Jock Stewart And the Missing Sea of Fire

General Fiction

By Malcolm Campbell

Publisher : Vanilla Heart Publishing

ABOUT Malcolm Campbell

Malcolm Campbell
Malcolm R. Campbell is the author of the magical realism novella "Conjure Woman's Cat" and five contemporary fantasy novels including "The Seeker," "The Sailor," and "The Betrayed" in the Garden of Heaven Trilogy. He is also the author of the comedy/ More...

Description

 

 

Jock Stewart and the Missing Sea of Fire is mainstream humor with a dash of mystery--a throwback to Hollywood’s film noir movies about hard-boiled, ass-kicking reporters and detectives.

While Stewart goes out of his way to mock those in authority by pretending to kowtow to them, he admits he does his best work by “being an asshole.” A mix of Don Rickles and Don Quixote, Stewart is the man for the job when the skirts are up and the chips are down.

Reporter Jock Stewart wakes up on the morning after the Star-Gazer office party with a hangover and an old flame in his bed and  he cuddles up with the mayor’s wife in the back seat of a 1953 Desoto. Between these defining moments, he investigates the theft of the mayor’s race horse Sea of Fire and the murder of his publisher’s girl friend, Bambi Hill.

Stewart discovers the truth for his news stories via an interview style based on lies, pretense and audacious behavior.

 

My father was a journalist and journalism educator who often invited colleagues and students out to the house for hamburgers and hot dogs and a lot of good stories about the old days or newspapers. I worked as a Navy journalist and taught journalism myself for a few years. The book is a result of combining my dark-side sense of humor with the look and feel of those old stories I heard both as a kid and as a teacher into a very improbable murder investigation. This book isn't based on a true story. It's based on a pack of lies, so what more could you possibly ask for if you need something to read while you're sleeping it off in the drunk tank at your local police station. You'll find a lot to laugh at in the book, but for Pete's sake, don't let the police see it.

"Unless you are secluded in a vault while reading, the whole neighborhood will delight in hearing your hilarious laughter." -- Living Jackson Magazine

"Armed with a sharp wit and a (secretly) soft heart, Jock sets out to investigate the theft of the mayor's missing horse, Sea of Fire. For readers, arriving at the solution to the crime is secondary to simply enjoying as the colorful (and aptly named) characters become embroiled in a multitude of small-town hi-jinks. From the opening paragraph, Jock finds himself sucked into a world of deception, murder, and illicit trysts. Despite being set in modern times (as evidenced by the existence of Krispy Kremes), Sea of Fire has a delightfully old-time noir feel, kicked up a notch by fast-paced dialog and laugh out loud puns." -- Nancy Whitney-Reiter, author "Now is the Time to Do What You Love"