Here's a twist on the classic detective novel for you, this one has a fictional detective as one of the main characters. Okay, so I realize the book is detective fiction... but, in this case there are two detectives one a fictional character and one the detective the other is based on. We get to follow both of them to some degree. It's a fun twist and makes for an interesting tale! Pick up a copy, I'm sure you'll find this one entertaining ( )

In William Wells’ Detective Fiction, Jack Starkey, ex-Chicago homicide detective is living the retired cop’s dream. He lives on a boat in Fort Myers Beach, FL, owns a bar, dates Marisa, a beautiful Latina, and is the basis of a successful mystery series written by a journalist friend. When approached to assist the Chief of Police in nearby posh Naples with several suspicious deaths, he realizes he misses the action and accepts. Marisa suggests the only way to learn about the upper one percent is to become one, which is arranged by the Naples’ mayor. Average guy Jack Starkey assumes the persona of rich Frank Chance (named for the Chicago Cubs first baseman). However, living the good life yields no clues and the investigation stalls. He grabs onto the flimsiest of leads.

Starkey is a guy’s guy, liking cars, shapely women and ballpark food. He is out of his element in Naples. The case almost takes a back seat to Starkey’s humorous commentary comparing the life of the elite to Chicago’s South Side, the Cubs and the Baby Doll Polka Lounge, his former hangout. The fact that the body count continues to increase and he must ultimately combine forces with a known gangster makes him seem like an amateur, but so what. This novel is shouting ‘series’ which would be perfectly fine. ( )

Here's a twist on the classic detective novel for you, this one has a fictional detective as one of the main characters. Okay, so I realize the book is detective fiction... but, in this case there are two detectives one a fictional character and one the detective the other is based on. We get to follow both of them to some degree. It's a fun twist and makes for an interesting tale! Pick up a copy, I'm sure you'll find this one entertaining! ( )

William Wells’ Detective Fiction opens with a story within a story. The editor, Chicago Homicide Detective Sergeant Jack Starkey (retired), promises to make notes in the margin as he reads, and the reader is quickly intrigued. Starkey has a very individual viewpoint, humor, and pleasantly chatty style as he tells his tale. He also has a vested interest in his fictional counterpart, Jack Stoney, both financial and personal, as profits from the books are what keep his Florida bar, the Drunken Parrot, afloat.

Starkey has retired to a houseboat in Southern Florida. He runs a bar not too far from Naples, Florida’s haunt of the rich and famous, and enjoys the company of beautiful Marisa. But he misses the chase and is delighted to help when the powers that be grow suspicious of deaths in Naples. Unfortunately, lacking the support of the whole Chicago force of detectives and friends, Jack Starkey’s about as untethered as his fictional alter-ego, committing himself to a dangerous cover and failing to spot the lies behind the truths. If Stoney would charge into an armed man’s home without backup, Starkey will charge when equally blind and equally lacking support. But he’s retired. The retired and the fictional are different.

Written with sharp dry humor, Detective Fiction invites the reader to follow Starkey’s dream-driven journey to dream houses, dream boats, dream cars, dream girls (but don’t tell Marisa) and nightmare dangers. Meanwhile there’s a book to be edited, and a fictional character whose imagined bravery might inspire the real.

Bad guys are “brought to justice in a most satisfying way, the hero [gets] the girl, and the future look[s] bright,” in the world of detective fiction. In the novel, Starkey lives his own detective/retirement fiction and this reader, for one, is eager for more at story’s end.

Disclosure: I was given a free preview edition by the publisher and I offer my honest review. ( )