What If We Did It Again?

ready when you are

Do you know that November is “Noir Month”?—it’s also sweet potato awareness month, peanut butter lovers month, peppers, squash, and pomegranate, and vegans worldwide month. and many other things … considering we only have 12 months to play with, the calendar cannot help being crowded.
Anyway, I wrote this article before I realized it would be topical, and I salute the convenient coincidence.

I have posted before about Bop City Swing, published by Cowboy Jamboree and written in collaboration with Russell Thayer. Readers are not aware that by the time the book became available in April, Russ and I were already well into another one. We both liked our two main characters too much to pull the carpet from under their feet after one appearance. Vivian Davis, aka Gunselle, the gun-for-hire, and Tom Keegan, the homicide cop, played well off each other, with that mix of prickly attraction and moral ambiguity that generates interesting sparks. The chemistry was there but bringing them back came with strings attached. Tom and Viv now had a history together, shared experiences, and a cast of supporting characters in both police precincts and smoky bars. A standalone book has a different vibe than an episode in a series, and releasing a Book #2 put us squarely in the ‘series’ category.

Revisiting with now familiar players also has advantages. No need to engineer an accidental meeting. No need to cobble together a suspenseful reveal. Tom knows she’s a killer (even if he doesn’t know who she bumped off), and Viv knows he’s a (mostly) by-the-book detective. In Bop City Swing, taking place in June 1951, we dug deep into the evil deeds and hubris of the wealthy and connected, immersed the action in the San Francisco jazz scene, and layered in the psychological fallout of WWII.

The big question was: Where can we take our characters next?

Russell spent some time in Kansas City and was eager to use it as a story setting. He had visions, and enticing whiffs, of barbecue, state fairs, and rodeos, with a side of Mob. I wondered how we could take Tom and Vivian, both San Francisco residents, to Missouri in 1952, and why they would go there.

How was easy. By train, obviously. The preferred mode of transportation of the 1950s. Long trips, small cabins, the sweep of the landscape, the music of wheels on the tracks … Opportunities for intrigue and awkward/dangerous encounters. A blend of anonymity and close quarters. For inspiring visuals, I could think of three movies, at least, without having to scratch my head or ask Google.

The Why was a harder nut to crack. Of course, Vivian could have been hired to take out a corrupt politician or an ambitious gangster. It was her job after all. Tom, on the other hand, up to his neck in murder in the City by the Bay, had no legitimate reason to pack a suitcase and hop on a train. He certainly wouldn’t be hunting Vivian. The way we built up their relationship made that unlikely. (At least in Book #2; down the line, who knows what may happen. Their conflicting back stories are an essential element of their interest in each other).

Russell and I chatted online, throwing ideas out there, like we did for Bop City Swing. He suggested a Mob convention and Tom being undercover and not getting anywhere, maybe needing a woman’s touch. At first it seemed far-fetched to have a San Francisco cop surveilling mobsters in Missouri. Then Truman entered the conversation, with his VP, Alben W. Barkley (anybody remember the name?). Politics and the Mob? Unholy alliances and all that. It had potential … Or maybe not. The arcane process behind the birth of a book was gathering momentum. Some suggestions were accepted by common accord, some were discarded as improbable. We had more ideas than we knew what to do with.

By mid-January, Vivian was cast as the undercover operative tasked with extracting information from a California gangster en route to the Mob meeting. Why would she agree to do the job? Because Tom asked her and he’s her weak spot. “The job involves traveling to Kansas City by train. With me.” Remember that rhythmic sound of train wheels on tracks … how could she resist? He misled her, had second thoughts, but by then it was too late to call the whole thing off.

There were still gaps in the plot, but scenes and characters were taking shape. Vivian and the mobsters. Tom butting heads with the FBI. The plan falling to pieces. 1952 train schedules were piling up. How did you go from San Francisco to Kansas City (there’s no direct connection) and how long did it take? Look at period maps of Kansas City, and pictures of the livestock show. Truman announcing he wouldn’t run again. Gangsters bios. The 1951 Dodge Coronet is a gorgeous car. Sinatra was married to Ava Gardner, and James Stewart did an ad for Avon with his wife. You wonder how all that can come together? I’ve done this enough by now to be convinced that magic is involved, and believe me, like all things mysterious, it’s better not to know.

By end of spring, we had a first draft, and a title. Kansas City Breakdown. Scoop! You’ve seen it here first! Publication from Cowboy Jamboree Press is set for late spring 2026.

And guess what … We’re thinking of Book #3. A few ideas are bubbling, but it’s way too soon to talk about them.

In the meantime, and to help with the wait, you should catch up with Bop City Swing (or leave a little review if you’ve read the book already).

Look at what a reader said:

Russell Thayer and M.E. Proctor’s Bop City Swing masterfully harkens back to the noir classics of yesteryear, with the soulfulness of a Charlie Parker riff on foggy night. Bop City Swing is a riveting cat and mouse tale pitting two contemporary grit noir characters —Proctor’s formidable Detective Tom Keegan and Thayer’s deadly femme fatale, Vivian/Gunselle—in a tale that twists and turns like a brakeless ride down Mulholland Drive in a 1940s Caddy. Thayer and Proctor have given us a classic contemporary take on old school noir that leaves the reader so satisfied they’ll want to fire up a Chesterfield and pour a double bourbon in the afterglow!

Here’s the link to get the paperback or eBook on Amazon: Bop City Swing.

A few recent publications

My story Raise a Glass to John Dee appeared in the anthology This World of Vile Wonder. It’s ‘light’ horror and historical fiction, something I don’t do often but always enjoy dipping a toe in. And the anthology is superb.

Smoke Screen was published here on Substack by Pistol Jim. A short variation on the ‘Nails in the Coffin’ theme. A car trip is involved.

Mythic Picnic does anthologies on Twitter - very short stories on quirky prompts. This one was ‘high school prom and Men in Black’. You can see what I did with it, here, it’s called Buckets!.