The Pug Trap

When Hack was contemplating writing a rip-off of Agatha Christie’s long-running play The Mousetrap, he learned that his cover artist Jonny M. had once played Christopher Wren in a successful production of the show. So, he based the thinly veiled imitation of the Wren character on Jonny and included thinly veiled imitations of the other personalities in Christie’s script. The only original character was a ditzy blonde nymphomaniac who stood out like a sore thumb from everything else in the book, but it was the only way Hack could keep himself interested.

Happy heavenly birthday to Agatha Christie!

The Deaf Detective

When Hack learned that Jonny was going to see an audiologist about possibly needing a hearing aid, he was so delighted that he immediately wrote this novel and gave Jonny (who also makes the artwork for Hack’s book covers) explicit instructions on what he wanted depicted in the cover art.

Alas, when Jonny came back from his appointment and reported that the doctor told him that his hearing had only a microscopic decrease from last year and he wasn’t in need of a hearing aid yet, Hack (who has two hearing aids, a pacemaker and an experimental liver made from stem cells and soy product) was so depressed that he locked himself in his van and refused to come out for three days.