Try this one on for size.
Private investigators. What goes through your head when you picture one? A tough guy in a trench coat spouting gruff, side-of-the-mouth dialogue that’s sharp enough to shave with? Brassy, wisecracking dames in distress? Fistfights, gunfights, and dark, glistening city streets, all put to the music of a lone, wailing saxophone?
Well … yeah.
I do, anyway. Matter of fact, most of us do. But somehow over the years that mythos turned into a stereotype, and we are all poorer for it. Because make no mistake, there are some gems to be found. The masters from the early years showed us how to do it: Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammett, even Mickey Spillane all had their moments. A lot of their work was magic.
And then, beginning in the early sixties, private eye fiction began to fall out of favor. James Bond (and don't get me wrong, I love the guy) and gadgets started taking over. Private shamuses (shami?) waned, and then worse, transmogrified (gotta love them college words!) into objects of ridicule. Only in the last decade and a half or so has the reading public decided to give it another try. Why? I dunno. Maybe we simple were ready for heroes again.
Thankfully some good writers have stepped up to the plate. A cursory perusal of a bookstore’s mystery section showcases such talents as Robert B. Parker, Loren Estleman, James Lee Burke, Robert Crais, and others. These writers all expanded the borders of PI fiction. Now we have lady PIs, gay PIs, midget PIs, kid PIs, part-time PIs, handicapped PIs, just about everything under the sun … except for spiritual PIs.
Until now.
At the risk of blowing my own horn, I’ve tried to address that. My PI is named Joe Box. He’s a transplanted Southerner, a Vietnam vet, an animal lover, a widower, and a former cop. He’s also a brand-new Christian. The tension comes (I hope!) from following Joe as he seeks to balance his new walk of faith against his admittedly gritty profession.
So can a Christian private investigator hold his own in a secular market? Why not? Lord knows there’s a need. But in the spirit of equal opportunity I’ve come up with a second series featuring a character named Mac Ryan. Mac has strong convictions that are his moral code. He’s a combat veteran of the Iraqi war and, like Joe, hails from the south. I’ve left his spiritual condition a mystery (for now). His first adventure, and a hairy one at that, is called Consumed, and is being considered by some New York ABA houses. All that to say, the future for private eye fiction looks bright, no matter what brand of gumshoe you favor.
Now, enough jawing. Somebody get this dame off my desk, hand me my heater, and cue the sax …