Created by Frank Zafiro
STEFAN KOPRIVA is yet another disgraced ex-cop (pills, booze and a “terrible mistake” that ended with a dead six-year-old) turned low-rent private peeper, guilt-ridden and seeking redemption.
Stef’s been at it for ten years when we first hook up with him in the series debut, Waist Deep (2011), and he’s still at it, battling a bad shoulder, a bum knee and assorted demons, seeking some kind—any kind—of redemption on his long, slow climb to recovery. Doesn’t help, though, that he still hasn’t got his P.I. license, or that he’s not exactly on the wagon, still popping painkillers and displaying a weakness for Canadian beer.
We’ve seen all this before, but the books do get better as the series progresses, and there’s something sort of reassuring in the way the author, who’s cranked out over forty books (so far) swaddles everything in a familiarly comfy blanket of noirish despair while still trying to give us something new.
The mean streets this time are in relatively small burg of River City, Washington (big enough to have its own semi-pro hockey team, but just). The place is also big enough to have a suitable supply of pimps, prostitutes, gangsters, thugs, dealers, crooked cops and corrupt politicians, which is handy, because the author uses the same setting for his other series. The River City books feature an ensemble cast of police officers, and the SpoCompton series stars a rotating cast of criminals.
The author assures us, though, that “all of the Stefan Kopriva Mysteries are set in the River City Universe, and are canon.”
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Frank Zafiro has worked in Military Intelligence as a Czechoslovak linguist, and as a Spokane, Washington police officer, serving as a patrol officer, a detective and a commander, in charge of patrol officers, investigators, K-9 officers (and their dogs!), and the SWAT team. But now he writes “gritty crime fiction from both sides of the badge.” He’s also responsible for not-so-gritty private eye Stanley Melvin. His storytelling creed is “The good guys usually win… but not always, and never without a cost.”
UNDER OATH
- “Waist Deep is a hard-hitting story of a flawed hero trying to exorcise his demons. The subject matter explores dark moral territory, it’s arguably not horribly shocking compared to certain real life situations taking place today. Further, in the best hardboiled tradition, finding the truth involves unearthing the scum from beneath the veneer of respectability.”
— Debbi Mack
NOVELS
- Waist Deep (2011) | Buy this book | Buy the audio | Kindle it!
- Lovely, Dark and Deep (2012) | Buy this book | Buy the audio | Kindle it!
- Friend of the Departed (2015) | Buy this book | Buy the audio | Kindle it!
- Hope Dies Last (2023) | Buy this book | Kindle it!
- Think of Laura (2024) | Buy this book | Kindle it!
Respectfully submitted by Kevin Burton Smith.
