Edie

He's a loner, 35 in '85, which any Boomer knows was about ten minutes ago yesterday. One thing he has, besides a penchant for bad habits and intoxicating women, is time, and he's inclined to invest it in others. Especially if there's a return on investment.

"She was a throwback to older times. Her hair was blond, strewn with streaks of tan and gray, and it was probably longer than it should have been. It tucked in a wave against broad, padded shoulders, and the effect gave her a look of experience. Her hips clipped to the assured gait of a woman wiser than most. Her dress clung sweet; her waist trimmed narrow. I didn't mind seeing her, and she didn't mind being seen."

And so begins Peter MacAlister's adventure with Edie, who seeks his help recovering a lost inheritance. Peter's a reporter by day, covers the grimy streets of his small city on New England's South Coast. And he'll bite at any chance to change it up - whether it's slipping out of the newsroom for chili and beer at Danny Shaunnisey's, hunching over a couple of bourbons at Eddy's Café, or partnering with his pal, aging attorney Mory Wilbur, as they help others who have nowhere else to turn.

So, hop into Peter's old Volvo 240 with him and Edie as they steer off into an adventure they never expected toward a fate neither could have imagined. Trigger-happy, drug-peddling gang members, nouveau mobsters, and holed up society dropouts are among the characters they encounter and contend with on their mission to claim what's rightfully hers. And his piece of the pie.

"Edie" is the first novel in the New England-based Peter MacAlister Mystery series. Book two, "Monique," is right behind, and others are in development. Get your Peter MacAlister Mystery novels exclusively on Amazon.com.

Septuagenarian Scott C. Smith is the author of the farcical, warm action series THE LGBT SUPERHEROES! Books I-III, also available exclusively on Amazon.com.