Nick Stefanos
3 primary works
Book 1
As the advertising director of Nutty Nathan's - "The Miser Who Saves You Money!"- Nick Stefanos knows all the tricks of the electronics business. Blow-out sales and shady deals were his life. When one of the stockboys disappears, it's not news: just another metalhead who went off chasing some dream of big money and easy living. But the kid reminded Nick of himself twelve years ago: an angry punk hooked on speed metal and the fast life. So when the boy's grandfather begs Nick to try to find the kid, Nick says he'll try. A Firing Offense, Nick Stefanos' debut, shows why George P. Pelecanos is a cult figure in U.S. crime writing, as Barry Gifford puts it, 'To miss out on Pelecanos would be criminal'.
Book 2
'This is the real thing - an urban nightmare of hopelessness, greed, betrayal, and get-back, kick-ass revenge...A hell of a book' Booklist 'Snaps with authentic street talk and with a switch-hitting plot...the novel has something important to say about trust and treachery' Washington Post 'The kind of book you are always hoping to find but rarely do' James Sallis 'An even more promising follow-up to Pelecanos' highly recommended first novel, A Firing Offense...He is adept at avoiding the dreary cliches used by the current crop of Hammett and Chandler wannabees' New Mystery Nick Stefanos, having earned his P.I. license, quickly discovers that snapping photos of unfaithful husbands does not make for a fulfilling job. Tending bar one night at the Spot, Nick is visited by his high-school friend, Billy Goodrich. Billy's wife is gone. Nick agrees to find her. And with that first step, he sets out on a one-way path that takes him through a sewer of theft, intrigue and love.
Book 3
'You already been a punk. Least you can do is go out like a man.' Then a dull popping sound and a quiet splash. That's how Nick Stefanos gets drawn into the murder of Calvin Jeter. An investigation that takes him through the roughest part of the nation's capital and the blackest parts of the human soul. Down by the River Where the Dead Men Go is the third volume in the Nick Stefanos series - which establishes George P. Pelecanos as the rightful heir to the noir tradition of James Cain, David Goodis and Jim Thompson.