Junk Feed, by Mark Stevens

 

"Junk Feed," by Mark Stevens, in Denver Noir, edited by Cynthia Swanson, Akashic Press, 2022.

The publisher sent me a free copy of this book.

A private eye story with a twist.  Wayne Furlong became a P.I. because he got laid off from his previous work as a newspaper restaurant critic.  Since he wrote under a pseudonym no one knows that he was the guy who wrote those vicious critiques - including his current client,  a hotel manager whose restaurant still hasn't recovered.

But the problem she hires him to deal with took place many floors above the dubious charms of the food shop.  A marketing guru had been decapitated in a hotel room a year ago and the crime had not been solved.  The manager hoped that if the killer is caught the bad attention, in the form of reporters and podcasters, would blessedly retreat.

Furlong approaches the problem with the exquisite eye for detail of an experienced food critic, and that is what makes the story unique.