Introduction

I AM FORTUNATE THAT MOSAIC PRESS IS HAPPY to put out books like this that are about as thick as cocktail napkins. I don’t write much. It’s a lot of work, it requires focus, and I can usually think of something more amusing to occupy my time. Editing my work is more fun, but in order to edit I have to write. So it’s a bit of a conundrum.

I spent decades as a writer in the ad business where a lack of focus didn’t matter much. I could knock out a perfectly serviceable ad in fifteen or twenty minutes, walk around the office for awhile, sit back down and edit my copy, then go get a coffee, annoy some co-workers, and go home, taking some good money with me. For allowing me to be able to do that for as long as I did, I’d like to thank Paul McClimond, who was my creative partner for 25 years. Paul helped keep me together, and probably kept me from being fired more times than I care to think about. He will laugh when he reads “Closing Doors.” I hope so, anyway.

Speaking of that, although all these stories are entirely fictional and bear no relationship whatsoever to any persons living or dead, I want to thank everybody who has done or said the things that gave me the inspiration for the contents of this book. I really did watch a man cut a hole in a wall and install an electrical outlet with no wiring attached to try to fool real estate agents.

Particular thanks are due to Jake Doherty, Therese Greenwood, Janet Hutchings, Linda Landrigan, and Rick Ollerman. In order, they represent the Osprey Summer Reading Series, Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine, and Down & Out: The Magazine. Among them, they were kind enough to publish six of the eight stories in this book. The other two stories have not been published before now.

Since 1987, I’ve done a lot of books with Howard Aster and Mosaic Press, and I believe that all except for this one were delivered on time. I more than made up for that obsessive punctuality this time around. Thanks to Howard and Matt Goody for their patience and tremendous support over the decades.

Finally, thanks to Leslie Watts, for helping me to understand which words to leave out and why.