Johnny Delarosa

The first one’s called Auburn Ride. The second’s called Toxic Blonde. I’m betting number three (coming soon) will be Bodacious Brunette.

According to my creative writing teacher, referring to women by their hair colour is considered a major faux pas these days; a throwback to a less enlightened and politically incorrect time, but I’m not sure the author, David Stever, got that memo. Or that his target audience will give a flying fuck.

That’s because the series, featuring  Port City private eye JOHNNY DELAROSA is something of a throwback itself — an unapologetic and deliberate riff on Marlowe, Spade, Hammer and every other private dick of “days gone by” you could think of.

Pick a trope, this series has it, be it a tough ex-cop turned private eye, wise-cracky first person narration, sexy clients who strut into detective offices, mobsters who are not amused, an ex-cop partner (Mike McNally), a feisty young assistant (Katie), Feds with an agenda of their own, missing millions, compromising photos, dirty secrets and enough plot twists and turns to keep readers hooked. They all work out of McNally’s Irish Pub, which Johnny and Mike happen to co-own, and where Katie occasionally works as a waitress.

Have we missed anything?

David Stever is a white-haired novelist, screenwriter, and film producer, and a proud member of the Private Eye Writers of America, the International Thriller Writers, and the Maryland Writers Association. Originally from Tyrone, Pennsylvania, he lives in Columbia, Maryland with his wife and family.

MEA CULPA! I GUESSED WRONG

Turns out the third Johnny Delarosa wasn’t called Bodacious Brunette after all. It was called Scarlet Fever (and of course featured a red-headed babe on the cover), and it came out in 2019.

UNDER OATH

• “… a wink and a nod to the hard-boiled detective of a Chandleresque style and offers up a great adventure yarn and a stay-ahead-of-the-competition thriller.”
  —  Mark P. Sadle , Suspense Magazine on Auburn Ride

NOVELS