The fifth segment of my next mystery novel, now titled “A Murderer Mistaken”, follows. As previously noted, the novel involves a deceased friend, an abandoned apartment, a search for a safety deposit box, and the shame of long forgotten actions. The story went on as they both ordered another beer. The next day, he slipped a note into Mr. French’s mail slot directing the good professor to the desk behind which poor Ronald Barnes sat. Just to ensure anonymity and…..
The fourth segment of my next mystery novel, now titled “A Murderer Mistaken”, follows. As previously noted, the novel involves a deceased friend, an abandoned apartment, a search for a safety deposit box, and the shame of long forgotten actions. A Prelude Aside from a number of other common interests, alcohol and other assorted addictions being principal sins, Quinn and Purchell both pursued the pretense of poetry. However peculiar, both had convinced themselves, a fantasy vocation which originated in…..
The third segment of my next mystery novel, as yet untitled, follows. As previously noted, the novel involves a deceased friend, an abandoned apartment, a search for a safety deposit box, and the shame of long forgotten actions. Quinn’s apartment was quite familiar to Purchell, the frequency of his visits there making a close acquaintance with the surroundings unavoidable. It reminded him of his first apartment in the city, a small furnished bachelor on the first floor of an old Victorian house…..
The second segment of my next mystery novel, as yet untitled, follows. As previously noted, the novel involves a deceased friend, an abandoned apartment, a search for a safety deposit box, and the shame of long forgotten actions. Background Recollections He was a collection of contradictions, an aggregation of curious character traits and personality quirks that could excite most students of psychology and depress any psychiatrist with a steady clientale. He was moody and amusing at the same time, a man…..
I have started on my next mystery novel, as yet untitled. It involves a deceased friend, an abandoned apartment, a search for a safety deposit box, and the shame of long forgotten actions. I will post successive segments as my novel progresses. “Musings After the Fact Detective Franklin Neeson was leaning back in his chair behind his desk in the Truscott Police Department pretending to smoke a cigarette. After years of surviving the appeals, if not the demands of most…..
Anyone who grew up, or tried to grown up, in the 1950’s, was inundated with a barrage of well remembered cultural influences. Few know however that many of the mythologies associated with these influences were based on patent falsehoods and brazen lies. Some of them are offered below. (This list first appeared in The Smart Aleck Chronicles II published in 2012.) 1. Davy Crockett’s coonskin hat was actually a dead squirrel. Crockett’s friend, Georgie Russell, also maintained that he wore…..
One of the less laudable contributions to our culture has been, and unfortunately continues to be, the creation of absurd lists. Originally conceived as a means of entertaining audiences grown weary of standard humor, many of them now serve to simply mystify and/or confound. The following list originally appeared in the first or second or maybe even the third volume of the “Smart Aleck Chronicles” by Mike Robertson as published by Authorhouse. FANTASY FACTS ABOUT FAMOUS WRITERS 1. Samuel Beckett…..
There are certain advantages for any fledging writer once he or she retires. Once relieved from the responsibilities of going into work everyday, such a writer is free to pursue his craft without the unfortunate burden of having a job that not only does not involve any actual writing but actively limits the opportunity to write. The following is a list of possible advantages. 1. You can actually write without getting dressed. 2. You can stay in bed all day…..
Like many, if not most authors I would imagine, invest a good part of their writing careers attempting to interest publishers, book stores, and the general public, including their families and their friends, in their literary efforts. It was and remains a daunting task, requiring the psychological conditioning of an insurance salesman and the pretensions of a professor of literature philosophy. For almost fifty years, I was one of those unfortunate would be authors who pursued their literary ambitions by dutifully transmitting their…..
In introducing my most recent book, a murder mystery novel entitled “The First Communion Murders,” I thought I would discuss the inspiration for its plot, which is briefly suggested by its title. I was the executor for my younger brother’s estate after he passed away several years old; a heart attack the cause. After settling his financial affairs, I went through his possessions, which were extensive since he was somewhat of a hoarder. Aside from a multitude of semi-useless household appliances, several closets of freshly…..
