Smuggler's Club
An Angel Mahoney Mystery
by
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Okay, okay. Nobody said that being a bouncer was going to be easy. Considering that I am female has made it somewhat of a challenge. I admit that. Of course also considering that I am only five foot two has taken it to damn near impossible. I never knew just what I was capable of until I took this job. I’ve had my share of being laughed at when asking someone bigger than me to leave, whether it be for being unruly, drunk or whatever. We’re talking Phoenix, Arizona here, where people figure they can act pretty much the way they want in public, whether you like it or not. I’m always polite, no matter how much of a jerk the person is being. The ones that get mouthy and then get physical-- well, that’s when it starts getting a little hairy. Nobody seems to think a person my size is going to be able to make them do anything they don’t want to. At least they don’t until they’re laying face-down on the floor, me with one knee in the middle of their back and putting a pair of handcuffs on them at the same time. I have an unfair advantage, I know, because I’m a second-degree black belt in Kenpo karate. They don’t know it until too late and I’m not about to tell them beforehand. As my younger sister Faith used to say when we were kids, ‘Angel, if they’re stupid enough to try it, they best be prepared to buy it.’ I still have no idea what the hell that means, but it sounds good. Ben thinks I’m taking all my aggressions out on these people for what my ex-husband did to me. I told him no, if that were the case I’d probably have castrated a good deal of them before I threw them out. I kind of wish I’d done that to my ex-husband, Michael, before I walked out on him. It would’ve been fitting. Instead I just got him for alimony. I’ve known Ben Lewis since we were in high school together. He was tall and gawky and I was short and awkward and the only traits we had in common were that we were in the choir and, boy, could both of us sing. We’ve changed in the respect that we have both grown out of the gawky and awkward stages. But, Ben is still tall and I’m still short. Neither of us has sung in public in a lot of years, or at least I haven’t. Ben is more outgoing than I am. I guess that’s why he’s a co-owner of the club. Ben’s a people person. He talked me into working here at the Smuggler’s Club after my divorce had been final about, oh, I guess close to a year. I was doing programming for a utility company at the time. When I found a major program problem for them, fixed it and didn’t even get a thank you, I decided it was time to quit my job, too. I still do programming. Now I just pick and choose which jobs I want to do and charge an ungodly amount for my services. His partner, James Callahan, is as different from Ben as chalk and cheese. He’s about four inches shorter than Ben but somehow, well, he seems taller. It’s not just the way he carries himself, either. He’s very quiet, very reserved. He has this aura about him that commands a lot of respect. Then again, it could also be because he’s a third degree black belt in tae kwan do karate. Most people know it and back off when he gets involved in a problem. He always looks so serious I think his face would crack if he ever smiled. That moustache of his never gives it away if he does. It’s not shaggy or anything. It’s always nice and neat. I just never seem to see it move except when he talks and he seems to be friendly and talkative with just about everybody else but me. It still seems that way, four months later.
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About the Book
At five foot two, Angel Mahoney finds being a bouncer at a Phoenix nightclub a definite challenge. Trained in the martial arts, she has the edge. Even more of a challenge is working for one of her bosses, James Callahan. Reserved and intimidating, as well as being handsome, Angel had to prove herself capable of the job, since he’s not thrilled with having a female bouncer.
When malicious pranks start to happen at the nightclub, coinciding with a rash of local jewelry store robberies, Angel is suspected by James of being responsible, at least for the pranks, when she happens to be in the vicinity each time to the storeroom where they originated from. This is thanks, in part, to being sent on errands there by one of the managers, Bob Newsome. It also doesn’t help that the secretary of the club, Jannelle Martin, doesn’t like her and Angel doesn’t know why.
When Angel’s told to stay away from the storeroom, she asks one of the bartenders to see if he can find any clues to help clear her. He leaves her a note to meet her in the storeroom and on her way to it, she has a confrontation with the manager who’d sent her on the errands. He accuses her of being in love with James Callahan, who he says is seeing Jannelle. Although this shakes her some, when she finds bartender John Mack in the storeroom with a knife in his chest and then Angel is attacked, she pulls it together and decides to starts investigating on her own to find John’s killer.
What ensues is Angel fighting to clear her name and save her life. Because whoever killed John Mack, not only doesn’t want her to find out who his murderer is: they’re determined to have Angel to join him.
About the Author
There are only two things author S. I. Reynolds has in common with her lead character, Angel Mahoney. One is working in computers, which she has done for two decades. The other is the enjoyment of the martial arts, although she has yet to earn a belt. She is working on it, though.
She started writing in her early teens and although she had poetry published while in high school, she didn't decide to try a full-length novel until recently. Now she is working on the next book, a continuation of this one.
S. I. Reynolds is the middle of seven children and grew up in Ohio. She moved to Arizona with her husband almost a decade ago, for the desert and the warm weather.