It has been many years since PWA put out an anthology and, as you can tell by the title, this time they went with a theme: private eyes and sex. Some qualify as erotica, some not so much.
Mr. Fitzgerald's is my favorite so far. Notice the title of the story? The first line is: No, you don't.
Tex Texeira is a private eye and one of his clients is an adult magazine. He checks out potential centerfolds for them, making sure they have no outstanding warrants and at least eighteen orbits of the sun.
Some of his friends think this is a great job, hence the title. Tex is not so sure. He spends most of his time doing background checks, not so much with the potential models, whom he is forbidden to get involved with, anyway.
The latest candidate is Dulce Nunes, but it looks like she may not be interested. It appears that her mother got a couple of naked photographs of Dulce and sent them to the magazine. Here's the loving mama: "Dulce's strong-willed. She won't say what she doesn't want to say, but expects you to listen to whatever it is that she wants to say when she wants to say it. Make a great husband for someone, that girl."
Dulce has disappeared, and her past has some definite shadows. When Tex tries to investigate he gets beaten up by four bikers. Is she a damsel in distress or is something else going on?
A solid, witty, private eye story.
Love the anthology title!
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