Unlucky Money by Timothy J. Lockhart

Wendy Lu is a newly licensed PI. While born in China, her family came to the US when she was a baby. The family (plus a brother and sister) set up in the Tidewater area (Va Beach, Norfolk, Naval base, et al.). She bucked family tradition and expectations by joining the Navy after high school, then went to college and earned a degree in criminal justice. That helped her get a job with the Virginia Beach PD where she was a solid rookie cop. But she got involved with another cop who was separated from his spouse. On an assignment, she was paired with her paramour and made a rookie mistake that got him killed. She left the force out of her guilt, shame, and the whispers of the other cops. It's been a year and she still bears the scars of her actions. She liked the work but couldn’t continue as a cop. Marcus, another former policeman, owns a PI agency and hired her where she was doing a lot of surveillance on cheating spouses and insurance scams.

McKenna and Fontaine is a reasonably successful and respected real estate developer in the area. They are courting some Japanese investors for probably their largest property to date. But Whit Fontaine isn’t as eager about the project as is his partner, Tom. At a business dinner, Whit gets tanked, argues with Tom and storms out to drive home. Upon arrival, he bursts in the house leaving the front door open to find his wife, Sarah, dead on the floor, 2 gunshot wounds to the chest, and he blacks out. Neighbors see the door open late at night and call the police. The find the wife and Whit on the floor with Whit’s gun lying near his hand. Pretty obvious. Cut and dried case of domestic murder. Whit’s lawyers hire Marcus’ firm to ask questions of anyone connected to see if there might be anything that could cast doubt into Whit’s guilt. Marcus assigns Wendy to the case - her first real case.

Wendy’s steps are pretty by the book. Talk with Whit’s business partners and some employees. Talk with Sarah’s friends (the marriage wasn’t going well. Both were having affairs). Keep checking in with the police, Whit’s attorneys, and Marcus. Delicately interview recent dalliances of each. Try to find out what she can about this new project and the investors. For the most part, she finds nothing to indicate that Whit didn’t pull the trigger. Her first big assignment is coming up empty. Looking like she’ll be back on the surveillance circuit

Until . . . an offhand observation by a waitress jiggles her memory to take a closer look at the project.

The good folks at Stark House press sent me the ARC that is due to be published in February 2022. I always say to pay attention to the publisher. Stark House is an independent publisher of mostly crime and fantasy/horror books. I think they even will reprint earlier books for contemporary readers. I do know they publish MRB fav Charlie Stella, so that’s the connection. I’ve received a few books from them in the past. From what I’ve seen, Stark House seems to publish modern pulp fiction. Now I don’t know how to define ‘pulp fiction’ (and no, it’s not the movie of the same name), but I guess I’d say that many of the titles I’m aware of from Stark House would meet my expectation. Pulp novels tend to be short and direct with little frills and fluff. Unlucky Money checks all the boxes.

Now that doesn’t make pulp a 2^nd class citizen. Heck, in the early to mid 1900s, pulp novels were flying off the shelves. Lockhart’s style is bare bones narrative. Just the facts in a linear investigation. He does present sufficient background for Wendy Lu, enough to suggest that Lockhart will be returning to her in the future. And I’m thinking future Wendy Lu books will be quite interesting, especially if Lockhart digs into her family history back in China.