JB Kohl and Eric Beetner
Noir Mystery
978-1935171584
250 pages
About
Hollywood, 1941
Ray Ward spends nights thinking about his brother's death and the blood-soaked days that followed.
Dean Fokoli is off the force, disgraced by his dirty dealings, left to scrape for pennies as a private eye.
When Ray receives a mysterious package from his sister containing a plea for help and a reel of 8mm film, there's a problem - Ray doesn't have a sister.
Now two former enemies must team up, travel halfway across the country to search the dark shadow of Hollywood's spotlight. In for more than they bargained for, Ray and Fokoli plunge behind the silver screen to unearth tinseltown's dirty secrets. And two men with nothing left to lose can stir up some serious trouble.
Reviews
"For a knockout punch of hardboiled, look no further than Borrowed Trouble!"~Kelli Stanley, author of City of Dragons
“Everyone has a short list of books that stayed with them long after they turned the last page—add Borrowed Trouble to mine. J.B. Kohl and Eric Beetner have vividly re-created 1941 Los Angeles, ripping apart the city’s glamorous façade to reveal the cold noir heart beneath. This is pulp fiction at its finest.”~Hilary Davidson, author of The Damage Done
“A relentlessly tough and lean novel, packed full with memorable characters. They don’t write them like this anymore. Jump onboard now."~Nick Quantrill, author of Broken Dreams
“Packs a powerful punch. Borrowed Trouble is not to be missed.”~Deborah J. Ledford, author of Stacato and Snare
"A powerful tale of vengeance, rife with pounding action and colorful, complexcharacters. One Too Many Blows To The Head is a first round knock-out!"~Stephen Jay Schwartz,LA Times bestselling author of Boulevard & Beat
Excerpt
“Hello, Cindy. You’re out late.” A man’s voice. I spun to see where it came from. At first I missed him sitting in the chair beside the bed. My eyes ran back to him as he stood. A tall sandy blond with a thin mustache and a light tan suit, a great tie surely one of a hundred in his closet.
“Relax, Robert. I brought a friend.”
Suddenly the room seemed exactly the size of a boxing ring. I kept my back to the ropes, my hands went up on their own, defending against an unknown threat.
“What’s going on?” I asked.
“This is my brother, Robert. Robert this is Ray. He’s looking for his sister.”
“And where did you two meet?” He seemed uninterested in knowing me.
“A diner just east of L.A. He needed a ride.”
“So no car, no bags. A guy with no suit on looking like a bum out of the gutter?”
I opened my mouth to protest but she beat me to it. “Hey, knock it off. It was slim pickings.”
“Oh well. Let’s see what he’s got.” Robert brought his hand out of the pocket of his linen suit and flicked open a switchblade. I didn’t know what to think other than it was a joke. I turned to Cindy who looked away.
“Cough it up, pal,” Robert said.
“What?”
“Your wallet, bub. Let’s have it.”
I stood still, stunned. This was a shakedown. Cindy was acting. She should get a contract with Louis B. Mayer; this girl’s got the stuff. Fooled me like Houdini on a good day.
She stepped up behind me and reached into my pocket to remove my wallet. I let her, not wanting to provoke the switchblade before I knew more about the man holding it. She tossed my billfold to Robert then stepped quickly away from me. She still wouldn’t meet my eye. She turned to the dresser where a whiskey bottle stood, open and half gone. She splashed some into a short glass, no ice, and took it in one shot.
Robert had my cash in his hand. “Two hundred and some. Nice take.”
Guess he was lousy at math, it was over three hundred. My whole bankroll for the trip. “Give that back,” I said.
“What for? So you can blow it all on a dame you meet in a diner? Did he even buy your coffee, Cin?”
“No.”
“What’s with the bum’s clothes, pal? You steal this wad? A guy with this much dough usually has on something made in New York. Nice work, Cin. Grifting a grifter.” He tossed my wallet on the bed and stuffed the cash into his front pocket.
“Can we wrap this up?” Cindy was obviously afraid of him. As solid as her acting was with me she let her guard down around Robert and her fear showed through. She turned to the bottle again and refilled the glass.
“At least he knows the game. Okay, pal, you and me are gonna take a ride. I’ll let you off a few miles down the road. Don’t give me any guff and no one gets hurt. I bet you’ll have your pockets filled again in no time, smart kid like you. Say goodnight to your dream girl.”
Gesturing with the point of the knife he pointed to the door, expecting me to obey. He must have been used to suckers who were husbands, traveling salesmen, middle aged doughboys who didn’t know how to fight back.
I’m not that sucker.
BORROWED TROUBLE
Ebooks:
Amazon Kindle
Barnes & Noble Nook
Palm Doc (PDB) (for Palm reading devices)
Epub (Apple iPad/iBooks, Nook, Sony Reader, Kobo)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Get your free ereader using the links on the right!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Order Printed Version of
Borrowed Trouble for $11.95
