Vanity Fire

John M Daniel

Dec 2011 · Guy Mallon Mysteries Book 2 · Sourcebooks, Inc.

About this ebook

"Fast pacing, a strong sense of place, and plenty of publishing-business details combine with a likable although flawed main character to produce an engrossing read."—Booklist

The phone rings in the middle of the night. Publisher Guy Mallon's book warehouse has burned to the ground. In the ashes there is a burned body. Carol Murphy, Guy's lover and business manager, fed up with the failing operation, has already split. But why is her car spotted parked nearby?

It all began when retired businessman Fritz Marburger tempted Guy with a proposition: publish celebrity jazz singer Sweet Lorraine Evans' novel, which he will underwrite. It's the first step in a Faustian bargain that finds Guy sniffing increasingly noxious fumes as the crass Marburger rents Guy's warehouse space and saddles him with an amoral co-tenant: pornographer-turned-vanity publisher Roger Herndon. Supported by two Santa Barbara poets with strong backs and by two strippers who form the core of Roger's stable of porn stars and production assistants, Guy first tries to make a go of the new venture. But after the murder, he knows he must bring Roger down to reclaim his own soul.

About the author

John M. Daniel lived in Santa Barbara, California for twenty years, where he and his wife, Susan, owned (and were owned by) a small-press publishing company. In 2003 they relocated McKinleyville, California, where they continue to publish books while John also does free-lance editing and teaches writing through adult education. He has taught fiction writing at UCLA Extension and Santa Barbara Adult Education and is on the faculty of the Santa Barbara Writers Conference. His stories have appeared in dozens of literary magazines, and he is the author of several books, including two mystery novels: Play Melancholy Baby and (most recently) The Poet’s Funeral.