Declan Shaw

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Created by M.E. Proctor
Pseudonym of Martine Proctor

in Love You Till Tuesday (2024), a promising series  debut, we meet Houston private eye DECLAN SHAW, who’s blessed (or is it cursed?) with movie star good looks and a solid rep. He doesn’t like guns, but he doesn’t have to. He’s dogged, determined and good at his job.

He and his associate, Moira Perkins, are the entire team at Shaw Investigations, located in his top floor loft in an old warehouse. He handles the legwork, she runs the office and does background research. They have some good connections in places of power, and they even have a decent rep with the local cops, mostly because they try to steer clear of police business.

But Declan’s also just a guy. He smokes cheroots, drives a truck and wears cowboy boots, but he doesn’t do the hat. Likes jazz, likes going out and catching some live music now and then.

Which is how he hooks up with April Easton, an up-and-coming jazz singer working the clubs. They spend the night together, but he bails early. Has a early Zoom call he has to make. Leaves her sleeping. Leaves a note.

None of which helps Declan when her body, raped and with her throat cut, is discovered by the housekeeper a few days later. Steve “Wham Bam Rob” Robledo of Houston Homicide doesn’t think Declan is the killer, but everything from the note to security cameras and DNA evidence so far points to the private eye.

Shaw and Robledo team up reluctantly to crack the case. For the cop, the clock is ticking—a few more days and he’ll have other cases. But for Declan, it’s personal—after all, he slept with the woman.

Was it a serial killer? Or something else? Certainly, there are a lot of people with an interest in the case, from a rival P.I. with far less scruples than Declan to some truly powerful and dangerous folks who are more than a little concerned about where the case may lead.

Especially with Declan poking around.

And he continues to poke around in the multiple POV, shape-shifting prequel, Catch Me on a Blue Day (2025), wherein we find Declan in Connecticut, far from his regular Texas stomping grounds, looking into an old friend’s apparent suicide, narrated this time by three different women.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Born in Brussels and living in Livingston, Texas, Martine “M.E.” Proctor is a Derringer Award nominee whose work gets around. It has appeared in various anthologies and magazines, including Vautrin, Bristol Noir, Pulp Modern, Mystery Tribune, Reckon Review, Thriller Magazine, Black Cat Weekly, and Shotgun Honey. She’s also the author of the sci-fi The Savage Crown Series, and her short story collection, Family and Other Ailments (Crime Stories Close to Home) was published in 2023. She’s also writes the Harry McLean series of short stories, about a laid-back Texas private eye, and is the co-author of, with Russell Thayer, of Bop City Swing, featuring San Francisco homicide dick, Tom Keegan. you can find 

UNDER OATH

  • “Beautifully written and crafted, Love You Till Tuesday weaves a story akin to a complex jazz rhythm. At the center, a compelling P.I. named Declan Shaw supplies the beat. Proctor’s work sings with authenticity and grit.”
    — Craig Terlson
  • “M.E. Proctor is going to be the next BIG name in crime fiction. Her writing is intelligent, exciting, cool and slick as hell.”
    — Punk Noir Magazine
  • “In a crime fiction universe overcrowded with cookie-cutter detectives, M.E. Proctor’s Love You Till Tuesday shows how to breathe originality into an investigation of the seamy underside. You won’t easily forget P.I. Declan Shaw’s witty, often dark pursuit of a killer.”
    — Nick Kolakowski

NOVELS

FURTHER INVESTIGATION

Respectfully submitted by Kevin Burton Smith.

Published

3 thoughts on “Declan Shaw”

  2. “Love You Till Tuesday” looks like a thrilling new series, and I can’t wait to see how Declan Shaw navigates the challenges of being a private eye without the typical reliance on guns.

    Reply

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