The Charmer

By R.W. Clinger

Puzzle maker Peter Find isn't thinking about falling in love anytime soon. Truth be told, he's happy with his job, his mundane life, and being single. He works, has a few drinks at The Hoffstetter Inn after his shifts, and spends quality time alone in his small apartment.

Then a mystery man by the name of Waverly "Wave" Yorkshire introduces himself to Pete at the inn. Unfortunately Wave has the wrong guy on his radar. This doesn't stop Pete from thinking him charming, and Pete begins to follow and spy on the man.

Soon Pete's new hobby gets out of hand, though. He finds himself mixed up with a few ugly Russians, government secrets, and a heap of danger. Will Pete live long enough to have The Charmer as his boyfriend? Or will Wave's secrets cause his early demise?

• Language: English
• Publisher: JMS Books LLC
• Release date: Apr 24, 2018
• ISBN: 9781634866170

R.W. Clinger

R.W. Clinger is a resident of Pittsburgh. He has a degree in English from Point Park University of Pittsburgh. His writing entails gay human studies, and includes the novels Just a Boy, Skin Tour, Skin Artist, Soft on the Eyes, Pool Boy, and The Last Pile of Leaves. He has published many stories with Starbooks Press as well as The Weekender, a novella with Dreamspinner Press. His gay mystery, Cutie Pie Must Die, is published with Bold Stroke Books. For three years he has held the position of managing editor for the literary magazine, The Writer’s Post Journal. For more information, please visit rwclinger.com.

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The Charmer

By R.W. Clinger

Published by JMS Books LLC at Smashwords

Visit jms-books.com for more information.

Copyright 2018 R.W. Clinger

ISBN 9781634866170

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Cover Design: Written Ink Designs | written-ink.com

Image(s) used under a Standard Royalty-Free License.

All rights reserved.

WARNING: This book is not transferable. It is for your own personal use. If it is sold, shared, or given away, it is an infringement of the copyright of this work and violators will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

No portion of this book may be transmitted or reproduced in any form, or by any means, without permission in writing from the publisher, with the exception of brief excerpts used for the purposes of review.

This book is for ADULT AUDIENCES ONLY. It may contain sexually explicit scenes and graphic language which might be considered offensive by some readers. Please store your files where they cannot be accessed by minors.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are solely the product of the author’s imagination and/or are used fictitiously, though reference may be made to actual historical events or existing locations. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Published in the United States of America.

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The Charmer

By R.W. Clinger

I work at Robinchex Puzzle Company. I’m in charge of wrapping puzzle boxes in plastic. An interesting job. Nothing fancy, but I really like to do it. The job pays the bills. I have health insurance and a retirement plan. I get a slew of vacation and sick days. There’s no reason why I should leave my job.

After putting in my eight hours, I decide to have a strong drink at The Hoffstetter Inn on Mayden Street in downtown Pittsburgh, near the old Heinz factory on the North Side. The redbrick and steel building stands seven stories high. Brass doors with lion-shaped handles welcome visitors. Most of its interior is designed with black and gold hues. There are over sixty bedrooms to rent, a restaurant with the same name, and a common bar.

The Hoffstetter was built in late 1891 by brothers Robert and Joseph Hoffstetter. For the next thirty years, it thrived through the steel-making years of Pittsburgh. Things had slowed down during the Great Depression, though. Robert hung himself in the lobby, losing close to a million dollars in stocks. Joseph vanished, leaving behind his hotel. Rumors suggested he ran away with a young farmer. The two had fallen in love and vanished to Hollywood. Joseph had never been seen since. Nor was he viewed in Hollywood films.

Thereafter, the hotel financially fell into the city’s hands. It sat empty from 1929 to 1941. In the spring of 1941, middle-aged alcoholic Marshall Weddington paid pennies to the city for the hotel. Marshall, unfortunately, died from alcohol poisoning less than three years later. Enter Fitz Hoffstetter-Murrer in 1955, Robert Hoffstetter’s love child to his mistress, Miss Jane Murrer. Fitz was born in 1929 and raised by his mother in Pittsburgh. He went to Yale for business, played the stock market wisely, and purchased six buildings in Pittsburgh, including his father’s abandoned hotel.

I love The Hoffstetter Inn because of its turn-of-the-century extravagance: eighteen-foot-high doors off the lobby, gold banisters wherever I look, mahogany chairs, steel beams inside the lower rooms. English furniture, Pittsburgh Plate Glass windows designed by architect/artist Arthur Bentingstein, and so many other intricate features.

Frankie O’Toole mans the bar, a third-generation bartender at the place; his career for the last fifteen years. He’s a handsome ginger at thirty-five, married with children. I know he’s witnessed more than I can imagine within The Hoffstetter throughout the years. A true friend of mine. Honest. A good listener. I rely on seeing him behind his U-shaped bar, a white towel always hanging over his left shoulder.

Frankie’s all smiles when he sees me enter and knows my drink of choice: two fingers of whiskey over three ice cubes. He has my drink ready for me. You’re three minutes late, Pete. I’ll make you a fresh one.

It’s fine. Thank you, I tell him as I sit at the bar. I’ll drink it the way it is.

Someone was just here to see you.

Who? What woman?

I’m a handsome man at thirty-five. I have a job. I’m not crazy. City women always find these facts out about me, learn that I’m single, and desire me. Good men are hard to find among so many women. I’m a good man who wants to find another good man. Frankie will tell you if you don’t believe me.

"It wasn’t a