A vulnerable woman being followed. A PI determined to protect her. Former lovers embroiled in an intense mystery thriller fraught with intrigue and danger. A sexy, romantic, suspenseful ride through the atmospheric 1940s. âListerâs hard-edged prose ranks with the best of contemporary noir fiction.â Publisherâs Weekly Starred Review of The Big Goodbye.
Walk the mean streets of wartime Panama City with Jimmy âSoldierâ Riley, a wounded, woman-haunted knight errant in Michael Listerâs resonant new noir series Publisherâs Weekly calls âa promising private detective series set in 1940s Florida,â and Library Journal says âpeppered with snappy dialog, this hard-boiled mystery by award winner Lister is a swell read.â
Someone is following Lauren Lewis.
She ducks into the office of PI, Jimmy âSoldierâ Riley, not to hire him, but to find out if heâs the one following her. Back when they were lovers he told her if he ever decided to, sheâd never know he was there.
Itâs1940âs Panama City, Florida. The world is at war, and the growing panhandle paradise is doing its part. Tyndall Field is training pilots. Wainwright Shipyard is building battleships. The Naval Section Base is protecting vessels in the Gulf. The Dixie Sherman Hotel is hosting celebrities such as Clark Gable. Harry Lewis, a wealthy banker, is running for mayor, unaware his wife is running for her life.
With a secret to hide and a husband running for mayor in a city exploding and expanding like no other time in history, Lauren doesnât want trouble, but sheâs about to get a double-barrel full of it. Only one man can help her, and though it might destroy him, he doesnât mind. Better to die than be the walking wounded.