Janus Death in Deep Waters

Janus Payette's transformation from homeless ex-cop to recovering alcoholic to private detective is complete. He has escaped from some bad memories and difficult connections in San Francisco and has landed in Morro Bay. His escape works until his past catches up to him in the form of request from a powerful politico who keeps him on a retainer. Janus considers it a short leash. Janus is asked to take on a case involving commercial fishing, drugs and gun running. He is obviously hesitant but is wined and dined by a powerful Portuguese fisherman and his family. Janus decides to take the case and is introduced to the violent acts of piracy when he is shown first hand what happens at sea when the pirates meet resistance from the fishermen. Death results and trawlers are sunk, beached or burned. This leads Janus off into a world with connections to Mexican drug cartels and right wing militias. His investigation leads him from Morro Bay to Santa Barbara to Catalina and several points up and down the coast. He is held captive inland by a group targeting the takeover of the government. With the help of a close friend in state narcotics he is freed. Janus tracks down the drug lord in charge of the operation and kills him. Case closed? Probably but new and old connections were waiting for him in San Francisco and he isn't sure he is ready for any of them. For him everything in that town has something rotten tied to it.

Janus Payette's transformation from homeless ex-cop to recovering alcoholic to private detective is complete. Having escaped to Morro Bay from San Franciso he is talked into taking a case involving piracy, drugs and gun running. It take him from one end of the state to the other. He is drugged, kidnapped and pistol whipped but with dogged determination, tracks down the Mexican ring leader and kills him. The case leads him back to San Francisco to face the ghosts from his past and he's not sure he is ready.

J.D. Blair developed a 30-year career in journalism and television production as a Writer and Producer. He was nominated twice for Emmy Awards for writing and producing documentaries and in 1998 was a awarded a Chris Award at the Columbus Film and Video Festival and was recipient of a Telly Award in 1999 for writing and producing the statewide program "California Heartland". During this same period he was awarded a Knight Journalism Fellowship at the University of California, Berkeley for media coverage of urban development. Since 2000 he's been writing one-act plays, short fiction, and essays. His work has appeared in several literary magazines including, Pearl, Writer's Journal, Carve Magazine, Third Wednesday, Fog City Review, Hear Us Roar, Calliope, The Common Line Journal and California Quarterly. His noir e-book, "Janus: Private Eyes" is available through Amazon, Apple iBooks and Barnes & Nobel. And e-book "Stories, Short, Sweet & Sour", a collection of short stories is also available.