The Martini Shot: a Novella and Short Stories

Publisher Marketing: Short stories and a novella from one of crime fiction s most revered writersWhether they re cops or con men, savage killers or creative types, gangsters or God-fearing citizens, George Pelecanos characters are always engaged in a fight for their lives. They fight to advance or simply to survive; they fight against odds, against enemies, and even against themselves. In this, his first collection of stories, the acclaimed novelist introduces readers to a vivid and eclectic cast of combatants. A seasoned claims investigator tracks a supposedly dead man from Miami to Brazil, only to be thrown off his game by a kid from the local slum. An aging loser takes a last stab at respectability by becoming a police informant. A Greek-American couple adopts an interracial trio of sons and then struggles to keep their family together, giving us a stirring bit of background on one of Pelecanos most beloved protagonists, Spero Lucas. In the title novella which takes its name from Hollywood slang for the last shot of the day we go behind the scenes of a television cop show, where a writer gets caught up in a drama more real than anything he could have conjured for a script. By turns heartbreaking and humane, brutal and funny, these finely constructed tales expose the violence and striving beneath the surface of any city and within any human heart. Tough, sexy, fast-paced, and crackling with energy, "The Martini Shot" is Pelecanos at his very best." Contributor Bio:  Pelecanos, George George Pelecanos is the New York Times bestselling author of numerous novels set in and around Washington, DC. His works have earned him the Raymond Chandler Award in Italy, the Falcon Award in Japan, and the Grand Prix Du Roman Noir in France. He is also an independent-film producer, an essayist, and a producer and Emmy-nominated writer of the HBO hit series The Wire. He currently writes for the acclaimed HBO series Treme. He lives with his family in Silver Spring, Maryland.