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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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 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

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

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.

more from David Osborn

“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

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

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

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 Head Hunters: A Medical Thriller

by David Osborn

Washington DC—and terror in an isolated government-sanctioned medical laboratory as the potential of medicine goes horrifyingly wrong.

When Susan, a young researcher, loses her fiancée in a terrible accident, she is seduced by Michael, a friend and the head doctor on a top-secret neurometric project backed by the White House and the famed Borg-Harrison Foundation. Joining Michael’s team, Susan is unaware of the terrible danger she faces in the high-security facility and from Katherine, the team psychologist, who will go to any lengths to protect the lab’s vital secrecy—and her own carnal desires. When Susan stumbles onto the true nature of the project, it’s to find herself in it too deep to walk away and, trapped in the worst kind of nightmare, threatened every second to becoming a ghastly medical experiment herself.

In The Head Hunters, David Osborn explores the murky boundaries between ethics and medical research, between volunteer and victim, ambition and ruthlessness, and between life and death when a team of responsible doctors plays a deadly game in which any of the players can be condemned to a purgatory more ghastly than hell.

“Breathless introduction to the inner workings of big business …”  —The Times Literary Supplement, reviewing David Osborn’s The Glass Tower

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

The Newsroom

by David Osborn

When a young scholarly student of pre-Homeric ancient Greek poetry gets a job researching neo-Nazi hate groups with a local weekly newspaper, she escapes the hail of death from a bump-stocked AR-15 that that kills six of the paper’s staff, but not the following chain of events that threatens her own life in turn.

“A sharp, taut adventure story … leads a trail through mystery and destruction that is elusive and enthralling …”  —Glasgow Herald

The Saugatuck Conspiracy

by David Osborn

Kelsie Gordon leads a double life: one as a ruthless and deadly undercover agent for the Treasury Department, tracing Kremlin and Russian oligarchs’ money from Moscow to leading American businessmen who are secretly supporting neo-Nazis and white nationalism, and a second as an anxious loving mom to a younger brother, while hiding from all that she is the illegitimate daughter of the U.S. vice president.

“No better example of absorbing, fast-paced intrigue. Compelling to the last punctuation mark”  —Clive Cussler

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

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

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

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

A Cold Wind from the Andes

by David Osborn

Kelly Anders, financially successful writer of best-selling romantic fiction, lives a privileged but sterile existence in a Manhattan penthouse. Pushed into a book tour of Britain by her publisher, Kelly dreads a politically orchestrated meeting with Rachel Sommerset, the acclaimed Nobel Prize–winning novelist, her generation’s Tolstoy. The encounter, while leading to a surprising friendship between the two women, dredges up the ghosts of Kelly’s past—her unacknowledged youth with a different name in the impoverished inner city and her ambivalent feelings toward her husband, Gerald, now hidden away in her penthouse in a permanent coma, the fallout of an ugly kidnapping in Argentina of himself, the mining corporation head he worked for, along with the man’s consort, Teresa, and Jake, a renowned photographer. Their lives changed forever by their brutal captors, Jake and Teresa, in their struggle to right themselves, find their way together in the world, while unified with them through their shared experience and strengthened by the bond she’d built with Rachel, Kelly begins to reassess her career and her life in an ultimate quest for redemption.

“An exciting, highly plausible Washington thriller …”  —Gore Vidal, reviewing David Osborn’s The French Decision

The Cape Cod Blue

by David Osborn

Chase Morse and his brother, Haydn, heirs to an auction-house empire, split their time between Manhattan and The Moorings, the idyllic family estate on Nantucket. Gabrielle, a French journalist sent to write features on the glittering New York art world, becomes entangled with the family, but when a body turns up at The Moorings and a priceless painting goes missing from inside the vault at the auction house amid tight security, family secrets get harder to keep. The police start digging, and the stakes are high—eighty million dollars, pilfered and then lost in risky Russian investments. Can an entitled one-percenter with expansive resources, enlisting the help of a wily art forger, outsmart the art cops and the old guard within the company?

The glittering, exalted world of art auctioning hides love, hate, and murder in a wealthy and socially prominent family when the forgery of an anonymous Cape Cod painting threatens to destroy them all.

more from David Osborn

“Breathless introduction to the inner workings of big business …”  —The Times Literary Supplement, reviewing David Osborn’s The Glass Tower

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

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.

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 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.

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 Lighthouse

by David Osborn

An historic lighthouse at the tiny coastal village of Shinnecock witnesses during one month both murder and espionage when the select Summer White House Oval Office is lodged in the neighboring private home, to which the U.S. president retreats on holiday with his entire family, and which this year sees a highly secret visit by a prince from Saudi Arabia, where two American scientists are held hostage.

“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

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

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

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

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

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

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 Somersville Bodies

by David Osborn

When the bodies of a retired couple in a small town are discovered six months after their deaths, the local police chief, his lead detective, and the county coroner all rule the couple a shared suicide. One young woman police officer, however, suspects murder. Her dogged pursuit of the killer or killers against orders to desist eventually leads her to evidence that the deceased couple were silenced to cover up a major scandal at the state capitol and to a terrifying shoot-out when she finally runs the killers to earth.

more from David Osborn

“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

When the Contralto Sings

by Chester Henry

When Celeste runs into Angel, one of the city’s growing homeless population, in front of Truman’s building, she invites them to a street festival in Gladys Park. Angel proves to be a talented contralto at the event, and Truman meets Dyson, an outreach worker who hires him to track down some seemingly valueless stolen property. Truman’s instincts and his 1930s-era detective handbook lead him to more questions, and he’s confronted with the fact that the guy he’s crushing on may be playing him. As they dig deeper, Celeste goes undercover in a developer’s office, where she turns the head of Flint, the wealthy family’s scion. Truman follows the clues in an old book about flying saucers, traveling around Los Angeles and subsequently uncovering local government corruption and a nest of old-time white supremacists.

Join the bar-hopping, booze-swilling duo as Celeste has to decide whether Flint’s social status is compatible with her worldview, Truman confronts the paranoia of conspiracy theorists, and the pair enlist their new Skid Row friend to join the battle against corruption.

“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

Bones

by David Osborn

Artist Andretta Salinger awakens one day in an old stone country house she’s bought from a family ownership of six generations to find she’s been living for two years with the bones of someone murdered and buried in the floor of her cellar. When Andretta finds herself drawn willy-nilly into the small-town police investigation of a homicide committed in 1868, it’s into the scandal-ridden lives of the great railroad barons of the day and to identifying the murderer.

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

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.

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 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