Category: Crime Writing & Authors - A.B.PATTERSON

My short story in a Pink Floyd crime anthology!

19/2/2021

I'm incredibly thrilled to have a short story of mine, "Childhood's End", appearing in this wonderful anthology, alongside so many talented authors.

I saw this project concept last year, and being a lifelong fan of Pink Floyd, as well as a crime author, thought I had to give it a shot. All the stories in this collection carry the title of a Pink Floyd song, and no surprises for those who know my work that "Childhood's End" worked really well for me. It's not one of Floyd's better known numbers, that's for sure, but check out my story to see my take on it. And aside from my small contribution, the crime writing talent on display here is awesome.

As if that's not enough incentive, a large part of the sale process go to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society in the US, a truly worthwhile cause. The editor of the project, T. Fox Dunham, is a cancer survivor, hence the charity connection.

Folks, DO IT - grab this anthology both for a great read and a great cause.

Cheers,
ABP

Paperbacks are here!!! "Harry Kenmare, PI - At Your Service" is now in print.

15/9/2020

Oh, YES!!!

It's that great day in an author's life when the boxes with the new book arrive!

This afternoon, 20 boxes of Harry Kenmare, PI - At Your Service arrived here, and they are looking bloody great!
The cover work is superb (thanks J.T.Lindroos) and the interior artwork is just what I wanted (thanks Ran Scott).
And the stories - well, I take full responsibility for those.

These are seven short stories of some of the hardest pulp fiction you'll find out there. Read them at your peril.

Want an original paperback copy?

You know where to find me.

Cheers,
ABP

PI Harry Kenmare is here!!! All print-on-demand platforms.

6/9/2020

The PI Harry Kenmare short story collection is here. "Dark, debauched, and disturbing" is the blurb, and it's obscenely accurate. This is not a read for the faint-hearted, so buckle up, bite down, and enjoy the hardest and most explicit crime fiction you'll find anywhere on this seedy planet.

Harry Kenmare, PI - At Your Service is now available on all the major print-on demand platforms. Here are the links:

And here is the link to my website page for my books:

A.B. Patterson Author

Ebook also available, and original paperbacks here in about a week.

Cheers,
ABP

PI Harry Kenmare is here!!! All ebook platforms.

6/9/2020

The PI Harry Kenmare short story collection is here. "Dark, debauched, and disturbing" is the blurb, and it's obscenely accurate. This is not a read for the faint-hearted, so buckle up, bite down, and enjoy the hardest and most explicit crime fiction you'll find anywhere on this seedy planet.

Harry Kenmare, PI - At Your Service is now available on all the major ebook platforms. Here are the links:

And here is the link to my website page for my books:

A.B. Patterson Author

Print-on-demand also available, and original paperbacks here in about a week.

Cheers,
ABP

Harry is here!!!

25/8/2020

Dark, debauched, and disturbing!!! That's the blurb.

The Harry short story collection, Harry Kenmare, PI - At Your Service, went live today (at least for ebooks).

So, if you love Harry and you're an ebook fan, then it's on Kindle (in the US, and will be on the other Amazon shops over the next few hours). It's also on Kobo worldwide. Other ebook platforms are following.

For the paperback, I'm told 2 weeks here until the originals arrive from the printers. And the POD version will be going online in the next few days.

Cheers,
ABP

The Harry short story collection is at the printers!

17/8/2020

Harry is almost here!

The inaugural Harry short story collection, Harry Kenmare, PI - At Your Service, is imminent, folks!
The typesetting was finished and approved today, so it's on its way to the printing presses.
The ebook version, as well as the print-on-demand, should be available in a few days.
Watch this space!

Cheers,
ABP

The Harry short story collection - opening lines #7.

4/8/2020

Over 7 days, here are 7 tastes of the Harry short stories in Harry Kenmare, PI - At Your Service, with their opening lines …

Here's #7 - "The Reluctant Bride".

She had all the dignity of a novice porn starlet who’d just had the money shot sprayed all over her face, in a gang-bang scene.
I stood there and looked at her, lying back propped up on pillows against the bed-head.

And the accompanying image in the book is from the superb Ran Scott.

Cheers,
ABP

The Harry short story collection - opening lines #6.

3/8/2020

Over 7 days, here are 7 tastes of the Harry short stories in Harry Kenmare, PI - At Your Service, with their opening lines …

Here's #6 - "The Missing Lily".

Panda bear, pick-up, pussy, phone call, pagodas, Peking duck, paternal loss, prostitutes, pay-day, and pussy galore.
So, the question is: what do these ten Ps have in common?
And the answer is: the most recent assignment for me, PI Harry Kenmare.
Being a gumshoe sure as hell has variety. Just as well. If I had to do the nine-to-five corporate hamster wheel ever again, I’d fucking shoot myself.

And the accompanying image in the book is from the superb Ran Scott.

Cheers,
ABP

The Harry short story collection - opening lines #4.

1/8/2020

Over 7 days, here are 7 tastes of the Harry short stories in Harry Kenmare, PI - At Your Service, with their opening lines …

Here's #4 - "The Lonely Corpse".

She was standing outside my office door: fretful, indecisive, uncertain. Clearly in need of help. Like a furtive adolescent outside the VD clinic, for the first time.
The young woman was dowdy, with plain clothes and no make-up.
Unlike Terri I’d taken home from the pub last night. Plenty of make-up, and then no clothes. The reason I was late this morning. Pretty sure her name was Terri. Totally sure the sex was awesome.

And the accompanying image in the book is from the superb Ran Scott.

Cheers,
ABP

The Harry short story collection - opening lines #3.

31/7/2020

Over 7 days, here are 7 tastes of the Harry short stories in Harry Kenmare, PI - At Your Service, with their opening lines …

Here's #3 - "A Sex Kitten for a Cabinet Meeting".

Lying back in your birthday suit, with a barely legal young tart, also sensationally naked. Said young hussy has her mouth full, stretched wider than an anaconda swallowing a peccary, except in this case it’s your ragingly hard cock.
There’s a problem with this image: when it’s photographed for posterity. Raises eyebrows in certain circles.

And the accompanying image in the book is from the superb Ran Scott.

Cheers,
ABP

The Harry short story collection - opening lines #2

30/7/2020

Over 7 days, here are 7 tastes of the Harry short stories in Harry Kenmare, PI - At Your Service, with their opening lines …

Here's #2 - "White Powder, Black Leather, Grey Badges".

Naked, aching, lying on cold, wet tiles in an outlaw bikie gang’s clubhouse. Hot, acrid urine streaming over my face, head, chest. Was that asparagus? Not a usual bikie type of food. And how much could one human bladder hold? I’d seen elephants at the zoo finish more quickly. How much more? That’s what I was asking myself.

And the accompanying image in the book is from the superb Ran Scott.

Cheers,
ABP

The Harry short story collection - opening lines #1

29/7/2020

Over 7 days, here are 7 tastes of the Harry short stories in Harry Kenmare, PI - At Your Service, with their opening lines …

Here's #1 - "Little Rich Street Girl".

Coagulating semen clung to the lock of grubby, blonde hair dangling next to her cheek. Obviously not all of a previous load had gone down her throat. I guessed she wasn’t concerned about the finer points of her appearance. On these seedy streets, appearances were shallow, skanky, and purely commercial. It was about semen and cash, giving and receiving. Prices depended on the delivery context: oral, vaginal, or anal; condom or bareback (for the true fatalists); and how desperate the girl was for her next hit.

And the accompanying image in the book is from the superb Ran Scott.

Cheers,
ABP

Time to meet PI Harry Kenmare - in his own words!

28/7/2020

My short story collection, Harry Kenmare, PI - At Your Service, is almost here. Unlike my Harry novels, the short stories are written in the first person, as Harry.
So, I thought it only fitting for Harry to introduce himself at the outset of the collection. And here he is...
Cheers, ABP
(Harry drawing by Ran Scott)

Harry Kenmare, PI

G’day, I’m Harry. Harry Kenmare, Private Investigator.

I used to be a cop, detective sergeant. Until I got the arse for belting a rock spider. A child molester to most of you. Well, of course I belted the prick. I’d just lost my daughter, Orla, to scum like him. Orla was raped and murdered, by paedophile animals. And, being only human, that has shaped me as a man since then. You got a problem with that? Guess what, here’s fifty cents, go call someone who cares.

Orla’s mother, my very ex-wife, left at the same time. Decided her yoga instructor was more ‘sensitive’ to her needs. He was a pretentious arse-wipe, but he had inherited money. Yeah, so I married shallow, as it turns out. Not the first bloke down that baited burrow. And then she shagged a couple of other detectives. Sure it was to spite me. Rooting another detective’s missus was a no-no, totally against the brotherhood’s Code. Anyway, the arse-wipe yoga instructor got done for dealing ‘herbal remedies’, went to prison, and the ex became his ex, too. Some degree of karma, maybe. No doubt she’s off now making some other poor bastard’s life an abject misery.

Anyhow, my motto now is: ‘Here for a good time, not a long time’. And I live by it. I smoke, I drink like a fish, I eat rich food, and I bed every good sort I can charm back to my apartment. I love the ladies. I’m what in days gone by was described as a libertine. And if you’ve got a problem with that, hear this: I don't give a flying rat’s arse.

Enough of my loves. What about the other side of the ledger? I hate injustice, I hate hypocrisy, I hate misogyny, I hate bullies, and I hate the Establishment. A long list. No shortage of candidates in Sydney. And wherever I can deliver karma, I’ll do so in spades.

You might love me, or you might hate me. But you’ll never forget me.

Cheers,
Harry

Short story collection is imminent - manuscript headed for typesetting today.

27/7/2020

A big day here in Sydney today...
I love it when you press "send" on the email with your manuscript on its way for typesetting, and then printing.
Yes, the manuscript for my first collection of short stories, Harry Kenmare, PI - At Your Service, headed off today for its last stage before birth.
This is my third book now, and I always find the editing process seems to go on endlessly. Of course, you could edit forever, but you have to draw a line somewhere.
So, hopefully the paperbacks will be ready in about 4 weeks, with the ebook and POD versions a bit before that.
I'll keep you posted on the dates.
As for the official book launch at my favourite pub, upstairs in the Nude Bar and scene of both previous launches, we will have to wait and see. It was all set to go, but then the restrictions came back in and events are now off the cards.
Meantime, here's the great cover work by J.T.Lindroos, and a couple of the beautifully noir 8 internal artworks by Ran Scott. And the back cover blurb says it all - Harry is coming to town and it's going to get dirty, in more ways than one!
Cheers,
ABP

COPS WRITING CRIME - 5 new members join The Squad.

14/7/2020

Another 5 colleagues (including 2 historical entries) - 2 Brits and 3 Americans - join The Squad today, bringing its numbers to 245.

That's 245 cops and ex-cops (and some PIs) who have taken to writing crime fiction. You won't get more realistic crime tales than those from this Squad!

We have joining us today:
1. John Nicholl - served in the police in the UK, although I'm not sure which Force.
2. Leslie T. White - (deceased 1967) - served with the L.A. County DA's Office as an investigator.
3. Maurice Procter - (deceased 1973) - served with the Yorkshire Police in the UK.
4. R. L. Link - served with the Ames PD in Iowa.
5. Colin Conway - served with the Spokane PD in Washington State.

Our Squad now consists of:

145 American
50 British
13 Canadian
12 Australian
4 New Zealander
3 Finnish
2 Dutch
2 Swedish
1 French
1 Bahamian
1 Norwegian
1 Italian
1 Czech
1 Russian
1 Hungarian
1 Spaniard
1 Pakistani
1 Irish
1 Chinese
1 Brazilian
2 "International" (listed as this due to current serving officer requirements)

I'll keep adding more as I come across them, and if you know of any others please feel free to drop me a line.

Check out The Squad:
Also: Cops Writing Crime

And please remember, my list is only for CRIME FICTION - not all the true crime and/or memoir writing by cops and ex-cops that's out there (as good as so much of that is).

Cheers,
ABP