Carnegie Fitch can be called a lot of things. Ambitious is not one of them.

Months after escaping death in the circus ring at the hands of the Dead Clowns and the feet of a stampeding elephant, he is no longer a half-assed private eye with an office and no license, but instead a half-assed tow truck driver without either. Still, he manages to find ample time to drink lots of diner coffee, hang with fellow down-and-out diner denizens and have all those shiny daydreams about landing that BIG CASE.

Well, careful what you wish for, Fitch.

Because when a wealthy widow hires him to sniff along the trail of a soapbox svengali with a hobo history and several mysterious deaths in his wake, not only will it put Fitch, aka Gastown's Favourite Punching Bag, in harm's way as he navigates a twisted road of stolen coins, defrocked dentists, wacky hallucinogens, crooked cops, and cult crazies, but his past, present and future will also come a-calling, each with their own knockout blow to land.

Basically, Fitch will be forced to question damn near everything, sanity included.

Who knew 40 nickels could get a guy in so much hot water?

Praise for 40 NICKELS:

"A zealous, persistently amusing detective tale." —Kirkus Reviews

"Action packed from the first sentence, R. Daniel Lester offers readers a briskly paced down-and-out detective yarn, cleverly composed and executed at a machine gun clip. A twisted look at the lengths desperation stretches its victims and the bizarre attempts one man makes to stay one step ahead of his runaway case. Full of kooky phantasmagoric imagery and the blackest diner coffee this side of three a.m. 40 Nickels is worth every penny." —J.D. Graves, Editor-in-Chief, Econoclash Revue

"You're guaranteed to walk into the fight heavy with your knuckles wrapped around 40 Nickels. Fitch is a hard-up dick on a long, strange trip, whose mistress is chaos. Lester's tale takes you right into the back alleys of post-war Vancouver, where you might end up chasing The Sacred Glow, and just when you think you got lucky, daddio, you end up on your back, with a new set of choppers." —Scotch Rutherford, Managing Editor, Switchblade

"The thing about R. Daniel Lester's writing is it's boiling just under the surface. You ride along through his stories, enjoying how he has all the right things in all the right amounts. But where you can't see it, tension is rising. Fangs are being bared. It's boiling. And when it gets to the surface, he's got you where his talent wants you when it hits." —Ryan Sayles, author of the Richard Dean Buckner thrillers