About this item
2018 Shamus Award Finalist: A "tricky and delightfully surprising crime novel" set at the dawn of the digital age in San Francisco (Publishers Weekly) .Its 1997, and the dotcom boom is going strong in San Francisco. But ex-journalist and struggling alcoholic David "Itchy" Cranes fledgling "information consultancy" business is getting slowly buried by bad luck, bad decisions, and the growing presence of the Internet. Before he can completely self-destruct, a private investigator offers him fifty grand to find a missing girl named Ashley. Crane takes the job because the moneys right and because the only clue to her disappearance is a dead-on oil portrait of Crane himself - painted by the mysterious missing girl whom he has never met.As Cranes search for Ashley becomes an obsession, he stumbles upon a series of murders, for which he begins to fear hes being framed..."Spinelli deftly segues from one genre to another - from hard-boiled noir to paranoid thriller, puzzle mystery (with each and every riddle logically explained) , spy caper, and ultimately to something evocative of Bogart and Bacall. Spinelli is definitely a talent to watch." - Publishers Weekly"A neat little post-modern mash-up of Chandler and Hammett...[Spinellis] got wit and style up the wazoo." - Thrilling Detective "The Painted Gun is hardboiled like they dont make anymore. Whiplash twists, razor-sharp prose, an addictive narrative - I couldnt read it fast enough." - Rob Hart, author of The Warehouse
About the Author
Bradley Spinelli's latest novel is the noir The Painted Gun (Akashic 2017; "a talent to watch" -- Publishers Weekly) , nominated for the Private Eye Writers of America 2018 Shamus award for Best PI Paperback Original. His debut novel, Killing Williamsburg, ("sharp and stylish prose" --Publishers Weekly) launched with a live set by DJ Questlove and was excerpted in Sensitive Skin, Ampersand Review, and The Unbearables' 2017 anthology. He is the writer/director of the film #AnnieHall, ("fascinating" --Village Voice) Spinelli contributes to New York magazine's Bedford Bowery and has penned guest posts for Writer's Digest, Prose n Cons, and others. Under the name J.D. Oxblood, he co-founded the world-renowned burlesque magazine Burlesque Beat. More information is available at 13spinelli.com.
