This Rancid Mill: An Alex Damage Novel

Description

With his blue mohawk and ragged leather jacket, Alex Damage fits in to only a small pocket of 1981 Los Angeles: the dynamic, changing punk scene. In this world, he survives on favors and reputation as a small-time private investigator, but when a young woman hires him to solve the potential murder of the singer of one of his favorite local bands, everything in his life amps up. As he digs deeper into what really happened, Alex must both seek out and dodge an endless array of dangerously powerful drug dealers, aging porn stars, crooked cops, neo-Nazi skinheads, and shadowy, corrupt politicians. The deeper he gets-and the more punishment his body takes and the more he begins to fall for the woman who hired him-the more determined he becomes to follow the trail to its conclusion. In the end, the truth is far more complicated than Alex had thought: not only about the murder and the victim's unsavory private life but also about Alex's own past behaviors and attitudes. Meticulously researched and drawing from memoirs, zines, and documentaries, Alex Damage's story comes to life with real hangouts and real shows from LA in 1981, which makes the book immersive for the people who were there as well as those who wish they could have been.

Kyle Decker graduated from Drake University in 2007 with a bachelor's degree in creative writing. From 2013 to 2018 he lived in South Korea where he worked as an English teacher and freelance writer, fronted the multinational punk band Food for Worms, and promoted DIY shows for fun and charity. Kyle holds a masters of education from the University of Illinois at Chicago. He currently lives with his wife in Chicago, where he teaches high school special education and English as a second language.

"Hilarious, hardboiled, and full of heart. Decker's a genius." --Cara Hoffman, author of RUIN "It's Inherent Vice meets Black Flag. A punk twist to the noir genre. This Rancid Mill is well-written, entertaining, and in your face! It's sure to be an instant classic!" --Russ Lippitt, author of F.T.W. Rise of The Anarchy March "A neo-noir with a mohawk: This Rancid Mill masterfully combines wit, humour and suspense into a dark, and sometimes wonderfully ridiculous page-turner. Alex Damage is a riot, whose narrative begs an encore and a sneaky glass of bourbon to taste." --Vanessa C. Hawkins, award winning author of A Child to Cry Over "Philip Marlowe meets his match in Kyle Decker's punk noir detective Alex Damage. Set in the LA punk scene of the 80s, this dark mystery crackles with gritty scenes and wry dialogue. Damage drinks his booze neat and takes a few for the girl, just like any hard-boiled detective. Chandler would have approved." --Catherine O'Connell, author of The Last Night Out