Despite Our Shadows: Sexy noir mystery by Steven Lyle Jordan

[Steven Lyle Jordan]

Despite Our Shadows (originally titled Lambs Hide, Tigers Seek) is a present-day noir mystery:

In 2007, heiress Ellen Levinson vanished from a downtown Washington hotel under mysterious circumstances. Four years later, a series of blackmail letters leads investigator Alain Guest to Nashville, in search of the missing heiress. But things go wrong quickly, getting Alain tangled up with a local Goth girl who forces him to deal with his own damaged past. As the investigation threatens to crumble, Alain's mental state just may go down with it...

This is the only non-science fiction title in my catalog; a number of fans had suggested that I try my hand at a mystery, and this was my response to the challenge. It turned out to be less a mystery and more of a noir tale of investigator Alain Guest (that's Uh-lane, not Ee-lane) and his efforts to shake free of his past, as he pursued a girl who may have been destroyed by her past... and I think it was a better story for that.

The original book has been re-edited and re-proofed to improve readability and to improve the story itself. Shadows is one of the sexiest stories I've written so far, and when I originally wrote it, I was concerned that the story would be too sexy for mainstream consumption.

But after much deliberation during the rewrite, I decided to put back whatever I'd left out of the original release. Now, Despite Our Shadows has essentially been restored to its original intent, and the sex that very clearly makes up a major aspect of the story and characters is no longer veiled and hiding strategically behind the rocks and columns. The characters are much more believable now; more well-rounded, more fleshed-out, more passionate and...

Well. I think that's enough foreplay. If you want more, you know what to do.

[basschick]

is the excerpt on your page from the beginning of the book or somewhere inside?

[Steven Lyle Jordan]

It's the first 3 chapters, in order. Ellen's story take an almost Tarantino-like time-shift through the story, so the reader will discover what happened to her as Alain Guest searches for her.