title: By the Balls: A Novel by Dashiell Loveless (Bowling Alley Murders)
author: Dashiell Loveless
description: Packaged like a pulp detective novel from the '30s, this pocket-sized mystery is packed with the kind of dialogue that makes gumshoe fiction so ripe for parody: "One false step and it's curtains for the floozy!" "There's nothing like a mourning widow ... and Suzi Biggs was nothing like a mourning widow." "Consider this an advance on a beating to come." Every cup of coffee, sleazy witness, and see-through negligee is critiqued in hard-bitten style by detective Benjamin Drake in this doubly amusing book, which works as both straight whodunit fiction and a winking satire of all things Hammettesque. Not to be missed by fans of the genre, fans of genre, or any genre of fans. <I>--James DiGiovanna</I>
zlib_text: 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  found.
  
  a novel
  
  by t. rigney
  
  
  
  
  
  © 2015 Todd Rigney
  
  No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or
  transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.
  
  Published by Todd Rigney
  
  This is a work of fiction. All the characters and events portrayed in this
  book are fictitious, and any resemblance to real people or events is purely
  coincidental. Seriously. This book isn’t about you.
  
  Seriously.
  
  
  
  
  
  for theresa.
  
  this never could have happened without you.
  
  
  
  
  
  Chapter One
  
  Secrets
  
  My brother keeps a human head in his closet.
  
  He keeps it in his bowling ball bag. I don’t know what he did with the bowling
  ball, though. I haven’t seen it around his room lately. He must have thrown it
  away. That’s how I found it, you know. I was going bowling with my friends and
  I wanted to borrow his ball but he wasn’t home. So I took it without asking
  him permission, which is a no-no. When I opened the bag at the alley I almost
  cried. I didn’