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Night Shots — John Argo
Each of these six atmospheric, suspenseful tales evokes a classic crackle of mystery, a sting of gun smoke, a stifled scream in the night, a page-turning What Happens Next?
These are not stories for the light of reading or those scared of the dark. Murder is not fun or cozy or an abstract puzzle. Crime is always gritty, violent, dirty, often bloody, and tragic.
An aura of sadness hangs over the broken lives, truncated careers, disintegrating loves, and interrupted sleep of those who dwell in this underworld -- and those who linger a bit too long for a voyeuristic look.
The night is fragrant, like a bag of spices. It rustles with leaves.
The night has a way of cleansing itself, and the innocent who walk in it. Night is its own god and judge. It pulls those who cannot resist temptation down into a quicksand of their own making, a morass of inevitable consequences. It offers redemption to those who merely walk amid its clean wind and soft touch, hurrying to places of light, safety, and other good souls.
Cities of suspense are dark and wet, even in sunny Southern California, where the rainy season can bring not only torrents and downpours, but a chilling evil that seeps into every nook and cranny of our comfort zone (see Terror in My Arms).
Anonymous taxis swish on uncharted streets. Innocent school girls chatter on their way home among colorful city lights. Gunshots ring out, knives flash in moonlight, blood seeps along glistening gutters. Watch out -- a killer is loose -- who's next?
A body lies sprawled. Police tape creates a mythic space. A hero with a gun is set to rescue a woman in distress -- or vice versa, no pun on the vice.
Terror is abroad -- and we cannot resist looking closer, at our own risk.
* * * *
Terror in My Arms -- Sylvie Bancroft is a hotshot software engineer with an expired license in her man-hunting credentials. Rob Turlock is handsome, charming, and flashy. Is he the man of her dreams, or a creature out of her nightmares?...
Foto Finish -- When supermodel Liana and her agent-lover Paul die in a fiery car crash, the police declare it an accident. Insurance giant Continental Mogul's investigator Seth Lambert combs through the still-smoking evidence, finding a web of fraud and deceit reaching into high places. With his ex-girlfriend, Highway Patrol investigator Sandy Jensen, and generous helpings of drugs and alcohol, Seth plunges into a startling investigation…
Killing Daddy -- Tom Brock is a successful investment broker with a dark past full of sorrow and betrayal. As he sequences through a painful series of broken relationships in search of healing, he is propelled on a stark course toward violence. Watch closely, or you'll miss the final trick…
The Hill Club -- Lou Burns is a man on the run, who has shifted identities so often he cannot really remember who he is. He is young, charming -- a chameleon who specializes in bored, beautiful older women in the country clubs of the super-rich. He is an insect, forever under the police microscope, always on the run. Now he meets two forces beyond his facile artistry: Linda Argento, beautiful and untouchable daughter of his wealthy lover Marie; and a transgendered woman named Allison Jane, of exotic beauty and frank, wounded sexuality.
Broken Wing -- Metro City could be anyone's big home town in this age of terrorism and random violence caused by fanatics. A mad bomber seeks to create a local 9/11. Jack Martin is a young VA investigator, in the wrong place at the wrong moment. The women in his life include a cockatiel named Lucy; Jack's boss Hotshitsuit; and beautiful, mysterious bookstore owner Rose Fennel…
The Flower Baron -- Like most married men, Bill Winters has a wild spot that has slumbered for decades. What starts out as an innocent helping hand with a much younger woman becomes a shady web of tangled moves…
These are not stories for the light of reading or those scared of the dark. Murder is not fun or cozy or an abstract puzzle. Crime is always gritty, violent, dirty, often bloody, and tragic.
An aura of sadness hangs over the broken lives, truncated careers, disintegrating loves, and interrupted sleep of those who dwell in this underworld -- and those who linger a bit too long for a voyeuristic look.
The night is fragrant, like a bag of spices. It rustles with leaves.
The night has a way of cleansing itself, and the innocent who walk in it. Night is its own god and judge. It pulls those who cannot resist temptation down into a quicksand of their own making, a morass of inevitable consequences. It offers redemption to those who merely walk amid its clean wind and soft touch, hurrying to places of light, safety, and other good souls.
Cities of suspense are dark and wet, even in sunny Southern California, where the rainy season can bring not only torrents and downpours, but a chilling evil that seeps into every nook and cranny of our comfort zone (see Terror in My Arms).
Anonymous taxis swish on uncharted streets. Innocent school girls chatter on their way home among colorful city lights. Gunshots ring out, knives flash in moonlight, blood seeps along glistening gutters. Watch out -- a killer is loose -- who's next?
A body lies sprawled. Police tape creates a mythic space. A hero with a gun is set to rescue a woman in distress -- or vice versa, no pun on the vice.
Terror is abroad -- and we cannot resist looking closer, at our own risk.
* * * *
Terror in My Arms -- Sylvie Bancroft is a hotshot software engineer with an expired license in her man-hunting credentials. Rob Turlock is handsome, charming, and flashy. Is he the man of her dreams, or a creature out of her nightmares?...
Foto Finish -- When supermodel Liana and her agent-lover Paul die in a fiery car crash, the police declare it an accident. Insurance giant Continental Mogul's investigator Seth Lambert combs through the still-smoking evidence, finding a web of fraud and deceit reaching into high places. With his ex-girlfriend, Highway Patrol investigator Sandy Jensen, and generous helpings of drugs and alcohol, Seth plunges into a startling investigation…
Killing Daddy -- Tom Brock is a successful investment broker with a dark past full of sorrow and betrayal. As he sequences through a painful series of broken relationships in search of healing, he is propelled on a stark course toward violence. Watch closely, or you'll miss the final trick…
The Hill Club -- Lou Burns is a man on the run, who has shifted identities so often he cannot really remember who he is. He is young, charming -- a chameleon who specializes in bored, beautiful older women in the country clubs of the super-rich. He is an insect, forever under the police microscope, always on the run. Now he meets two forces beyond his facile artistry: Linda Argento, beautiful and untouchable daughter of his wealthy lover Marie; and a transgendered woman named Allison Jane, of exotic beauty and frank, wounded sexuality.
Broken Wing -- Metro City could be anyone's big home town in this age of terrorism and random violence caused by fanatics. A mad bomber seeks to create a local 9/11. Jack Martin is a young VA investigator, in the wrong place at the wrong moment. The women in his life include a cockatiel named Lucy; Jack's boss Hotshitsuit; and beautiful, mysterious bookstore owner Rose Fennel…
The Flower Baron -- Like most married men, Bill Winters has a wild spot that has slumbered for decades. What starts out as an innocent helping hand with a much younger woman becomes a shady web of tangled moves…
