PAUL SAW the old lady sitting at her usual table in the Bayswater Biscuits Café as he came back from the store to fetch some last-minute travel utilities. As every Sunday, she had fastened a pill-box-shaped hat in her thin, white hair, had put on a costume that had been modern in the early seventies, and nibbled one of the humongous pieces of cake that made the Biscuits Café what it was. Sitting alone. As usual.
He walked right past the Café, but he'd only gone about ten yards when he stopped and considered. Trouble, you shot so many people last week, and now you chicken out from this social experiment in normality to chat with an old lady from next door?
Well, she was armed with a fork. And a mouth.
Trouble, you survived Afghanistan, Guatemala, and Prague. Especially Prague. Admit it: You are a chicken. Chicken, chicken, chicken, his inner self mocked him. She could be deaf as Beethoven, which would go along fine with Paul's aversion to small talk.
Chi-cken!
And she was sitting in the middle of the Café, in clear line of gun fire or bomb blast radius from the front window.
Trouble, this is beyond chicken. This is pathological!
"Screw it, awkward is the new normal. Let's meet an old lady," Paul said aloud. A passing young mother pushing a pram gave him a curious glance. "Just building up courage for a blind date," Paul explained to her.
He turned around and went into the Café.
But not without scanning the parked cars and opposite windows for threats.
*****
Dear reader,
Like TV hero Leroy Jethro Gibbs, I have some simple rules to live, read, and write by. One of my book reading rules is: "If it doesn't catch you by page 50, throw it away."
You made it this far, so I assume I caught you. I truly feel honored that you felt that this book was worth the hours of your life that you spent reading or thinking about it.
Feel free to check out your preferred online book seller for the two other adventures of Paul Trouble: Troubleseeker and Troublemaker! Available as ebooks and paperback. And of course, all my other books: www.alexames.net/books
As I am not a full-time author, I cannot promise when another Paul Trouble adventure will appear on Amazon or other book marketplaces. All I can tell you at this point is that a next novel will come, but is "in the pipeline" behind my second Calendar Moonstone mystery and my first attempt at a sort of anti-hero novel (think: Dexter meets peaceful country life). To shorten the wait, please check out my first Calendar Moonstone mystery A Brilliant Plan. It is a slightly different setting but hopefully also a good read for you, assuming you make it past page 50.
In any case, please rate the and leave a comment—and, of course, spread the word.
Alex Ames, Fall 2013
YOU ARE READING
Troubleshooter
Mystery / ThrillerAll he wanted was a regular job... Paul Trouble may not hold the most exciting job in the world as a pencil pusher and finance controller in Strom Industries' Mergers and Acquisitions department. But for the former elite soldier and CIA spy, still m...
