Today I am featuring book two of the Damien Dickens Mysteries: The White Russian Caper.
All month long I’ve been recommending to you the Damien Dickens Mysteries series by author Phyllis Entis.
You may recall that Damien & Millie Dickens, Private Investigators, are following in the great tradition of Agatha Christie’s Tommy & Tuppence Beresford and Dashiell Hammett’s Nick & Nora Charles.
The Dickens Detective Agency is headquartered in 1980s Atlantic City, but Damien and Millie’s cases take them from Montreal to Miami. Settings are authentic, plots are twisted, and the action moves forward at a steady pace.
Enjoy this excerpt from Chapter One of book two in the series: The White Russian Caper.
I was on my way out the door when the call came in. Millie already had left for the day; I covered the distance to her desk in two long strides and grabbed for the telephone. “Dickens Detective Agency,” I announced.
“Is this Mr. Dickens? Mr. Damien Dickens?”
The voice in my ear was vaguely familiar. “Yes,” I replied, “this is Dickens.”
“Oh, Mr. Dickens,” the soft male voice exhaled, “thank heavens! I didn’t know whom to call. Then I remembered your visit last year to my establishment. I require your assistance.”
“Who is this?” I interrupted.
“Why, it’s Stephane.” He paused, waiting for my reaction. “Stephane Major, n’est ce pas? Do you not remember me?
I recognized the voice then. It belonged to the General Manager of Boardwalk Hall, the venue of The Miss America Pageant – Atlantic City’s crown jewel. I had met the fussbudgety Mr. Major about six months before, when I was investigating the murder of Celine Sutherland. “Yes,” I acknowledged, though not without some reluctance, “I remember you, Mr. Major.”
“Oh, thank heavens.” I could almost see his hand fluttering against his chest. “Oh, I don’t know what to do. I need your help, Mr. Dickens. It’s about Miss America, n’est ce pas?”
“What about Miss America?”
“She’s missing.”
Contact author Phyllis Entis:
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Phyllis Entis is a free-lance writer and retired food safety microbiologist with degrees from McGill University and the University of Toronto. She is also the author of a non-fiction book, Food Safety: Old Habits, New Perspectives.
Phyllis lives in Carmel-by-the-Sea, California with her husband and their Australian Cobberdog, Shalom.
Author_Iris_Chacon 
Thank you for featuring The White Russian Caper today, Iris.
I’m very fond of this one, as it contains some snippets of my family’s history (fictionalized, of course).
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