UNITED STATES AUTHOR · FICTION · PRIVATE INVESTIGATORS
Stephen Dobyns
Also known as: Stephen Dubyns
Stephen J. Dobyns (b. 1941) is a prominent American novelist and poet. He has authored more than three dozen volumes spanning numerous genres. A native of New Jersey, Dobyns received his undergraduate education at Shimer College and Wayne State University, completing his BA in 1964. He holds an MFA from the Iowa Writers' Workship at Iowa State University. Dobyns has received numerous awards and other forms of recognition, including NEA and Guggenheim fellowships. (from Shimer College Wiki)
Afterward everyone said it began with the disappearance of the first girl, but it began earlier than that.
— from The Church of Dead Girls
Most acclaimed
The Two Deaths of Senora Puccini
"It is a night racked with violence in an unnamed Latin American country. Three men brave the war-ravaged streets to meet at the opulent home of a friend, the famed surgeon Daniel Pacheco, for their semiannual gathering. As a lavish meal is served by the sullen housekeeper, interest centers on the photograph of an intriguingly beautiful young woman. Spellbinding revelations of erotic obsession and betrayal unfold, interrupted by the increasing bloodshed that presses closer to Pacheco's door. Stephen Dobyns has written a provocative novel of desire, lust, depravity, and danger--a classic thriller that holds you tightly in its grasp until its shattering conclusion"--
The Church of Dead Girls
Despite its superficial resemblance to a whodunit, The Church of Dead Girls is not a conventional thriller. Don't expect it to be suspenseful. This is a literary horror tale--slow paced, contemplative, meticulous in its descriptions--about a formerly sleepy small town in which the crucial distinction between public and private life is dissolving as suspicion spreads like a toxin. The reader's guide to this process of corruption is a high school biology teacher--reserved, somewhat snotty, but a thoughtful man, and reliable in spite of his cynicism. He says, "It is dreadful not to be allowed to have secrets. Years ago I happened to uncover a nest of baby moles in the backyard and I watched them writhe miserably in the sunlight. We were like that." Ultimately you realize that the killer's identity, even the deaths of three girls, are small matters compared to the collapse of the town's very soul.
Saratoga Fleshpot
Featuring Charlie Bradshaw, the local cop turned private eye, and his politically incorrect pal Victor Plotz, the action centers on the drama of the horse auctions, replete with julep-drinking gentry, high-money buyers, and fast-talking auctioneers. Victor Plotz (call-me-Vic) once again holds the reins of narration. This time around - money-making schemes having gone awry - Vic takes on a security job at the Horse Pavilion. A nothing job, you might say, but pretty soon things begin to happen. Someone is tracking Vic in a lime green Volkswagen. Who and why? What about Fleshpot, the high-priced horseflesh with a penchant for nipping backsides? Was there a horse swap when a black colt spooked and created havoc? And how does Vic himself get to be a murder suspect? Before a number of murders and much mayhem are accounted for by the Bradshaw/Plotz duo, there's a heart-in-your-throat car chase and a hilarious denouement when chaos descends on a small-town parade complete with horses, majorettes, boy scouts, and a squad of performing Irish setters. On hand also are "The Queen of Softness," Vic's cushiony girlfriend, and the ever-patient Janey Burris, who seems about to persuade Charlie to move in. One question remains: will he?