NICK KOLAKOWSKI chats to Paul Burke about his new California PI novel WHERE THE BONES LIE, training wheels, heist novels, the private eye, voice versus pastiche and AI.

WHERE THE BONES LIE: For Dash Fuller, Hollywood’s underbelly is home. He’s spent years making the film industry’s worst secrets disappear, and it’s left him a cynical burnout with a taste for bourbon and self-loathing.
But when a young woman comes to him with a peculiar quest, Dash sees a chance at redemption. Madeline Ironwood is the daughter of Ken Ironwood, a notorious smuggler and murderer who disappeared 20 years ago. Ken’s skeleton has just been discovered in a barrel at the bottom of a dried-up lake, and Madeline wants to know who killed him.
Dash agrees to help, and as this desperate daughter and jaded cynic claw their way through a world of sun-bleached secrets, crooked cops, and Hollywood thugs, they soon uncover a conspiracy involving some of LA’s most powerful people.
Get ready for a fast-paced, darkly funny thriller with a twist you won’t see coming.

NICK KOLAKOWSKI lives and writes in NYC. His recent novels and novellas include Groundhog Slay (Crystal Lake Publishing), Payback is Forever (Shotgun Honey), and Boise Longpig Hunting Club (Down & Out Books). Nick grew up as a voracious reader of mystery and crime fiction, and his own writing is an attempt to pay homage to the best of the genre while also using it as a lens through which to view our weird, sometimes not-so-wonderful modern life. 

Recommendations: Ivy Pochoda Sing Her Down, Thomas Trang Dark Neon Dirt, Jordan Harper Everybody Knows.

Mentions: James Wallis, Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler, Carl Hiaasen, James M Cain, Black Wings Has My Angel Elliot Chaze, Jordan Harper Everybody Knows, SA Cosby King of Ashes, Eryk Pruitt Something Bad Wrong.

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