Created by Marshall Thornton
Young, bookish LEWIS WAIT finds himself a reluctant operative for the legendary Pinkerton National Detective Agency. He didn’t really want the job — he considers the agency merely “a band of thugs and strikebreakers” — but when financial hardship hit the family after the death of his father and brother, he had to find employment somewhere. Fortunately, he had an in of sorts— his late father also worked for the Pinks.
So… anything to keep the wolf from the door, right?
But Lewis isn’t anyone’s idea of an op. He’s more fop than op, small of stature and something of a nerd. He’s become a stout believer and student of the “science” of physiognomy, which seeks to determine the criminal proclivities of a person based on their looks — particularly their face, and would much rather be continuing his studies, now postponed, into that field. There’s an irony there, however — Lewis worries that his own face may betray him, and reveal his big secret — that he’s gay as a May pole and deep in the closet. In the rough and tumble world of 1913 Chicago, that’s not going to go over well with anyone, much less his new employers.
Or his overbearing but oblivious mother, whom he lives with and who keeps hoping to find a suitable wife for her son.
In the 2026 series debut, The Pink (Get it?), Lewis’s charged with investigating a death in the blue collar district of Packingtown, on behalf of an insurance company that hopes to find grounds to deny the claim. But much to his surprise, Lewis discovers he may have a knack for detective work after all.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Marshall Thornton writes several popular mystery series, most notably the Pinx Video Mysteries and the Boystown Mysteries featuring Nick Nowak, a 1980s AIDS-era tough guy private eye. He has won the Lambda Award for Gay Mystery three times, and holds an MFA in Screenwriting from UCLA.
NOVELS
- The Pink (2026 | Buy this book | Kindle it!
FURTHER INVESTIGATION
- A Queer Eye for the New Eyes
A 2013 Essay by Josh Lanyon.
Respectfully submitted by Kevin Burton Smith.
