Fun and Games with Duane Swierczynski

I’m a huge fan of Duane Swierczynski.  His novels are  fun, full of twists and never follow a familiar path.  Fun & Games is the first in his Charlie Hardie trilogy and although I just finished it a few days ago, I’m already chompin’ at the bit to read Hell and Gone.

Hardie makes his living as a house sitter.  There’s not a lot of dough in that line of work, but as an ex-cop with baggage, it’s been a good way to spend the last couple of years.  All that changes when Hardie finds a semi-famous actress hiding in the house he’s supposed to be sitting.  Is she crazy or could there really be a hit team coming to kill her and everyone in the house?

If my description makes Fun & Games sound like your typical ex-cop coming to the aid of a hot but endangered woman, let me assure you that it’s not.  Give  Fun & Games a read and if you don’t like it I’ll buy ya a Diet Coke or a Mocha Frappe.  If you do like it, you owe me nothing.   Deals don’t get much better than that, amigo.

So why do I have “A Texan’s Motto” post card along with my praise for Fun and Games?  Read on, friend.

In the interest of full disclosure [and the fact that I’m always happy to hear from people whose work I admire], I want it to be known that received a post card from Duane Swierczynski this summer.  He sent a personalized card to all of his fans who had pre-ordered Fun & Games.

How do I know it was personalized?  Well, do you think he wrote every fan of his calling them a fellow Stallone fanatic?  Yeah, I didn’t think so either.

How do I know Duane Swierczynski is a Stallone fan?  Well, Duane is from Philly and everybody there [or from there] loves Sly.  Oh, and Mr. Swierczynski used a couple of quotes from Sly as chapter headers.  Only a true fan would go THAT far.