Gunshine State

by Andrew Nette

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  Andrew Nette is the author of one previous novel, Ghost Money. His short fiction has appeared in a number of print and on-line publications, most recently the anthology The Obama Conspiracy: Fifteen Stories of Conspiracy Noir. He has contributed reviews and non-fiction to a wide variety of publications and is co-editor of Girl Gangs, Biker Boys, and Real Cool Cats: Pulp Fiction and Youth Culture, 1950 to 1980. His online home is PulpCurry.com. You can find him on Twitter at @Pulpcurry.

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  BOOKS BY ANDREW NETTE

  Ghost Money

  Gunshine State

  Girl Gangs, Biker Boys, and Real Cool Cats:

  Pulp Fiction and Youth Culture, 1950 to 1980

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  THE DOWN & OUT BOOKS PUBLISHING FAMILY

  LIBRARY OF TITLES

  See DownAndOutBooks.com for a complete list

  By J.L. Abramo

  Catching Water in a Net

  Clutching at Straws

  Counting to Infinity

  Gravesend

  Chasing Charlie Chan

  Circling the Runway

  Brooklyn Justice

  Coney Island Avenue

  By Anonymous-9

  Hard Bite

  Bite Harder

  By Jonathan Ashley

  South of Cincinnati

  The Cost of Doing Business

  By E.A. Aymar and Sarah M. Chen, editors

  The Night of the Flood

  By Patrick Shaun Bagley

  Bitter Water Blues

  By Trey R. Barker

  2,000 Miles to Open Road

  Road Gig: A Novella

  Exit Blood

  Death is Not Forever

  No Harder Prison

  When the Lonesome Dog Barks

  By Richard Barre

  The Innocents

  Bearing Secrets

  Christmas Stories

  The Ghosts of Morning

  Blackheart Highway

  Burning Moon

  Echo Bay

  Lost

  By Jon Bassoff

  Corrosion

  Factory Town

  The Disassembled Man

  The Incurables

  The Blade This Time

  By Eric Beetner

  Rumrunners

  Leadfoot

  The Devil Doesn’t Want Me

  The Devil Comes To Call

  The Devil at Your Door

  By Eric Beetner (editor)

  Unloaded

  By Martin Bodenham

  Shakedown

  The Geneva Connection

  Once a Killer (*)

  By Gordon Brown

  Falling

  Falling Too

  By Rob Brunet

  Stinking Rich

  By Milton T. Burton

  Texas Noir

  By Dana Cameron, editor

  Murder at the Beach: Bouchercon Anthology 2014

  By Eric Campbell, editor

  Down, Out and Dead

  By Stacey Cochran

  Eddie & Sunny (TP only)

  By Mark Coggins

  No Hard Feelings

  By Angel Luis Colón

  No Happy Endings

  Meat City on Fire (and Other Assorted Debacles)

  By Jen Conley

  Cannibals and Other Stories

  By Shawn Corridan and Gary Waid

  Gitmo

  By Matt Coyle, Mary Marks and Patricia Smiley, editors

  LAst Resort

  By Tom Crowley

  Viper’s Tail

  Murder in the Slaughterhouse

  By Frank De Blase

  Pine Box for a Pin-Up

  Busted Valentines and Other Dark Delights

  A Cougar’s Kiss

  By Les Edgerton

  The Genuine, Imitation, Plastic Kidnapping

  Lagniappe

  Just Like That

  Monday’s Meal (*)

  By Nora Gaskin Esthimer, editor

  Carolina Crimes: 21 Tales of Need, Greed and Dirty Deeds

  By A.C. Frieden

  Tranquility Denied

  The Serpent’s Game

  The Pyongyang Option (*)

  By Danny Gardner

  A Negro and an Ofay

  By Jack Getze

  Big Numbers

  Big Money

  Big Mojo

  Big Shoes

  The Black Kachina

  By Greg F. Gifune

  Dangerous Boys

  By Keith Gilman

  Bad Habits

  By Richard Godwin

  Wrong Crowd

  Buffalo and Sour Mash

  Crystal on Electric Acetate

  By William Hastings, editor

  Stray Dogs: Writing from the Other America

  By J.J. Hensley

  Bolt Action Remedy

  By Greg Herren, editor

  Blood on the Bayou: Bouchercon Anthology 2016

  By Jeffery Hess

  Beachhead

  Cold War Canoe Club

  By Matt Hilton

  No Going Back

  Rules of Honor

  The Lawless Kind

  The Devil’s Anvil

  No Safe Place

  By Naomi Hirahara, Kate Thornton and Jeri Westerson, editors

  LAdies’ Night

  By Terry Holland

  An Ice Cold Paradise

  Chicago Shiver

  By Darrel James, Linda O. Johnston and Tammy Kaehler, editors

  Last Exit to Murder

  By David Housewright and Renée Valois

  The Devil and the Diva

  By David Housewright

  Finders Keepers

  Full House

  By Beau Johnson

  A Better Kind of Hate

  By Jon Jordan

  Interrogations

  By Jon and Ruth Jordan, editors

  Murder and Mayhem in Muskego

  Cooking with Crimespree

  By Lawrence Kelter

  Back to Brooklyn

  By Lawrence Kelter (editor)

  The Black Car Business Volume 1 (*)

  By Lawrence Kelter and Frank Zafiro

  The Last Collar

  By Jerry Kennealy

  Screen Test

  Polo’s Long Shot

  By Dana King

  Worst Enemies

  Grind Joint

  Resurrection Mall

  Bad Samaritan

  By Ed Kurtz

  Nothing You Can Do

  By Ross Klavan, Tim O’Mara and Charles Salzberg

  Triple Shot

  By JB Kohl and Eric Beetner

  Over Their Heads

  By S.W. Lauden

  Crosswise

  Crossed Bones

  By Dan and Kate Malmon, editors

  Killing Malmon

  By Andrew McAleer and Paul D. Marks, editors

  Coast to Coast

  Coast to Coast 2

  By Terrence McCauley

  The Devil Dogs of Belleau Wood

  The Bank Heist, editor (*)

  By John McFetridge, editor

  Passport to Murder: Bouchercon Anthology 2017

  By Daniel M. Mendoza, editor

  Stray Dogs: Interviews with Working-Class Writers

  By Marietta Miles

  May

  By Bill Moody

  Czechmate: The Spy Who Played Jazz

  The Man in Red Square

  Solo Hand

  The Death of a Tenor Man

  The Sound of the Trumpet

  Bird Lives!

  Mood Swings (TP only)

  By Warren Moore

  Broken Glass Waltzes

  By Andrew Nette

  Gunshine State

  By Gerald M. O’Connor

  The Origins of Benjamin Hackett

  By Marcus Pelegrimas

  Blind Eye

  By Gary Phillips

  The Perpetrators

  Scoundrels: Tales of Greed, Murder and Financial Crimes
(editor)

  Treacherous: Grifters, Ruffians and Killers

  3 the Hard Way

  By Gary Phillips, Tony Chavira, Manoel Magalhães and Bryan Lee

  Beat L.A. (Graphic Novel)

  By Tom Pitts

  Hustle

  American Static

  By Thomas Pluck

  Bad Boy Boogie

  Life During Wartime

  By Michael Pool

  Texas Two-Step (*)

  By Robert J. Randisi

  Upon My Soul

  Souls of the Dead

  Envy the Dead

  By Rob Riley

  Thin Blue Line

  By Charles Salzberg

  Devil in the Hole

  Swann’s Last Song

  Swann Dives In

  Swann’s Lake of Despair

  Swann’s Way Out

  Second Story Man

  By Scott Loring Sanders

  Shooting Creek and Other Stories

  By Linda Sands

  3 Women Walk Into a Bar (TP only)

  Grand Theft Cargo

  Precious Cargo (*)

  By Ryan Sayles

  The Subtle Art of Brutality

  Warpath

  Let Me Put My Stories In You

  Albatross (*)

  By John Shepphird

  The Shill

  Kill the Shill

  Beware the Shill

  By Nathan Singer

  Blackchurch Furnace

  By Anthony Neil Smith

  Yellow Medicine

  Hogdoggin’

  The Baddest Ass

  Holy Death

  All the Young Warriors

  Once a Warrior

  Worm

  Psychosomatic

  The Drummer

  Choke on Your Lies

  XXX Shamus

  By Liam Sweeny

  Welcome Back, Jack

  By Art Taylor, editor

  Murder Under the Oaks: Bouchercon Anthology 2015

  By Ian Truman

  Grand Trunk and Shearer

  By James Ray Tuck, editor

  Mama Tried 1

  Mama Tried 2 (*)

  By Nathan Walpow

  The Logan Triad

  One Last Hit

  By Lono Waiwaiole

  Wiley’s Lament

  Wiley’s Shuffle

  Wiley’s Refrain

  Dark Paradise

  Leon’s Legacy

  By George Williams

  Inferno and Other Stories

  Zoë

  The Selected Letters of the Late Biagio Serafim Sciarra

  By TG Wolff

  Exacting Justice (*)

  By Frank Zafiro and Eric Beetner

  The Backlist

  The Short List

  By Frank Zafiro and Jim Wilsky

  Blood on Blood (*)

  Down & Out: The Magazine

  Volume 1 Issue 1: Reed Farrel Coleman (featured author)

  Volume 1 Issue 2: Bill Crider (featured author)

  Volume 1 Issue 3: Barry Lancet (featured author) (*)

  Published by ABC Group Documentation, an imprint of Down & Out Books

  By Alec Cizak

  Down on the Street

  By Grant Jerkins

  Abnormal Man

  A Scholar of Pain

  By Robert Leland Taylor

  Through the Ant Farm

  Published by All Due Respect, an imprint of Down & Out Books

  By Greg Barth

  Selena: Book One

  Diesel Therapy: Selena Book Two

  Suicide Lounge: Selena Book Three

  Road Carnage: Selena Book Four

  Everglade: Selena Book Five

  By Eric Beetner

  Nine Toes in the Grave

  By Phil Beloin Jr.

  Revenge is a Redhead

  By Math Bird

  Histories of the Dead and Other Stories

  By Paul D Brazill

  The Last Laugh: Crime Stories

  By Sarah M. Chen

  Cleaning Up Finn

  By Alec Cizak

  Crooked Roads: Crime Stories

  Manifesto Destination

  By Pablo D’Stair and Chris Rhatigan

  You Don’t Exist

  By C.S. DeWildt

  Kill ’Em with Kindness

  Love You to a Pulp

  By Paul Heatley

  FatBoy

  By Jake Hinkson

  The Deepening Shade

  By Preston Lang

  The Sin Tax

  By Marietta Miles

  Route 12

  By Mike Miner

  Prodigal Sons

  By Mike Monson

  A Killer’s Love

  Criminal Love and Other Stories

  Tussinland

  What Happens in Reno

  By Matt Phillips

  Three Kinds of Fool

  Accidental Outlaws

  By Rob Pierce

  The Things I Love Will Kill Me Yet: Stories

  Uncle Dust

  Vern in the Heat

  With the Right Enemies

  By Michael Pool

  Debt Crusher

  By Chris Rhatigan

  Race to the Bottom

  Squeeze

  The Kind of Friends Who Murder Each Other

  By Ryan Sayles

  I’m Not Happy ’til You’re Not Happy: Crime Stories

  By Ryan Sayles and Chris Rhatigan

  Two Bullets Solve Everything

  By Daniel Vlasaty

  A New and Different Kind of Pain

  Only Bones

  By William E. Wallace

  Dead Heat with the Reaper

  Hangman’s Dozen

  Published by Shotgun Honey, an imprint of Down & Out Books

  By Hector Acosta

  Hardway

  By Rusty Barnes

  Knuckledragger

  Ridgerunner

  By Angel Luis Colón

  The Fury of Blacky Jaguar

  Blacky Jaguar Against the Cool Clux Cult

  By Marie S. Crosswell

  Texas, Hold Your Queens

  By DeLeon DeMicoli

  Les Cannibales

  By Christopher Irvin

  Federales

  By Nick Kolakowski

  A Brutal Bunch of Heartbroken Saps

  Slaughterhouse Blues

  By R. Daniel Lester

  Dead Clown Blues

  By Lawrence Maddos

  Fast Bang Booze

  By Mike Miner

  Hurt Hawks

  By Tom Pitts

  Knuckleball

  By Ryan Sayles

  Goldfinches

  By Max Sheridan

  Dillo

  By Albert Tucher

  The Place of Refuge

  (*) Coming soon

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  Here is a preview from Bad Samaritan, a Nick Forte novel by Dana King…

  PROLOGUE

  Trouble is the residue of my design.

  I could have left him alone. Should have, depending on who you ask. A long day ended on Rush Street, so I stopped for a beer and the beginning of the Sox game. Saw him slap the woman. Locked and loaded for the second when I slid my elbow under his armpit and grabbed a wrist. Pulled until the shoulder separated.

  It took time for him to collect himself. “What the hell did you do that for?”

  Already back on my bar stool. “You know why.”

  Hard to sound threatening with tears in his eyes, arm pinned to his torso. “You have no idea who I am.”

  It occurred to me he didn’t know who I was, either. I gave him my card.

  1.

  The water tower distinguished this cul-de-sac from the others in Downers Grove. It loomed over the brick ranch-style houses like a remnant of a long past World’s Fair: the Countersunk Screw Exhibit. A yellow hydrant at the edge of the driveway was cheery in the morning sun, a seed with hopes of growing into a mighty tower itself one day.

  I parked
in the driveway of the smallest house on the circle. Cool under the overhang that shaded the front stoop from what was shaping up to be a hot day. The neighborhood was quiet as a sleeping baby. I pushed the button and a standard two-tone chime sounded.

  The door opened to show a woman of average height in her middle thirties. Dark hair cut in an unfashionable bob framed a round face with high cheeks and chocolate eyes. She held the door open and looked at me, her attention somewhere behind her.

  “Rebecca Tuttle?” I said.

  “You must be Nick Forte.” I agreed, I must be. “Call me Becky. Come on in. Thanks for coming by. I’ve got one home sick from school and this one doesn’t want to share the house.” She pointed to a child no more than eighteen months old standing in a plastic corral built into the corner of the family room. “Can you keep an eye on him for a minute? I think Sammie just sicked up on her bed. His name’s Alex, but he likes A.J. better.” She was gone before the door latch caught. The trusting sort.