The Story Box

The Jack Stories, #1

n a city full of superheroes there is only one man interested in balancing the scales of justice: Private Detective Jack Story. If you enjoy detectives, dames, and superheroes who try to commit murder, you'll love the world of Jack Story. 

It's a world Inspired by the works of Raymond Chandler, Dashiell Hammett, and Ross Macdonald, Alan Moore, and Frank Millar. Jack Story is a hard-boiled private detective who's seen too many crooked cops, incompetent mayors, and criminal superheroes to believe in much of anything anymore. He tries to keep to himself behind the frosted glass door of his office/apartment, but trouble likes to come looking for him. Trouble that is usually wrapped in a pencil skirt and wearing a pretty smile. 

The Story Box is the collected first three novellas of the Jack Story series containing: The Czar's Egg (book 1), The Trouble in Tights (book 2), and The Ivory Ring (book 3).

In The Czar's Egg, Jack is in a race to find a bejeweled egg that grants the holder anything they can imaging- for a price. Can he find a killer before the killer gets their hand on a magical artifact that can grant ultimate power? 

In The Trouble in Tights, Jack is hired by one of the world's most powerful superheroes to find a missing Ward. Jack finds the kid easy enough, but the kid doesn't want to go back home. Not without a huge payday, anyway. If Jack can survive an Archnemesis and her talking gorilla henchman, can he survive telling his client the kid doesn't want to come home? 

The Ivory Ring: A ring has gone missing. Not just any ring, but one carved from ancient ivory that can grant its wielder untold power. Jack is hired by the son of a retired supervillain to find that ring and get it back to its heroic owner before the world finds out. But someone else knows. The trail of bodies leads Jack to the one place he never thought he'd have to go. 

Reviews: 

5 star: "I really enjoyed this book and look forward to more. It's a clever noir-voiced book that takes your average dick and introduces him in a world where superheroes are de rigeur." 

4 star: "Fun read. Enjoyed it. The 'super hero' aspects seemed tacked on. Reminded me a bit of The Black Cape Case Files.
Short tale. Paid 99 cents and it was a better read than stuff I've paid much more for." 

5 star: "In the best tradition of genre mashups, a hefty dose of detective noir set in the seamy underbelly of superhero mythology"

5 star: "It's not what I expected - it's better."