The beginning of a love affair

I have been in love with noir fiction and movies since I was eleven, so when the opportunity came up to be a part of the Noir pax, there was no way I wasn't going to be one of the first five to volunteer.

It started innocently enough. Every summer, I used to go live with my aunt and uncle and help watch over my two young cousins for them. It was a win/win for all of us. They got a free babysitter, and I got three months of living an almost completely different life. Different house, different rules. They even lived in a different city, so in a lot of ways, it was almost like being on vacation. Well, except when my cousins would be brats. Or do something stupid like stick Life people pegs up their noses. Do you have any idea how hard those are to get out of a four-year-old's nostril?

Anyway, my uncle was a night owl. One night, I woke up from a bad dream and wandered out to the living room to find him in his recliner, watching a grainy black-and-white movie. After determining I was too scared to go back to bed, he let me curl up on the couch and watch the movie with him. The film was Double Indemnity (he had a real thing for Barbara Stanwyck, I also blame my love of westerns from watching so much of The Big Valley with him), and thus began my love affair.

My exposure to classic noir films was limited to the time I spent at their house and the odds of finding one on TV when nobody else cared about what we watched. But when I got to college, I took every class I could that was even remotely connected. Film history. The mystery/detective story as an American art form. An English course completely dedicated pulp fiction.

I love this genre, plain and simple. I love the darkness, the moral ambiguity, the questions it raises about what kind of person you really are compared to what people think you are. I'm proud to be a part of this collection.

In conjunction with my release, I'm offering a giveaway! Comment on this post and your name will be thrown into the hat for a collection of classic noir films on DVD. Specific details are at my blog.

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It was supposed to be simple. 

All struggling actor Carlo Baresi had to do was pick up a man in a taxi, drive him to the location he specified, then report where he’d taken him. The only problem is, the man isn’t who he claims to be...and they both know it.

Bookstore owner Joe Donnelly has a reputation for helping those in need, but this plan has been a bad one from the second he stepped in. Discovering someone has switched out the taxi driver is one more complication he doesn’t want, especially since Carlo is the kind of distraction that can get a man in serious trouble if he’s not careful.

But the men have something in common other than their mutual attraction. They’re both loose ends, struggling to find out what is really going on.

And murder is always complicated, even when you’re on the same side...

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Available now at Amber Allure.

If you'd like the chance to win the entire pax collection, just leave a comment on today's post. On Saturday, a winner will be picked at random from all the comments made this week on the blog. Comment on all five, and that's five chances to win!