Vendor
	Mohrbooks Literary Agency Sebastian Ritscher
Original language
English
Categories
Crime & mystery fiction
Weblink
http://books.simonandschuster.co …

SHORTCUT MAN

P.G. Sturges

A smart and entertaining crime series debut set in the underbelly of Los Angeles, with a cast of characters that runs the gamut from saints to sinners.

In the City of Angels, not everyone plays by the rules. When people need a problem fixed fast, and discreetly, they call Dick Henry. Henry is known as a “shortcut man,” someone who believes that the shortest answer to many problems may not always be legal. As he cuts through the red tape for his clients, who range from an elderly woman ripped off by shady contractors to a landlord with a tenant many months behind on the rent, Henry always gets the job done, no matter what the cost. In Shortcut Man, Henry spends his days hunting down slimy con men and his nights seducing Lynette, an intoxicating, long-legged vixen. But when Henry gets an assignment from porn producer Artie Benjamin, his life suddenly becomes much more complicated. Now Henry must complete the job, avoid being killed, and somehow figure out what to do with Lynette. Filled with dark comedy, whip-smart writing, and a memorable cast of characters, Shortcut Man evokes Chandler and Hammett—hard-boiled crime at its best—and is an exciting beginning to a crackling new series.

Available products
Book Published 2011-02-01 by Scribner
Book Published 2011-02-01 by Scribner

Comments

Writing is in P.G. Sturges' blood The son of writer-director Preston Sturges publishes his first novel, 'Shortcut Man,' a hard-boiled mystery with humor. February 12, 2011|By David L. Ulin, Los Angeles Times Book Critic P.G. Sturges has led many lives. Sitting on a bench on a warm weekday morning outside the Page Museum in Mid-Wilshire, he elaborates on a few: Navy submarine crewmember, Christmas tree grower, screenwriter, metrologist. Now, at 57, he's added novelist to the résumé, with the release of "Shortcut Man," a hard-boiled mystery with a comic (or, at least, ironic) edge. Narrated by Dick Henry, known as the shortcut man because of his ability to cut to the heart of a problem, it unfolds, as such works tend to do, in a peculiarly Los Angeles sort of netherworld, suspended between wealth and want and full of corruption on every side.

Do not, under any circumstances, peek in advance!

"SHORTCUT MAN is a glorious read: powerful, clever, suspenseful and filled with enough dark humor and shady characters to satisfy the most rabid noir fan, and convert those who aren't already."

"This is an assured and diverting performance, with an ending that should impress even the most seasoned fan of hardboiled detective stories. You thought every twist ending in the noir bag had been taken out and used up, P.G. Sturges seems to be saying as the book rushes toward its final page. Well, get a load of this."

This book is a blast! Wry, mysterious, and, most of all, telling in the ways of desire and deception, SHORTCUT MAN is on hell of a debut. P.G. Sturges has proved himself a worthy successor to Chandler.

Dick Henry calls himself the "Shortcut Man." Whether he's hired by a landlord coping with a deadbeat tenant or a woman whose widowed father is being bilked by a pen pal, Henry is there with a smile, a fist, a solution--and no annoying paperwork. His simple approach gets complicated, however, when the client is a porn producer who wants to know if his gorgeous young wife is cheating. It turns out that Henry already knows the wife, biblically, but by another name. Henry's fix only works until the client decides he wants more information, and soon the Shortcut Man is navigating an unpredictable series of detours in an effort to keep himself--and his love life--alive. This fast and funny debut paints a wickedly comic portrait of L.A. in all its sprawling seediness, only losing momentum when it shifts from Henry's lively, first-person voice to third-person scenes with the other characters, who just aren't as interesting. But if you start reading, you'll want to finish. Just don't peek at the ending.