, Ned, and their roommate, Peggy, try to be stabilizing forces in Mason’s life, but the echoes of the past make him start to question the nature of reality itself.

“A whole new exciting slant on private eye-ing.… May we see more of Mason, his unabashedly psychic detective, and a lot more of Church’s no-nonsense plotting. I loved it—couldn’t put it down.”  —David Osborn, best-selling author of Open Season, Murder On Martha’s Vineyard, and The French Decision

The Peroxide Pomp

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.

Interrupted late one night by Marisol, a desperate woman seeking help from his business partner, Slater agrees to go after her husband, Abner, a nebbishy accountant who’s making their divorce negotiations a nightmare. But why is Marisol traveling with a bodyguard, and why is she more interested in uncovering Abner’s secret assets than just warning him off? With Andy’s help, Slater infiltrates Abner’s office and befriends staffer Nolan on a quest to figure out where all the money is coming from. Unable to keep his libido in check, Slater winds up in bed with one of the principals, and struggles to keep the entanglement from clouding his judgment. After using his illicit Russian tech to surveille Abner and a degenerate religious nut, some covert deception with his elderly neighbor, and an excursion to a seedy bar in Albuquerque, Slater begins to unravel Marisol’s end game. Debilitated by his addictions dragging him closer to rock bottom, and wading through a sea of compulsive hookups with an array of guys, Slater is ultimately confronted with a moral dilemma that puts other people’s lives in the balance.

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“It draws you in from the first page … like me, you will anxiously be waiting for the next one in the series.”  —Amazon reader Out East

The Satin Squeeze Play

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.

Hired by engineer Ben to find out why he’d been blackballed by a potential employer, Slater tries to uncover a nebulous nondisclosure agreement that Ben says he’s never seen. Sleazy lawyer Sybil is no help, and Slater digs into her grift with wannabe film director and card-room boss Dragan. An excursion to Santa Fe uncovers more dirt, and a trip to a tiny island in the Pacific leads to Slater scrambling to save his own neck. As he closes in on the truth, Slater gets entangled with the mesmerizing redhead Graham, clashes with boyfriend Pike over his sex habits, and endures a tragedy that takes out an old friend. What he ultimately unearths leaves him frustrated and Ben enraged—but Slater devises a final scheme that will either outsmart the mastermind or send them all to the hoosegow.

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 main squeeze Pike, business partner Max, and operatives Andy and Etta.

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The Dark Shill

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 jobs that his employer, Della, throws his way, and the back-channel support he gets from his idiot cop ex-boyfriend, Conrad.

In this third book in the series, a routine insurance gig sends Slater after Derek, an accountant who claims to be too debilitated even to meet with him. But why is he never at his crummy little apartment? Rahim, the achingly hot sales manager at Derek’s office, doesn’t reveal much, except when he and Slater wind up in the sack—an attraction that might be diverting Slater from uncovering the truth. Gwen, the high-style HR director, is definitely concealing her relationship with Derek, just like Dave, the head of the company, caught skulking around dive bars and the back streets of Skid Row. Intensity builds as Slater goes undercover to root out malpractice by a sleazy plastic surgeon, following leads in the case high and low, pausing only to punch out tweakers, grifters, and bullies along the way.

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“Slater’s sex drive and penchant for punches never cease to amaze. Long live the hothead!”  —Christopher Church, author of The Invisible Arrow

The Convenient Patsy

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.

When the narrator of his favorite podcast lands in the City of Angels and asks for help to find a missing colleague, Slater takes the case, and soon finds himself working undercover—as security on a trashy reality TV show, then as a paparazzo wielding a camera to snap images of a vapid pop star. As he circles closer to finding out what happened to the disappeared geologist, Slater trolls oil industry thugs, tangles with well-armed and tight-lipped witnesses, and digs into the city’s wealthy beachside enclaves. Things heat up when one of his targets attempts a frame job. Slater hustles to keep clear of it, all the while drinking way too much, dealing with lowlifes who tend to punch back, and struggling to keep his sex life out of his work.

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“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.”  —Chester Henry, author of The Margarita Solution

The Window-Shade Job

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 in on a window-shade job to gather intel on a cheating spouse, Slater discovers there’s another observer on the case, prowling around the backyard with a camera. In the course of tracking him down, along with his target’s paramour, he soon finds out there’s more going on than run-of-the-mill infidelity. The bunco accountant sleeps with anyone he can persuade, regardless of gender, including Slater. And what is Tato really up to in his seedy little shipping store? Dark secrets come to the surface, and with help from a gallery clerk, Slater starts to put the pieces together, all the while trying to stay sober, keep one step ahead of the law, and sort out his feelings for Andy. In a bid to protect the naive European caught up in the intrigue, he comes up with an audacious plan that might just save the guy—and make Slater some serious bank.

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“The Bixley books just keep getting better and better. This book is a great read. A fast page turner that is crisp in style, catchy in tone and fully engrossing.”  —Bob G.

Stealth Glasses

by Christopher Church

Psychic investigator Mason is suspicious when Ortiz, a shady Navy operative from the desert, asks for his help, claiming he’s looking for his runaway teenage son, Owen. There’s more to it, he soon realizes, digging into Owen’s life, and Mason finds himself going to extreme lengths to stay off Ortiz’s radar. And who exactly is the hippie, visible in old photos but without a name, just beyond the reach of memory? With help from his talented roommate, Peggy, and his boyfriend, Ned, the scruffy flatfoot tangles with drag queens, religious extremists, a protest march, and maybe even aliens in this latest mystery in the Mason Braithwaite series.

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“Church vividly constructs a world peopled with characters I did not want to leave behind when I finished the book.”  —an Amazon reader

Penstock Canyon

by Christopher Church

Helping out Gilbert, a friend who’s suffering from late-night visitations, psychic investigator Mason is confronted with aliens on the roof, and soon finds himself caught in a whirlwind of paranormal events. Liminal beings contract him to stop a very real land development project in Los Angeles, pitting him against ruthless and powerful forces. With help from his boyfriend, Ned, and their roommate, Peggy, Mason manages to con his way into obtaining documents that might upend the whole project, but is it worth his own safety? A threatening visit from a shadowy figure and an alien abduction therapist from Texas have Mason questioning his career, his motivations, and the very nature of reality.

“In the world of crime fiction, few come up with true originality. But Christopher Church has, and with exciting imagination.… Keep reading—you won’t regret a single gripping page.”  —David Osborn, best-selling author of Open Season, Murder on Martha’s Vineyard, and The French Decision

The Saucer-Heads

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.

Hired to track down Finley, the missing boyfriend of tech worker Truax, Slater soon discovers that the job isn’t really what he was asked to do. The search for Finley leads him to an arcane book and the flying-saucer subculture, where a deep dive takes Slater out into the Mojave Desert, leaving him unsure of the precise boundaries of reality itself. With input from Doris and his operatives, and begrudging help from his romantic partner, Pike, to weasel him out of a jam, Slater cuts a dogged path to sort out what Truax really wants, and what Finley is really up to, all the while juggling high explosives, navigating his deepening narrative complex with Pike, and never failing to throw that punch.

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 main squeeze Pike, business partner Max, and operatives Andy and Etta.

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“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.”  —an Amazon reader

The Melted Pineapple

by Christopher Church

Confronted with a hidden space in the walls of his new office, Mason tracks down Astrid Luna, the architect who renovated the building, and with the help of his boyfriend, Ned, and their roommate, Peggy, soon gets inside the void—but their discovery only raises more questions. Researching the original architect, Mason asks the ever-inscrutable paranormal overseer Hanh to help him bleed through to the past, where he can ask the guy to explain what’s going on. Connecting with some old friends, including a drag queen that he doesn’t recognize without a dress on, Mason manages to figure out the purpose of the space and the mystical object within, eventually returning to the building and maybe even putting the final piece of the puzzle in place

“Here we go again—a terrific psychic detective novel. Church doesn’t miss in this page-turning winner.”  —David Osborn, best-selling author of Murder on Martha’s Vineyard, Love and Tresason, and others

Shrink in the Shadows

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.

Hired by banker Tad to track down a missing shrink, Slater soon finds there’s more going on, like the cryptic list Bianca left in her briefcase. An excursion to Bianca’s college leads to an intriguing ex-husband, a conspiracy theorist’s blog posts, and a suburban bungalow that’s been thoroughly sanitized, but Bianca remains elusive. Slater goes undercover with a gardening crew, and infiltrates a police investigation at a seedy hotel, but what’s the connection to Bianca’s list? Meanwhile his field operative, Etta, has taken up renovating the office as a part-time gig, bringing a degree of chaos for Slater and his business partner, Max. As the conspiracy theories get more bizarre, Slater gets closer to the truth, uncovering why Bianca is lying low, and maybe even why Tad has been playing him all along. Trolling the underbelly of the city and the high-desert wilderness, Slater zeroes in on the truth, never hesitating to hit on guys, throw a punch, or demand answers.

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“The Bixley books just keep getting better … This book is a fast page turner that is crisp in style, catchy in tone, and fully engrossing. I highly recommend all the author’s work!”  —Amazon reader Bob G.

Reach for the Sky

by Christopher Church

A bougie addict and his wife hire Mason to hunt for buried loot, but he’s not even sure it exists. His psychic insights lead him to an old building with a lot to hide, as well as trying to outwit a Freemason, and getting tangled up with a woman who claims to be rooting out corruption in local government—but why does she need a psychic to do that? Working undercover for her at city hall, he runs up against some vicious civil servants who will stop at nothing to protect the status quo.

The third installment of the Mason Braithwaite Paranormal Mystery Series finds the bicycle-riding psychic investigator gaining confidence in using his newfound reality-distorting research techniques, struggling with his own rapid evolution while being drawn into unexpected peril as he navigates the shiny heights and gritty underbelly of Los Angeles. Despite his instinct to blame his boyfriend for getting involved with shady people, Ned is always there to provide insight and help pick up the pieces, and their roommate, Peggy, is back on stage and more pregnant than ever. With deft manipulation, Mason cuts through the lies and exposes secrets that are both dark and twisted and incredibly inspiring.

“In the world of crime fiction, few come up with true originality. But Christopher Church has, and with exciting imagination.… Keep reading—you won’t regret a single gripping page.”  —David Osborn, best-selling author of Open Season, Murder on Martha’s Vineyard, and The French Decision

A Stack of Sawbucks

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.

Pulled in on a case by his business partner, Slater investigates reports of a ghost in a faded Miracle Mile apartment, where eerie noises start at the same time every night. But no one believes there’s anything supernatural going on, including the tenants—and why is there a sealed-off staircase in the middle of the living room? Using his illicit Russian tech, Slater soon discovers one of the neighbors has some dirty secrets, but the tenant upstairs presents a bigger challenge, with disproportionately sophisticated security measures. Managing his zealous sex life and aided by Andy, a new hookup, Slater tries to weasel out of his obligations to the Russians, finding himself driven to drastic measures when his partner suddenly disappears. Join Slater as he punches out knuckleheads, drinks too much, and muscles his way to the truth.

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“This book is a page turner. Its fast and breezy writing style is a delight. And best of all, the mystery is a real surprise.”  —an Amazon reader

Kira and Cassandra

by David Osborn

Revelation after his death by an elderly priest of a serious crime, reported in the sanctity of the confessional, leads a police officer friend to follow from birth the strangely connected fate of two girls, one from wealth, the other from poverty, whose paths through all their growing years are unknown to each other but which cross dramatically in the arrest of one for assault and deadly arson.

“A good tale of mystery and murder. Its plot twists and turns in and out of an intriguing whodunit that packs a punch at the end powerful enough to floor one.”  —Western Morning News

The Tenacious Goldbrick

by Chester Henry

When a stranger jumps into Celeste’s car and begs her to help him escape his pursuer, she decides to help him out. Drawn into the mystery, Truman tries to help Rolán recover some compromising evidence that his former boss, Davo, is using to blackmail him. Davo turns out to be more than a penny-ante local crook, with an expensive secret and shadowy connections overseas. Working undercover, Celeste collaborates with Mariam, Davo’s wife, on a design project, and gradually gets more entangled with her when Mariam asks for her help navigating LA’s art world.

Things come to a head in a cluttered self-storage unit when Truman and Celeste uncover the truth about Rolán and learn what Davo is really up to. The feds intercede when the pair get ensnared in their surveillance of the players. Celeste has to decide whether her feelings for their goldbrick client are eclipsed by his bad behavior, while Truman blithely hits on the G-man and hooks up with one of the tangential lowlifes.

Join the bar-hopping, booze-swilling duo as their digging pushes things right to the edge, where Truman and Celeste have to figure out whether to do what’s easy or do what’s right.

“Once again Truman and Celeste solve an intractable mystery, outsmarting some nasty con artists and macking on guys all the way. Long live the booze hounds!”  —Christopher Church, author of Stealth Glasses

Billy Blood

by Christopher Church

A fender-bender on the freeway gets psychic investigator Mason entangled with Catherine, an enigmatic visitor from DC—but who, exactly, does she work for? Trying to track her down, he runs across Billy Blood, a Los Angeles company that markets a stomach-churning “lifestyle drink” made with animal blood, and goes to work for its shady CEO to find out who has been vandalizing the product. Recruited by Hanh, an old friend from the psychic world, to rescue a lost colleague, Mason meets an ally with serious dirt on the company, and manages to dredge up some of his own. And why is Catherine so interested in his research work for Billy Blood? Hounded by the media and mortified to see his face on the news, Mason battles a billion-dollar corporation, sharpening his psychic skills and wrestling with a dilemma most of us face at one time or another—doing what’s convenient versus doing what’s right.

Backed by his boyfriend, Ned, and their roommate, Peggy, who are almost always willing to help him out, this fourth book in the Mason Braithwaite Paranormal Mystery Series sees the bicycle-commuting detective using his psychic insight, along with a newfound experimental hypnosis technique, on the seedy side of the West Coast entertainment industry

“Church’s exquisite details, simple yet powerful, make the book’s supernatural scenes believable, even as they defy logic. His intelligent writing allows a surprisingly complex story to unfold with the perfect integrity of an origami animal.”  —Yarrott Benz, author of The Bone Bridge and 2016 IPPY Award gold medalist

Rubber-Band Ball

by Christopher Church

A metallurgist's desire for Mason to locate the earth energy points running under Los Angeles seems straightforward enough, but what is he planning to do with them once he knows where they are? A shady real estate transaction and a bizarre machine hidden in the backyard might reveal some answers. Mason's research leads him to Julia, a waitress and part-time banker who draws him into a quest of her own, plumbing the depths of the radio era when she uncovers a cache of forgotten artifacts. And what does Meg, descendant of a long forgotten radio star, know about it, hiding from the world in her townhouse?

From digging up the yard to tracking down clues on the other side of the country, and with the begrudging support of his boyfriend, Ned, and help from their roommate, Peggy, the intrepid bicycle-riding psychic investigator uses his paranormal skills and real-world insights to get to the bottom of the twisted mystery.

“Another fast-paced ride through Los Angeles by Church, who continues to reinvent and reinvigorate Mason Braithwaite, keeping the Paranormal Mystery Series relevant and entertaining. Church’s writing is vivid, the worlds he creates believable, and his characters have a breadth of humanity, strength, and vulnerability that makes the series a fun-filled, page-turning adventure.”  —Jeremy Randolph, author of The Mural

The Incidental Twin

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.

Two women who bear a remarkable resemblance to each other are brought together in a shelter for hillside residents fleeing the California wildfires. One of them, Gloria, asks Slater for help in tracking down the other, who’s using her identity to run a shady export business. As he digs into the imbroglio, Slater turns up a series of stolen luxury cars, a garage hidden in an old church, and a whole lot of suspicious shipping containers. Not the kind of guy to keep it in his pants, Slater is soon sleeping with sweet sexy Lincoln—a penny-ante lowlife and someone he knows he can’t trust. As Slater navigates a seedy slice of the underworld, the buff mechanic thoroughly clouds his judgment. Will Slater’s libido finally get him trapped in a situation he can’t punch his way out of?

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“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.”  —Chester Henry, author of The Margarita Solution

The Invisible Arrow

by Christopher Church

When an old client sends psychic investigator Mason on a ghost hunt, he stumbles onto a research lab populated by strangely passive scientists with some remarkably advanced tech. Ingratiating himself with Annette, the director, by participating in the local town’s folk festival as the Hunter, Mason scores a gig—to find Qualtrough, a scientist gone missing under mysterious circumstances. Equipped by the researchers with a new suit and a fat wad of cash, and using his burgeoning psychic powers, Mason sets out on his own to hunt for Qualtrough in the shadowy underworld of Los Angeles nightlife, tangling with drag queens, cops, and con artists and finding his voice in an unfamiliar world.

“Mason is a hero like none who have come before him: a sensitive, queer P.I. whose only weapon is his intuition. This book turns the detective genre on its head and makes you think about the ninety percent of your brain you’re not using.”  —Teja Watson, author of Attic.doc

The Tired Canary

by George Bixley

While navigating a torrid affair with Pike, a hookup from a past job, Slater gets brought in on a case by Chila, an insurance company staffer. Like flexing a disused muscle, the romance dredges up things long forgotten, and Slater upends his life—moving house and making radical changes in his bad habits as he falls deeper into what he calls his “narrative complex” with Pike. On the insurance job Slater soon decides he’s been misled, as his client’s explanations start to look more improbable. Tracking down the beneficiary, Slater wades into the world of LA’s classic nightclubs and big bands, tangling with a femme fatale, a slick crooner, and a seedy crypto bro. When he uncovers the real reason Chila has him bird-dogging her target, he’s forced to choose where his loyalty lies. Slater manages to concoct intricate vengeance on the one who messed with him, but will his angry machinations mean he’s the one who winds up in jail instead?

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.

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“Slater’s sex drive and penchant for punches never cease to amaze. Long live the hothead!”  —Christopher Church, author of The Landers Mystique

True Vermilion

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 jobs that his employer, Della, throws his way, and the back-channel support he gets from his idiot cop ex-boyfriend, Conrad.

Hired to look into the theft of an expensive piece of jewelry, Slater soon finds himself entangled with a delusional high-end clothing manufacturer who sees the good in everyone, his snooty socialite wife, described as “damaged,” and her book-smart smoking-hot stepson. Which one of them is lying to Slater—and who, exactly, is the slippery con artist in the red miniskirt? From his new digs in the Fashion District, and with the help of a new business partner, Slater stalks wealthy lowlifes and their minions in boutiques and clubs, breaking into places he’s not supposed to be, winding up the middle of the desert in the middle of the night—and never hesitating to serve up a beatdown.

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“Once again, Slater Ibáñez hits the mean streets and the dark side of Los Angeles. His sexual exploits are hard to keep up with, but he never loses the plot in this compelling detective caper.”  —Christopher Church, author of Penstock Canyon