Tart, quick, and hip mystery series set in San Francisco…Jack McCoul is not your typical private investigator. 
When con artist turned private investigator Jack McCoul marries a smart, sexy, and sustainability-minded yoga instructor, he vows to give up his life of crime for good. But then her brother pulls a heist and Jack gets caught in the middle of a murder and fight over hot computer chips. When bodies turn up, a police detective who still carries a torch for Jack's new wife tries to pin the crime on him. Jack needs all his wit and street wisdom, along with help from a colorful crew, to pull off the con game of a lifetime if he’s to solve the murder and avoid a one-way ticket to death row.
Flat-out funny with plenty of action and suspense, A Boatload is a thriller of a read. 
“The characters here are delicious, the plot tighter than the proverbial toad’s nether regions, the local color spot-on. To all who enjoy yarns and caper novels, Jack McCoul is waiting to entertain you and fleece you of that evening you thought you were going to spend watching TV or cleaning the attic.” – Richard B. Schwartz (Top 1000 Reviewer)
Grab a copy fast.

A Boatload (The Jack McCoul Mysteries)

Humor & Entertainment

Holing, Dwight

Humor

Jackdaw Press

Pure unadulterated fun mystery series set in San Francisco…Jack McCoul is not your typical private investigator.
“Loaded with one liners. Keeps the plot turning. Should earn the series a bevy of new fans.” – Kirkus Reviews
San Francisco’s favorite con artist turned private investigator Jack McCoul is trying to go legit by launching a high tech startup business. But then his past comes roaring back. A former partner-in-crime’s scheme to snatch a priceless statue from a Silicon Valley mogul drags Jack into a murder mystery and a sexy suspect’s life hangs in the balance. When hired killers come gunning for him, Jack must resort to his old skills to turn the tables. He rounds up a gang as quirky as the City by the Bay itself and it’s game on.
Humorous and action-packed with plenty of suspense, Bad Karma is a buckle-up and hold-on-tight thrill ride.
Grab a copy fast.

Bad Karma (The Jack McCoul Mysteries)

"A neo-noir mystery series that keeps getting better and better.""Fast and full-tilt."
El Niño brings more than long-awaited rain to San Francisco. An old flame shows up on con artist turned private investigator Jack McCoul's doorstep and trouble is not far behind. Sparks fly and a storm of murder and double cross forces Jack back into the game to protect the ones he loves from a dangerous swindler while cracking the secret of a missing child. This time Jack is playing for keeps.
Discover Jack McCoul's other capers
A BOATLOAD - "The characters here are delicious, the plot tighter than the proverbial toad's nether regions, the local color spot-on." - Amazon Five-Star Review
BAD KARMA - "Loaded with dishy one liners. Keeps the plot turning. Should earn the series a bevy of new fans." - Kirkus Reviews

Baby Blue (The Jack McCoul Mysteries)

Winner of the Selena McDonald Kennedy Fiction Award. Includes "Gallopers," which was awarded the Arts &amp; Letters Prize for Fiction.Meet the men and women who dwell on the far side of the California Dream: a war vet who rustles cactus near Palm Springs, a teenager living in the shadow of Disneyland about to be pulled into the draft, a Hollywood actress on the run from a violent past, a North Coast fisherman whose marriage founders when his son is lost at sea. Spare but lyrical, these beautiful tales of love, loss, and redemption, where place is as much a character as the people, take readers on an unforgettable journey along the deep river of the human spirit.

CALIFORNIA WORKS: Stories

Literature & Fiction

Dramas & Plays

"Shake City rocks and rolls.""Jack McCoul is the original disruptor."
The latest installment in the humorous and action-packed mystery series Kirkus Reviews calls Loaded with one liners. Keeps the plot turning.
As earthquakes threaten San Francisco, former con artist Jack McCoul must dodge killers and turn the tables on greedy developers and crooked politicians who will stop at nothing to sell the City's heart and soul to the highest bidder.

Shake City (The Jack McCoul Mysteries)

Sorrowful and funny tales of longing from the winner of the Arts & Letters Prize for Fiction. Adroit, wistful, and nuanced says Kirkus Reviews. Brims with humanity and humor.Moving from the heartbreaking to the humorous and back again, Dwight Holing takes readers on a provocative journey where people must reconcile desire and reality. These stories travel terrains both exotic and familiar -- from the beautiful savagery of Africa where a couple must contend with an unspoken truth to a woman fighting for a child in an orphanage to a wind farmer falling under the spell of an island's magic to a haunting carjacking. They explore the territory in our heart where the human spirit dwells while marveling at the natural world's ability to nourish our soul.

Over Our Heads Under Our Feet: Stories

Contemporary

For Vietnam veteran turned wildlife ranger Nick Drake, the war at home proves just as deadly. A contemporary western thriller.Harney County, Oregon, 1968: Nick Drake has a chest full of medals and enough demons to fill a duffle bag. He’s been trained to kill, but never retrained to rejoin society. Drake flees to the lonesome high desert in search of redemption and takes a job patrolling wildlife refuges where the only conflicts are keeping out stray cows and ticketing poachers. But then he stumbles across a girl’s body ritually placed in a gully. Her murder is only the beginning, and Drake must face humanity’s heart of darkness once again if he’s to stop a killer from turning even more gullies into graves.What Advance Copy readers are saying:<ul>
<li>Fits right alongside Craig Johnson, C.J. Box, and Nevada Barr.</li>
<li>I’m a huge fan of contemporary westerns married with a mystery. This nails it.</li>
<li>Nick Drake is wonderfully complex. His backstory in Vietnam is beautifully (and horrifically) described.</li>
<li>The supporting characters feel so real. The old lawman, Deputy Pudge Warbler, is as flinty and resolute as his pitiless territory.</li>
<li>I absolutely loved the Native American character, her language and myths.</li>
<li>Got it on Friday and finished it on Saturday. An amazing read.</li>
<li>Smart, thrilling, and action-packed.</li>
<li>The prose crackles like the high desert setting.</li>
<li>The descriptions of the natural surroundings put me right there. I could touch, smell, and hear it.</li>
</ul>

The Sorrow Hand (The Nick Drake Mysteries)

United States

Nick Drake returns in the thrilling sequel to The Sorrow Hand. A contemporary western. As war continues to rage in Vietnam, a former soldier seeks redemption as a game warden in a quiet land. But when a fighter pilot mysteriously plummets onto one of his refuges, Nick Drake is plunged into a deadly showdown with the military. He turns to the old ways of his Paiute neighbors to solve a vexing string of murders and bring justice to the pitiless high desert. Read as a standalone or as part of the series. Award-winning author Dwight Holing draws on his deeply rooted connection to the American West and understanding of the natural world to create a masterful story. With memorable characters and prose that crackles like the unforgiving setting, the suspense builds and drives The Pity Heart to a climax as powerful as a force of nature.

The Pity Heart (The Nick Drake Mysteries)

Nick Drake is back! A contemporary western thriller. It's 1969 and spring finally comes to the lonesome Oregon high desert after an especially bitter winter, but for every new beginning, something old must give way. Someone is poisoning wild horses and a vicious killer escapes from prison. A murder thrusts Vietnam veteran turned wildlife ranger Nick Drake into a desperate manhunt that turns into a fight for survival to protect those he holds dear. Spring quickly turns into a season of dying and life in Harney County will never be the same.
 Read as a standalone or as part of the series.
 Award-winning author Dwight Holing draws on his deep roots to the American West and understanding of the natural world to create a masterful story. With memorable characters and prose that crackles like the unforgiving setting, the suspense builds and drives The Shaming Eyes to a climax as powerful as a force of nature.
 Here's what readers are saying:
★★★★★ Wow! Simply, wow!
★★★★★ A touching, terrifying fast-moving thriller. ★★★★★ A real page-turner. ★★★★★ Characters you can believe in. ★★★★★ Holing has put together another masterful story. ★★★★★ Enjoyed the Native American mysticism and folklore.

The Shaming Eyes (The Nick Drake Mysteries)

This is the fourth installment in the Nick Drake mystery series, contemporary westerns set in Harney County, Oregon.The tumultuous 1960s are nearing their end, but trouble doubles down on Vietnam veteran turned wildlife ranger Nick Drake. A mysterious mother's six-year-old twins vanish while a pyromaniac goes on a rampage. As Nick Drake mounts a desperate search for the missing children, he must fight fire with fire when the arsonist targets the people and land he loves.

The Whisper Soul (The Nick Drake Mysteries)

See the best price to sell, buy or rent books by the Jackdaw Press publisher. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Jackdaw Press