George P Pelecanos

Since he got home from Iraq, Spero Lucas has carved out a good life for himself and has made name for himself as the kind of person who gets jobs done quietly and effectively, usually just on the right side of the law. A quick case for a criminal defense attorney leads him into the world of a high-profile marijuana dealer.

A collection of stories, mostly gritty low-level crime stories set on Washington DC's mean streets. 'The Martini Shot' itself is set in the world of TV, featuring a scriptwriter on a popular cop show. When a member of the crew is murdered, the screenwriter decides to track down the perpetrators himself, to see if as a writer he can do more than just talk the talk.

The second novel featuring Spero Lucas, a young Iraq vet working as a PI in Washington DC but with a sideline in finding lost items - the kind of items the owners can't go to the police about. This time Spero is trying to find a painting belonging to a sexy young woman who was scammed out of it by a super-smooth con artist, part of a team of ruthless thugs. Spero tracks the painting down but the woman is brutally attacked to warn him off. Spero goes...