The Queen City Private Eye Series

She smelled like rain, money, and a mistake waiting to happen.

Mickey Hook is down to his last nerve. The rum bottle is dry, the rent is overdue, and a gunshot from the past still echoes in his nightmares. He needs a distraction; or at least enough cash to buy one.

Then Lucile Lang walks in. She enters his dim office wearing black silk, expensive perfume, and a look of practiced desperation. She claims her husband, a corrupt accountant for powerful men, is stepping out on her at the seedy Royal Inn. She wants proof, and she’s willing to pay to get it.

It sounds like an easy twenty-four bucks. But in Queen City, a dame like Lucile doesn’t just hire a detective; she traps him. Mickey takes the job, but as the scent of her smoke curls around him, he knows he’s already walking into the dark.

Read this exclusive prequel chapter to the Queen City Private Eye Series.

He was hired to tail a cheater. Now he’s one wrong move from a body bag.

Mickey Hook, a private eye scraping by in the shadowed streets of Queen City, takes what should be an easy gig: follow a cheating husband, snap a few photos, collect a paycheck. But nothing in this town stays simple. A missing briefcase, a hostage tied to a bed, and a dame in a red dress with fire in her eyes turn a routine job into a deadly game. And Mickey’s the patsy.

With the law breathing down his neck and the real players slipping into the night, Mickey’s got no choice but to think fast, hit hard, and dig deep. Someone’s pulling the strings, and if Mickey doesn’t act fast, he’ll be the one left hanging.

Staying alive in Queen City ain’t cheap, and Private Investigator Mickey Hook’s credit just ran out. A botched case from the past is breathing down his neck, and a ruthless enforcer is stalking him for debts he can’t pay. Mickey’s ready to fold his hand, until a visit to the morgue deals him a deadly new card.

The body on the slab is a lie. The cops say it’s one woman, but Mickey knows better. It’s a cover-up bought with blood and silence.

Enter Miss Friday. She’s elegance weaponized, a fixer for the city’s corrupt elite. She offers a payout large enough to wipe his slate clean. All he’s gotta do is look the other way. Easy money. Clean exit. No questions asked.

But Miss Friday demands a decision. She gives him a deadline: twenty-four hours to take the deal or earn a toe tag of his own.

With the police, the politicians, and his own demons closing in, Mickey must race against the clock to solve a deadly mystery that goes to the very top, before his own time runs out.

If you love the moral complexity of Dashiell Hammett, the grit of Raymond Chandler, and the pulp of Mickey Spillane, you’ll feel right at home in Queen City.