Created by Christopher Mills
From Stephen King country comes thirty-something (“Too young to be called a baby boomer and too old for Generation X”) private eye MATTHEW AARON DAIN. Matt walks the not-so-mean streets of Portland, Maine, although his work (and his personal life, such as it is) takes him all over the Pine Tree State and much of northern New England.
Returning to Maine following a short stint in the Army as an MP, Dain accidentally drifted into PI work after trying his hand at a series of “odd jobs” — repo man, skip tracer, security guard, and bouncer. Finally, a nagging fear of the IRS drove him to find something to put on his tax form under “occupation,” so he decided to get himself a private investigator’s license. Of course, even with that state-issued piece of paper in his wallet, he’s still doing the same sort of odd jobs.
Just shy of six feet tall, with dark brown hair and a “somewhat satanic” goatee, Dain drives the vintage red Mustang covertible that belonged to his late father. When working, he carries a 9mm Browning Hi-Power automatic pistol. He’s single, doesn’t smoke, drinks light beer, plays guitar (badly), listens to blues music, and should probably cut back on the fast-food cheeseburgers and have a salad once in a while.
THE EDITOR PUTS IN HIS TWO CENTS
Dain has appeared in only two short stories to date, published on this site, in fact, back when we were just starting out, but as long as people keep asking for them, author Mills assured us he would keep writing them. But somehow, a third Matthew Dain story never quite happened. Mills got sidetracked and went back to his one true love: comics! He created and edited the short-lived illustrated crime fiction magazine, Noir, and was responsible fora slew of memorable characters, including supernatural private eye Gideon King, (a.k.a. The Nightmark), costumed crime fighter Femme Noir, hard-boiled gumshoe Rusty Nales and has worked with Mickey Spillane, Max Allan Collins, Ed Gorman and a host of other notable mystery writers on such comic book projects as Mike Danger, Lady Justice, The Detectives and Mike Mauser. His latest project is the scheduled 2019 reincarnation of Spillane’s very first private eye, Mike Lancer, set for 2019.
Looks like we’re gonna have to wait a bit longer for “Matthew Dain #3″…
UNDER OATH
- “You ask me, these are some of the best stories we’ve ever run on this site. So, enough with the fake covers, Chris. Write some more damn stories!”
— Kevin Burton Smith
SHORT STORIES
- “Hit And Run” (October 1998, Thrilling Detective Web Site)
- “Slightly Tarnished Armor” (May 1999, Thrilling Detective Web Site)
Character bio and faux cover respectfully submitted by Chris Mills.
