The Discount Detectives

By Ben Unglesbee

Part caper crime, part screwball comedy and part political satire, The Detectives Discount is a quirky spin on the detective novel.

Ted Shackelford is not your typical literary detective. He's neither super-tough like Philip Marlow super-smart like Sherlock Holmes nor. He's a screw-up, the bungler. But he's trying his hardest.

After being laid off from his job as a department store security guard, Ted stumbles into a job as a private investigator at the obscure Discount Investigations Agency. He's hired by chief investigator Ray Loveburn, who has a sketchy past, scruples few and far more confidence than common sense.

Soon after joining the agency, Ted is assigned to the Space Inc. case, and from there on his life is taken over by alter egos, shady characters, complicated financial schemes, rich wannabe astronauts, leering politicians, angry Tea Partiers and the vagabond prophet of economic doom. Run by industrial tycoon and political libertarian O.P. Good, Space Inc. has grand aspirations but there is little evidence That It Is Actually building a rocket. Despite a series of disguises and fake identities, Ted and Ray get nowhere on the case. Meanwhile, Ted is Also trying to find clues about the mysterious financial bet Placed against the U.S. government's credit standing, made urgent by the showdown in Congress over the country's budget. Soon Ted is thrust into a role he does not feel at all equipped for: Trying to save the world suddenly on the brink of economic collapse.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0997806206
• ISBN13: 9780997806205
• Release Date: August 2016
• Publisher: Open Books Publishing (UK)
• Length: 222 Pages
• Weight: 1.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.0" x 8.0"