For more on Monk, please go to https://monkbuttman.com
The first book is Where Fools Dare To Tread, A Monk Buttman Mystery, published in February 2019. It’s the story of a nobody pulled into a revenge plot over which he has no control and little information. Our man Monk just wants to get by. Leave the hurly-burly to the A-types. A low rent life of hand-me-downs and a quiet day at the beach is all a man really needs. But Low rent guys often fall prey to the needs of the more important and influential as Monk, to his chagrin, finds out the hard way.
Order at: Black Rose Writing, Amazon, or Barnes and Noble. Also available as a audiobook at Amazon, iTunes, and Audible.
Book 2 is A Twinkle in the Eyes of God, published on 1/9/2020. Monk finds himself reexamining the past when his daughter seek his help in finding her runaway husband. Hoping to resume his idyllic life as a nobody and enjoy his budding relationships with Agnes (as well as Judith), Monk comes to understand, in his own particular way, that running from the past is an exercise in futility, and that perhaps it’s better to deal with your problems than run away from them.
Order at Black Rose Writing, Amazon, or Barnes and Noble. Also available as a audiobook at Amazon, iTunes, and Audible.
Book 3, Too Many Women, Too Little Time. Monk finds life is nice and simple when you don’t think too hard about what you’re doing or the lies you tell yourself. Believing his relationship with Judith is over, and a happy content life with Agnes is his to enjoy, Monk is shocked to find, tragically, that’s not true. While dealing with a dying lover, Monk is dogged by family, business, gangsters, cranky widows, and a mystery woman who claims Monk has stolen her money. Published on December 10th, 2020.
Order at Black Rose Writing, Amazon, or Barnes and Noble.
Book 4, In the Services of Others.
Adjusting to his newfound wealth, Monk meets his youngest brother, Jacob, a Marine. Withdrawn and anxious, Jacob joins Monk in LA only to run off after an accusation sexual assault from a dead comrade’s mother. Jacob is later found dead from an apparent suicide. Trying to understand what drove Jacob to kill himself, Monk learns that many of Jacob’s fellow Marines have died from suicide or murder. Joined by his father, Moses, Monk does what can to discover what happened to the Marines on their last tour in Afghanistan, and what led so many of them to take their own lives. In the process, Monk and Moses find themselves targets, with Monk coming to believe that he’s dealing with murder, not suicide.
It can be ordered here: Black Rose Writing, Amazon, and Barnes and Noble.
Book 5, The Fist Inside the Glove, was published 12/8/2022. It can be ordered at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Black Rose Writing, and wherever fine books are sold.
Reasonably comfortable with his possession of wealth, Monk moseys through his days taking care of his grandkids. After a car accident takes out his beloved Falcon and leaves him injured, he begins to see that many of the people around him are on edge. His wife, Agnes, no longer has a job and is working through parental issues with her father. Meanwhile, a book given to him in jest, may in fact be a primer for the disaffected rich to move the country away from democracy to autocracy by whatever means, including violence. Monk thinks this is silly until people connected to the book start dying. Foolishly drawn into this scheme, along with Agnes’ sudden interest in sleuthing, Monk finds that they are now targets themselves, and decide to play along to learn more, even if it leads them to their possible demise.
Book 6, The Object of Our Desire, was published on 2/29/24 by Black Rose Writing.
After his brother Sterling disappears one too many times, Monk is asked to find him. But what starts as a simple case of a man cheating on his wife, becomes more problematic when a detective shows up asking questions, piquing Monk’s curiosity, but is later found murdered. Complicating matters, the detective, like Sterling’s lover, is black and transgendered. A world Monk knows little about. He knows Aisha, Sterling’s lover is out there, feeding him clues, but unwilling to come out in the open. Sterling claims he doesn’t know where she is, but offers to seek counseling from a famous LA pastor, whose name has come up before along with someone named Flavius. Monk starts to believe the pastor, like his brother, isn’t being honest. This concern only deepens when he finds that three other women tied to both Aisha and the pastor are missing.
To make things worse, government figures and Russian interests are asking questions about a dead assassin Monk had confronted the year before, wanting answers and threatening violence.
Illustration by Yuji Pearce
©2024 David William Pearce
David William Pearce, Writer 