Off the Books: A Nick Forte Detective Thriller (Nick Forte Detective Novels Book 6) by Dana King Book Blitz with Guest Post & Giveaway
OFF THE BOOKS
Dana King
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GENRE: Hard-boiled Private Investigator
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BLURB:
Nick
Forte has lost his detective agency and makes ends meet doing background checks
and other paperwork. He pays for everything else through jobs he takes for cash
and without any written contract. What starts out as a simple investigation
into a traffic accident exposes Forte to people who have truly lost everything
and have no viable hope of reclaiming their lives. That doesn’t sit well with
Forte, leading him and his friend Goose Satterwhite to take action that ends
more violently than anyone expected.
“The
return of Chicago private detective Nick Forte, the tough protagonist of two
Shamus Award nominated novels, is well worth the wait. Nick’s latest escapade
Off The Books—the first in nearly six years—will surely earn additional praise
for the acclaimed series.”
-J.L
.Abramo, Shamus Award-winning author of Chasing Charlie Chan.
"Nick
Forte reminds me of Robert B. Parker's Spenser: a PI with a finely tuned sense
of justice who doesn't take anyone's s***. Any fan of hardboiled detective
fiction is in for a helluva ride."
--Chris
Rhatigan, former publisher of All Due Respect Books
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EXCERPT
I first saw him standing under the “employees only” sign
near the exit to the truck service bays. Early twenties, a little under average
height, short blond hair. Caroline was unaware of him, focused as she was on a
three-way text conversation with her friends Maria and Arielle.
The next time the kid caught my attention he was half as far
away, standing where the food court opened into the convenience store. I only
noticed him this time because I recognized him, and he was the only Love’s
employee on the floor. His name was Jimmy, and he was definitely looking our
direction.
I’m an old-school father with an only child. A daughter, no
less. My primary purpose in life was to make sure no one messed with her.
Everything else—work, food, clothing, mortgage payments, staying out of
prison—comes after. Jimmy hadn’t done anything wrong, but the Dadar had
activated.
All fathers think their daughters are beautiful; I had
empirical evidence. If the steady stream of boys circling the periphery of her
life looking for an in wasn’t enough, I once overheard another kid in the band
describe her to a friend as the “archetype of virginal beauty.” (What can I
say? Magnet school.)
The next time I caught sight of Jimmy he stood three feet
behind Caroline, checking her out with rapt attention. I sidled over, using my
best stealth technique. He never saw me coming until I leaned in close and
spoke in my most quietly menacing voice. “She’s thirteen years old.”
Jimmy evaporated faster than a snowflake in a microwave..
I still got it.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Guest Post
Hi. I’m Nick Forte, Chicago private investigator and protagonist
of Dana King’s new novel, Off the Books. Dana had a urologist
appointment and the day got away from him, so I volunteered to step in. Between
you and me, I’m more entertaining than he is, anyway.
So here are the
TOP TEN THINGS THAT MAKE NICK FORTE HAPPY
10. The smell of impending rain. Usually in the spring, the
kind of rain that makes everything seem well-scrubbed and allows you the
illusion all is right with the world. It won’t last, but it’s great while it
does.
9. Hot days with low humidity. I’m not talking triple
digits, but 95 degrees with 20 percent humidity puts me in mind of heaven.
8. A summer afternoon watching the at Sox at Guaranteed Rate
Field. They’ll probably lose, but it’ll be a warm day with baseball. Not a lot
is better than that.
7. A Cubs loss.
6. Bullying a bully. Maybe “bullying” isn’t the right word.
Bullies back down when the person they’re picking on pushes back. I catch
someone being a bully and he pushes back on me, I’ll kick his ass.
5. A book or movie that, when it’s finished, I have to sit
quietly for a minute or two and bask in its power. The most recent book where
that happened: Dennis Lehane’s Small Mercies. Most recent movie: Chinatown,
which says a lot. I’ve seen Chinatown at least ten times by now.
4. Accomplishing something I’ve put off for too long. Could
be cleaning the garage or closing a case that has vexed me.
3. Clients who are straight with me. This happens less often
than you might think. Experience has taught me to assume everyone lies,
especially the people who are paying me to help them.
2. Visiting my family in Penns River, PA, though trouble
always seems to find me there. Not that it has to go looking all that hard.
1. Any time spent with my daughter. Doesn’t matter what we
do, where we do it, or when we do it. A phone call qualifies for Number 1 on
this list.
AUTHOR Bio and Links:
Off
the Books is Dana King’s sixth Nick Forte private investigator novel. Two of
the earlier books (A Small Sacrifice and The Man in the Window) received Shamus
Award nominations from the Private Eye Writers of America. Dana also writes the
Penns River series of police procedurals set in a small Western Pennsylvania
town, as well as one standalone novel, Wild Bill, which is not a Western. His
short fiction appears in numerous anthologies and web sites. He is a frequent
panelist at conferences and reads at Noirs at Bars from New York to North
Carolina.
WEBSITE
https://danakingauthor.com
BLOG
One
Bite at a Time https://danaking.blogspot.com
TWITTER
@DanaKingAuthor
FACEBOOK
https://www.facebook.com/dana.king.735/
BUY
LINKS
http://tinyurl.com/4w2avye3
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GIVEAWAY INFORMATION and RAFFLECOPTER
CODE
Dana
King will award a $20 Amazon/BN GC to a randomly drawn winner.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
We appreciate you featuring OFF THE BOOKS today.
ReplyDeleteThanks for having me. I'll be around all day, so anyone with questions can post them here and Io promise to get back to you.
ReplyDeleteI liked the excerpt.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing. The excerpt sounds great.
ReplyDelete