Roachkiller and Other Stories

A pregnant single mother who becomes a numbers runner in 1970s Brooklyn; an ex-con fighting against insurmountable odds not to kill again; a middle-aged tax lawyer who’s discovered the secret to happiness—at any cost: these are just a few of the hard-luck characters you’ll meet in Roachkiller and Other Stories, the debut collection of short stories from exciting noir writer R. Narvaez. Included are 10 hard-boiled tales, many with a dash of dark humor. Get-rich schemes gone violently awry. A slacker detective far out of his depth. A reformed criminal who can’t get past his killer instincts. The action moves from Brooklyn to Puerto Rico, from the ’70s to the near future, from deadly divorces to homicidal hipsters. Narvaez travels down the dimly lit side streets of noir you’ve never seen before.

Contents

In the Kitchen with Johnny Albino

Juracán

Roachkiller

GhostD

Santa’s Little Helper

Unsynchronicity

Ibarra Goes Down

Watching the Iguanas

Rough Night in Toronto

Zinger

“Juracán” is also available as an ebook single under the title “Hurricane”!

“Plenty of good surprises [in this book]: R. Narvaez in ‘Juracán’ tells a story set in Puerto Rico among the legends of the Tainos, stolen artifacts, double- and triple-crosses, uneasy justice.”

—Manuel Ramos, author of King of the Chicanos, on the collection Indian Country Noir

“Hilarious and memorable.”

—Kirkus Reviews, on the story “Hating Holly Hernandez” in the collection You Don’t Have a Clue

"Hardboiled prose, noir sensibility, and all very effective. Check it out."

—Bill Crider, author of the Sheriff Dan Rhodes series

Author Bio

Nuyorican writer R. Narvaez was born and raised in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. His fiction has been published in Mississippi Review, Murdaland, Street Magazine, Thrilling Detective, Indian Country Noir, Long Island Noir, Hit List: The Best of Latino Mystery, and You Don’t Have a Clue: Latino Mystery Stories for Teens. His short story "Roachkiller" was selected as a Distinguished Mystery Story in Best American Mystery Stories 2008, edited by George Pelecanos. He blogs at Nuyorican Obituary.