The Yard Men Series
Woo ha ha. My new dark hero.

Phaeton wrestles with a variety of demons both real and imagined. He is a brooding, surly libertine, yet gifted in peculiar ways. Quite literally, he suffers from a mental disorder known as the disease of the soul, which
includes the rare faculty of second sight.

His symptoms worsen when not occupied by a case worthy of his sleuthing talents. Consequently, he assuages painful headaches and racing thoughts with opium, absinthe, and habitual visitations to pleasure houses.

As the second tale in The Yard Men Series begins, it is the winter of 1889. Phaeton has lost his employment contract with Scotland Yard and now resides in a basement flat below a brothel:
  
     "Flog me into a state of excitement my lovelies."
       He studied his evening's leisure through half-closed eyes. A man could be infinitely happy, at least for an hour or two, with a beauty settled on each knee.
       A subtle shift in air pressure, a bristle of neck hairs. He sensed a presence.
       Phaeton shifted his attention from nubile flesh spilling out of unhooked corsets and untied petticoats. "Why, I believe we have a visitor, ladies. Care to join? One for each, I don't mind sharing."
      The tall, dark-haired man on the landing frowned and continued his descent.
     "Such unfortunate timing." Phaeton nuzzled a lithesome neck and groaned. "And I so dislike postponing pleasure. But, duty calls, I'm afraid." He shifted both doxies off his lap. "I promise you will each have a turn on top of me."
      An exposed fanny invited a gentle smack. "Off you go."
      The young ladies gathered a few articles of clothing and slipped past the imposing gentleman at the base of the stairs.
     "Well, well, Scotland Yard's most celebrated agent, Zeno Kennedy come calling." He buttoned his pants and settled back with a grin. "Something desperate has happened to bring you here, below stairs."
     "I admit it took a bit of ferreting about." Kennedy ducked under a sagging floor joist. "You've made quite a comfortable nest for yourself down here."
       Zeno sniffed the air. "A bit moldy in winter perhaps."
     "Due to my recent loss of employment, I have found it necessary, indeed, prudent to conserve resources."
      Not one for small talk, which Phaeton greatly appreciated, Kennedy got straight to it. "We appear to have another monstrous character about––on a killing spree. Melville wants the case solved before the bloody press clobbers us. He'll not have another debacle like the Ripper."
     "I can assure you Jack is gone. I took a stroll through Whitechapel just yesterday. Not a trace of the fiend's miasma."
      Zeno glared. "Exactly the kind of green fairy talk that got your contract canceled."
     "Melville doesn't like me, never has." He focused on the barely perceptible clench in Zeno's jaw. Kennedy was rattled, a rare state of being for him.
     "There is some kind of beast or––vampire stalking the Strand."
    


    

    
    
    

3/21/2010 Update:
THE SEDUCTION OF PHAETON BLACK finalist, 2010 Great Expectations finalist, Specialized.

3/21/2010 Update:
THE YARD MAN finalist, 2010 Linda Howard Award of Excellence, RS

1/22/2010 Update:
THE YARD MAN, finalist, 2009 RWI Where the Magic Begins, RS.

10/19/2009 Update:
THE YARD MAN, finalist, 2009 Indiana Golden Opportunity.

09/07/2009 Update: 
THE YARD MAN 2009 Golden Acorn
Winner, Historical.