"A canny balance of weirdness, violence, and black humor." -- The Seattle Times
JASON PHILIP MILLER
DOWN DON'T BOTHER ME
"A strong talent." -- Booklist
In the depths of the Knight Hawk, one of the last working collieries in downstate Illinois, the body of a reporter is found, his mini-recorder tied around his neck and a notepad stuffed in his mouth.
The Knight Hawk’s owner, Matthew Luster, wants answers—and he doesn’t want the cops or any more press poking into his business. To protect himself and the operation, he turns to Slim, a mine employee with a reputation for finding lost souls when the police can’t or won’t. Luster needs Slim to locate a missing photographer named Beckett, a close associate of the victim . . . who just happens to be his son-in-law.
A hard-working single father barely making ends meet, Slim accepts the job—after Luster offers him a guaranteed pension and job security for life. But when you make a deal with the devil, you’re going to get burned. BUY NOW.
RED DOG
"Vivid, evocative, incisive." -- The Washington Post
One hot summer day, in his home in the southern Illinois coal country known as Little Egypt—a Midwest Gothic wonderland of barren vistas, sinister hollows, petty corruption, and deeply strange characters—the self-appointed “redneck detective” known as Slim gets a visit from a shady-looking pair who introduce themselves as Sheldon Cleaves and his son, A. Evan, looking to hire him to find a missing dog. As a miner with a reputation for “bloodhounding”—tracking down missing persons the police can’t find or won’t—Slim is accustomed to looking for people, not pets. On the other hand, he needs the cash to fix his air conditioner. But when he pulls the thread that leads to the Cleaveses’ red-haired purebred pitbull—and then the dognapper is discovered with his head blown off—Slim finds himself plunged into a world of underground dogfights and white supremacists . . . all because he just wanted to get cool. BUY NOW.
The Hunger Angels
"Violent country noir at its funniest." -- Shelf Awareness
On a rainy night in Little Egypt, Jeep Mabry shows up on Slim’s doorstep with an old mining colleague to interrupt Slim and Anci’s Scrabble game, bringing more trouble than just misspelled words. Snake Dornan, a nickname he earned with particularly slippery schemes, bought up a few nearby houses in foreclosure, and rented one to Lizzie and Tony Meeks, by appearances a nice, young married couple. However, when he visits the house, the windows are broken, the yard is full of bikes and bikers, and there’s a telling smell of rotten eggs in the air. In order to evict them from his house, Snake needs Slim and Jeep’s help. All they need to do is deliver a letter of intent and a copy of the original lease to a group of heavily armed, meth running bikers. Should be easy, right? This free Slim in Little Egypt short story bridges the gap between Down Don’t Bother Me and Red Dog, and also includes an excerpt from Red Dog. READ IT NOW.