Colt Coltrane and the Harrowing Heights of Hollywoodland: The Colt Coltrane Series, #2

By Allison M. Dickson

It's been a slow summer at the agency for private investigator Colt Coltrane and his robot sidekick Petey. But then Darcy, Colt's assistant, asks them to visit a local movie set to check up on her young niece, a production assistant for the great director Jimmy Dallas. Things then take a frightening turn when Dallas gets a visit from one of Colt's old enemies, sparking a chain of events that sends Colt and Petey on a mission to save the girl before she becomes another Hollywood tragedy.

Check out this special "mini-episode," which takes place not long after the first novel in the series, COLT COLTRANE AND THE LOTUS KILLER.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Allison M. Dickson
• Release date: Jul 22, 2014
• ISBN: 9781501487729

Allison M. Dickson

Allison M. Dickson writes dark contemporary fiction, covering both speculative and realistic realms. Her debut psychological horror novel, STRINGS, released to rave reviews in 2013 and has topped Amazon's bestseller lists several times. She is also the author an abundance of short stories as well as the 1940s sci-fi noir Colt Coltrane series. Readers can look forward to her upcoming dystopian epic, THE LAST SUPPER, later in 2014. When she isn't writing, she can usually be found wandering the urban sprawl of Dayton, OH with her husband and two rapidly growing children, or crawling some dungeon in search of good loot.

Book preview

COLT COLTRANE

AND THE HARROWING HEIGHTS OF HOLLYWOODLAND

Allison M. Dickson

Copyright © 2014 All rights reserved worldwide.

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to the retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Cover illustration by Justin Wasson

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Novels

Strings

Colt Coltrane and the Lotus Killer

The Last Supper

Short Story Collections

The Four Phantasms (and other synaptic misfires)

Wicked Brew: 9 Tales of Misdeeds and Regret

At the End of Things: A Collection of Stories

Consumption: A Trilogy of Obsession

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The City of Angels is full of souls for sale. That Hollywoodland sign perched atop of Mount Lee attracts droves with promises of glitter and glory, but once they step into the shadows of those towering white letters, they realize the painted wood is as flimsy as the dreams that brought them there. Some don’t take that truth so well, and the sign has sipped its share of blood over the years. During the Depression, a failed young actress climbed to the top of the H and jumped to a nasty death. A few years after that, the sign’s caretaker had a bit too much to drink and ramped his Ford off the cliff above the sign, turning one of the O’s into a U. Amazingly enough, he lived to serve a little time and enjoy the infamy. I too did my share of damage to the local icon. It wasn’t a drunken tumble off a hilltop, but it’s an interesting enough story. It all started with a friendly game of poker between a man and his bot . . .

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I never should have taught Petey how to play cards. Any broke bum who ever walked out of a gaming room at the Parts Bin, at least if he was being honest with himself, would have said that trying to out-bluff a bot on a bad hand is a waste of time. A bot never had a tell, and it could always calculate