Lee Hacklyn 1970s Private Investigator in Blunt Force Drama: Lee Hacklyn, #1

By John Leister

New York City. 1974.

 

Lee is hired to investigate the murder of his childhood friend, Graham Fell,

the head writer of America's most popular daytime soap opera, Joys and Woes.

• Language: English
• Publisher: John Leister
• Release date: Jun 10, 2023
• ISBN: 9798223910794

Book preview

QUEENS, NEW YORK CITY. 1960.

CHAPTER ONE

I’m scared, Lee.

What else is new?

What’s that supposed to mean?

Well, when are you not scared?

Lots of times.  I’m not scared right now.

That’s because you’re with me, Graham, and you trust me.

You’re not a bully.

I hate bullies.  I sure wish everyone did.

Don’t you want to know why I’m scared, Lee?

Well, you’re chomping at the bit to tell me, Graham, and I’m not stopping you.

We were ten and we were hanging out at our local 8-12, me and my best friend at the time, Graham Fell.

He was the only fat kid I ever knew.

Television was still in its’ infancy.

Nobody knew what a couch potato was.

Graham was sucking on a fudge Pop-Fizz and I was on my third hot dog.

Some kids can eat whatever they want, whenever they want and I was one of those kids.

I felt bad for Graham.

He was nice and he was funny and he often had the most interesting things to say about life.

He was free and open and uninhibited, as long as he felt comfortable.

But if any of the cool kids were within spitting distance, he clammed up.  He shrank, like the Atom, verbally, if not physically.

Dad wants to send me to private school, next year.  He says it’ll be good for me, whatever that means.  Last night, I told him I wanted to be a writer.  He slapped my face.  Why aren’t you more like Greg?"

Greg was Graham’s brother, older by one year.

He was smart, athletic, handsome and all the girls were crazy about him.

I thought he was a stuck-up jerk.

One time, I punched his snooty nose after he gave Graham a wedgie.

Dad says writers are fags.  When I said, What about Ernest Hemmingway, he slapped my face again.

My old man does that too.  Our dads and their dads came from a different generation.  A much harder one.  They lived through a Depression.  Can you imagine?  There were no jobs, anywhere.

He slurped away on his sugary beverage and said, "I don’t want just a job, you know, like Dad.  He’s been a postman ever since he dropped out of high school