So… it feels kind fo weird getting back to my usual stuff after the mad race that was AtoZ Challenge, but it’s also a nice sensation. So here I’m back to one of my usual features. Hope you’ll enjoy.

Pete Staten and I weren’t exactly close pals, but we got on well enough. More important, he was one of the few folks who knew what I was, and what kinda not-quite-people called the Windy City home. Y’see, one day we’d been… Well, long story. Some other time.

Pete was wearing his uniform, the dark blue coat stretched uncomfortably tight across his shoulders, and his nightstick was lying on the table next to his Coke and his something-and-cheese sandwich. He took a gulp and peered at me, a few drops hanging from his mustache. I knew mostly what he was seeing – taller than average, but just a touch, kinda lanky, sandy hair, bluish-greenish peepers. But the rest? The details? No notion at all. You mortals each see me just a little different – mortals like the hombre setting next to him, who I didn’t know from the King of Erin. He was an older guy, looking like an unmade bed.

This story, which is part of the ongoing series by Ari Marmell with Mick Oberon as protagonist, is my favourite from the Broken Time Blues anthology .

It’s very hard not to fall for Mick’s voice, so colloquial, amused and witty, but it’s also very difficult not to appreciate the author’s idea at the core of the story. I was truly surprised and really impressed by the way the story evolved and especially how it ended. I found it to be really really clever.

Can’t wait to read more of Mick’s adventures.

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