I followed a trail that led from L.A. to Calexico on the Mexican border to Reno and back to L.A. But I found him. And he found me, or at least I think he did. I think he killed Baron to scare me and get me off his trail. We had our scuffle at the Griffith Observatory and now he won’t be going after any more young starlets or killing any dogs or anyone else.
Eventually I told Rita the truth about my involvement with The Weasel. My unwitting aid in helping him find her sister. She didn’t understand. She hated me at first, then the hate turned to indifference and she drifted out of my life and I haven’t been able to call her. Every time the phone rings there’s some faint hope that it might be her. But it never is. And every time I start to dial her, I hang up before punching in the last number.
So Susan Karubian’s jumping from the Hollywood Sign somehow stirred these memories. I looked out the window at the sun glinting off the magnolia leaves, trying to peer up into the hills. I could almost see the Hollywood Sign from here—if I was on the street in front of my house, I could for sure. After two years, the smoke from the riots had cleared from the air—not so the bad feelings. Today, the smoke was clearing above the sign or was it just the fog? And it dawned on me, Susan Karubian jumped from the sign at the height of golden hour. A magical time for some, especially if you’re making movies. Not so magical for Ms. Karubian. Nor for Teddie Matson. Golden hour is when she died too. Things happen at golden hour.
I stared down at the already-yellowing newspaper—definitely yellow, not golden. Oh yeah, I was famous alright.
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ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I’d like to thank Eric Campbell, the force behind Down & out Books, for giving White Heat new life and paving the way for its sequel, Broken Windows. I also want to thank Lance Wright of D&O for all his good work, and all the other folks at Down & Out. Also, my wife, Amy, for everything she does. She reads my stuff, helps edit it, and mostly just puts up with the life of a writer.
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Paul D. Marks has written three novels, co-edited two anthologies and written countless short stories. He’s won a Shamus Award, was voted #1 in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine’s 2016 Reader’s Choice Award and been nominated for Anthony and Macavity Awards. His story “Windward” was chosen for The Best American Mysteries of 2018. His short fiction has been published in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, Akashic’s Noir series (St. Louis), Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine, Crimestalker Casebook, Hardluck Stories, Hardboiled, and many others. Paul has served on the boards of the Los Angeles chapters of Sisters in Crime and Mystery Writers of America.
Visit his website at PaulDMarks.com.
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BOOKS BY PAUL D. MARKS
The Duke Rogers P.I. Thriller Series
White Heat
Broken Windows (*)
Vortex
L.A. Late @ Night
Anthologies as Co-Editor
Coast to Coast: Murder from Sea to Shining Sea
Coast to Coast: Private Eyes from Sea to Shining Sea
(*) Coming Soon
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THE DOWN & OUT BOOKS PUBLISHING FAMILY
LIBRARY OF TITLES
See DownAndOutBooks.com for a complete list
By J.L. Abramo
Catching Water in a Net
Clutching at Straws
Counting to Infinity
Gravesend
Chasing Charlie Chan
Circling the Runway
Brooklyn Justice
Coney Island Avenue
By Anonymous-9
Hard Bite
Bite Harder
By Jonathan Ashley
South of Cincinnati
The Cost of Doing Business
Out of Mercy (*)
By E.A. Aymar and Sarah M. Chen, editors
The Night of the Flood
By Patrick Shaun Bagley
Bitter Water Blues
By Trey R. Barker
2,000 Miles to Open Road
Road Gig: A Novella
Exit Blood
Death is Not Forever
No Harder Prison
When the Lonesome Dog Barks
By Richard Barre
The Innocents
Bearing Secrets
Christmas Stories
The Ghosts of Morning
Blackheart Highway
Burning Moon
Echo Bay
Lost
By Gray Basnight
Flight of the Fox (*)
By Jon Bassoff
Corrosion
Factory Town
The Disassembled Man
The Incurables
The Blade This Time
By Eric Beetner
Rumrunners
Leadfoot
The Devil Doesn’t Want Me
The Devil Comes To Call
The Devil at Your Door
By Eric Beetner (editor)
Unloaded
Unloaded 2 (*)
By Martin Bodenham
Shakedown
The Geneva Connection
Once a Killer (*)
By Gordon Brown
Falling
Falling Too
By Rob Brunet
Stinking Rich
By Milton T. Burton
Texas Noir
By Dana Cameron, editor
Murder at the Beach: Bouchercon Anthology 2014
By Eric Campbell, editor
Down, Out and Dead
By Stacey Cochran
Eddie & Sunny (TP only)
By Mark Coggins
No Hard Feelings
By Angel Luis Colón
No Happy Endings
Meat City on Fire (and Other Assorted Debacles)
Pull & Pray (*)
By Jen Conley
Cannibals and Other Stories
By Shawn Corridan and Gary Waid
Gitmo
By Matt Coyle, Mary Marks and Patricia Smiley, editors
LAst Resort
By Tom Crowley
Viper’s Tail
Murder in the Slaughterhouse
By Frank De Blase
Pine Box for a Pin-Up
Busted Valentines and Other Dark Delights
A Cougar’s Kiss
By Les Edgerton
The Genuine, Imitation, Plastic Kidnapping
Lagniappe
Just Like That
Monday’s Meal
By Nora Gaskin Esthimer, editor
Carolina Crimes: 21 Tales of Need, Greed and Dirty Deeds
By Max Everhart
Go Go Gato (*)
By A.C. Frieden
Tranquility Denied
The Serpent’s Game
The Pyongyang Option (*)
By Danny Gardner
A Negro and an Ofay
By Jack Getze
Big Numbers
Big Money
Big Mojo
Big Shoes
The Black Kachina
By Greg F. Gifune
Dangerous Boys
Saying Uncle (*)
By Keith Gilman
Bad Habits
By Richard Godwin
Wrong Crowd
Buffalo and Sour Mash
Crystal on Electric Acetate
We Take What Fathers We Can (*)
By William Hastings, editor
Stray Dogs: Writing from the Other America
By J.J. Hensley
Bolt Action Remedy
By Greg Herren, editor
Blood on the Bayou: Bouchercon Anthology 2016
By Jeffery Hess
Beachhead
Cold War Canoe Club
Tushhog
By Matt Hilton
No Going Back
Rules of Honor
The Lawless Kind
The Devil’s Anvil
No Safe Place
By Naomi Hirahara, Kate Thornton and Jeri Westerson, editors
LAdies’ Night
&n
bsp; By Terry Holland
An Ice Cold Paradise
Chicago Shiver
By Darrel James, Linda O. Johnston and Tammy Kaehler, editors
Last Exit to Murder
By David Housewright and Renée Valois
The Devil and the Diva
By David Housewright
Finders Keepers
Full House
By Beau Johnson
A Better Kind of Hate
By Jon Jordan
Interrogations
By Jon and Ruth Jordan, editors
Murder and Mayhem in Muskego
Cooking with Crimespree
By Lawrence Kelter
Back to Brooklyn
My Cousin Vinny
By Lawrence Kelter (editor)
The Black Car Business Volume 1
By Lawrence Kelter and Frank Zafiro
The Last Collar
By Jerry Kennealy
Screen Test
Polo’s Long Shot
Dirty Who? (*)
By Dana King
Worst Enemies
Grind Joint
Resurrection Mall
Bad Samaritan
By Ed Kurtz
Nothing You Can Do
By Ross Klavan, Tim O’Mara and Charles Salzberg
Triple Shot
By JB Kohl and Eric Beetner
Over Their Heads
By S.W. Lauden
Crosswise
Crossed Bones
By Dan and Kate Malmon, editors
Killing Malmon
By Paul D. Marks
White Heat
By Andrew McAleer and Paul D. Marks, editors
Coast to Coast
Coast to Coast 2
By Terrence McCauley
The Devil Dogs of Belleau Wood
The Bank Heist, editor (*)
By John McFetridge, editor
Passport to Murder: Bouchercon Anthology 2017
By Daniel M. Mendoza, editor
Stray Dogs: Interviews with Working-Class Writers
By Marietta Miles
May
By Bill Moody
Czechmate: The Spy Who Played Jazz
The Man in Red Square
Solo Hand
The Death of a Tenor Man
The Sound of the Trumpet
Bird Lives!
Mood Swings (TP only)
By Warren Moore
Broken Glass Waltzes
By Andrew Nette
Gunshine State
By Gerald M. O’Connor
The Origins of Benjamin Hackett
By Marcus Pelegrimas
Blind Eye
By Gary Phillips
The Perpetrators
Scoundrels: Tales of Greed, Murder and Financial Crimes (editor)
Treacherous: Grifters, Ruffians and Killers
3 the Hard Way
By Gary Phillips, Tony Chavira, Manoel Magalhães and Bryan Lee
Beat L.A. (Graphic Novel)
By Tom Pitts
Hustle
American Static
By Thomas Pluck
Bad Boy Boogie
Life During Wartime
By Michael Pool
Texas Two-Step
By Robert J. Randisi
Upon My Soul
Souls of the Dead
Envy the Dead
By Rob Riley
Thin Blue Line
By Charles Salzberg
Devil in the Hole
Swann’s Last Song
Swann Dives In
Swann’s Lake of Despair
Swann’s Way Out
Second Story Man
By Scott Loring Sanders
Shooting Creek and Other Stories
By Linda Sands
3 Women Walk Into a Bar (TP only)
Grand Theft Cargo
Precious Cargo
By Ryan Sayles
The Subtle Art of Brutality
Warpath
Let Me Put My Stories In You
Albatross
By John Shepphird
The Shill
Kill the Shill
Beware the Shill
By Nathan Singer
Blackchurch Furnace
By Anthony Neil Smith
Yellow Medicine
Hogdoggin’
The Baddest Ass
Holy Death
All the Young Warriors
Once a Warrior
Worm
Psychosomatic
The Drummer
Choke on Your Lies
XXX Shamus
By Liam Sweeny
Welcome Back, Jack
By Art Taylor, editor
Murder Under the Oaks: Bouchercon Anthology 2015
By Ian Truman
Grand Trunk and Shearer
By James Ray Tuck, editor
Mama Tried 1
Mama Tried 2 (*)
By Nathan Walpow
The Logan Triad
One Last Hit
The Manipulated (*)
By Lono Waiwaiole
Wiley’s Lament
Wiley’s Shuffle
Wiley’s Refrain
Dark Paradise
Leon’s Legacy
By George Williams
Inferno and Other Stories
Zoë
The Selected Letters of the Late Biagio Serafim Sciarra
By TG Wolff
Exacting Justice
By Frank Zafiro and Eric Beetner
The Backlist
The Short List
By Frank Zafiro and Jim Wilsky
Blood on Blood
Queen of Diamonds (*)
Down & Out: The Magazine
Volume 1 Issue 1: Reed Farrel Coleman (featured author)
Volume 1 Issue 2: Bill Crider (featured author)
Volume 1 Issue 3: Barry Lancet (featured author)
Published by ABC Group Documentation, an imprint of Down & Out Books
By Alec Cizak
Down on the Street
Breaking Glass (*)
By Grant Jerkins
Abnormal Man
A Scholar of Pain
By Robert Leland Taylor
Through the Ant Farm
Published by All Due Respect, an imprint of Down & Out Books
By Greg Barth
Selena: Book One
Diesel Therapy: Selena Book Two
Suicide Lounge: Selena Book Three
Road Carnage: Selena Book Four
Everglade: Selena Book Five
By Eric Beetner
Nine Toes in the Grave
By Phil Beloin Jr.
Revenge is a Redhead
By Math Bird
Histories of the Dead and Other Stories
By Paul D Brazill
The Last Laugh: Crime Stories
Last Year’s Man (*)
By Sarah M. Chen
Cleaning Up Finn
By Alec Cizak
Crooked Roads: Crime Stories
Manifesto Destination
By Pablo D’Stair and Chris Rhatigan
You Don’t Exist
By C.S. DeWildt
Kill ’Em with Kindness
Love You to a Pulp
By Paul Greenberg
Dead Guy in the Bathtub: Stories
By Paul Heatley
FatBoy
By Jake Hinkson
The Deepening Shade
By Preston Lang
The Sin Tax
Sunk Costs
By Marietta Miles
Route 12
By Mike Miner
Prodigal Sons
By Mike Monson
A Killer’s Love
Criminal Love and Other Stories
Tussinland
What Happens in Reno
By Chris Orlet
A Taste of Shotgun (*)
By Matt Phillips
Three Kinds of Fool
Accidental Outlaws
By Rob Pierce
The Things I Love Will Kill Me Yet: Stories
Uncle Dust
Vern in the Heat
With the Right Enemies
By Michael Pool
Debt Crusher
By Chris Rhatigan
Race to the Bottom
Squeeze
The Kind of Friends Who Murder Each Other
By Ryan Sayles
I’m Not Happy ’til You’re Not Happy: Crime Stories
By Ryan Sayles and Chris Rhatigan
Two Bullets Solve Everything
By Daniel Vlasaty
A New and Different Kind of Pain
Only Bones
White Heat Page 28
