An Excerpt from THE WET NOSE OF DANGER, Chapter 11, “A Fetching Little Number”
At a high-society fundraiser, in a garden behind the art museum: With one eye on Schatzie, I edged nearer the bandstand, to soak in the melodies. I was careful to stay out of the musicians’ sight; even at functions like this, they sometimes have a habit of breaking into John Philip Sousa whenever they see a clown or any kind of kinker. They’re only human, after all. There’s nothing more pathetic, believe me, than hearing the string quartet version of “The Glory of the Yankee Navy.” As I tiptoed along the hydrangea bushes, I was suddenly grabbed from behind…
An Excerpt from DOUBLE INDIGNITY, Chapter 3, “Law of the Jungle”
It was high time for a tall, cool one at the Banana Peel. This was the joeys’ watering hole in Top Town, the kind of place where they have to take you in, because a slapstick doesn’t work so well on yourself. The last time I’d been there, I’d caused a bar fight that Hal Roach would’ve thought was over the top. But it was nothing new. There were fights in there most every night. When the pies and seltzer start flying, it’s the only place to be. It wasn’t a dukey run over to the ‘Peel, so wearing a…
An Excerpt from HONK HONK, MY DARLING, Chapter 3, “Shoot the Moon”
I turned down Adler Street, looking for Bork’s. I passed a grocery store, a closed mitt camp, a guess-your-weight booth, and a liquor store, then turned a bend and saw the silver barrel of a cannon hanging 15 feet over the sidewalk. Unless some admiral had dry-docked his battleship here, it looked like I’d found the Human Howitzer. A high plank fence surrounded the lot, but the door was unlocked, so I pushed my way in. The lot had that “lived-in” look, like an Army motor pool had lived in it for the better part of a decade. Metal drums…