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What Ever Happended To Jerry Picco?
Farewell My Lovely meets Californication.
Meet Jack Storm PhD, disgraced ex-college professor and unlicensed PI. Since getting turfed out of Berkeley for violent misconduct, he's turned his brains and his 250-pound frame to solving crimes. Working out of Los Angeles (and the trunk of his 20 year-old Mercedes Benz), Jack has finally found his true place in life: the gutter.
When Jerry Picco goes missing, Jack is called in to help. Picco is the world's greatest 'erotic actor', and his disappearance has come at a difficult time for the diminutive porn star. He's left a heap of debt, a career in nosedive, and a screen partner with plenty reasons to want him gone.
Jack has his own reasons for trying to find him. Apart from anything else, he's one of Jerry's biggest fans. The only clues he's got: a Polaroid of seven little men in the woods, and some story about a princess.For fans of Carl Hiaasen and Janet Evanovich, What Ever Happened to Jerry Picco? is a romp of a noir from prize-winning author John Barlow.
Meet Jack Storm PhD, disgraced ex-college professor and unlicensed PI. Since getting turfed out of Berkeley for violent misconduct, he's turned his brains and his 250-pound frame to solving crimes. Working out of Los Angeles (and the trunk of his 20 year-old Mercedes Benz), Jack has finally found his true place in life: the gutter.
When Jerry Picco goes missing, Jack is called in to help. Picco is the world's greatest 'erotic actor', and his disappearance has come at a difficult time for the diminutive porn star. He's left a heap of debt, a career in nosedive, and a screen partner with plenty reasons to want him gone.
Jack has his own reasons for trying to find him. Apart from anything else, he's one of Jerry's biggest fans. The only clues he's got: a Polaroid of seven little men in the woods, and some story about a princess.For fans of Carl Hiaasen and Janet Evanovich, What Ever Happened to Jerry Picco? is a romp of a noir from prize-winning author John Barlow.
- GenresMystery
166 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 8, 2011
About the author
John Barlow
30 books44 followersJohn Barlow's prize-winning fiction and non-fiction has been published by HarperCollins/William Morrow, Farrar, Straus & Giroux, 4th Estate and various others in the UK, US, Australia, Russia, Italy, Germany, Spain and Poland.
His current project is the Joe Romano crime thriller series. The first novel, RIGHT TO KILL, is out in the UK with HQ/HarperCollins on June 24th, 2021.
***
John was born in West Yorkshire, England, in 1967. He worked as a musician before studying English Literature at Cambridge University and language acquisition at Hull University. After teaching English for several years, he moved to Spain to write full-time, and has been there ever since. He is married to Susana, with whom he has two sons. They currently live in the Galician city of A Coruña.
Apart from writing fiction, he also works as a ghost writer and journalist. He has written for the Washington Post, Slate.com, Penthouse, Departures Magazine and The Big Issue, and he is currently a feature writer for the award-winning food magazine Spain Gourmetour.
***
John's first published work, a novella, won the Paris Review's Discovery (Plimpton) Prize in 2002. He went on to publish a collection of novellas, EATING MAMMALS, the novel INTOXICATED, set in the late nineteenth century, and EVERYTHING BUT THE SQUEAL, a food-travelogue about Spain. He then published the off-beat noir novel WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO JERRY PICCO?, and three novels in the LS9 series, featuring amateur sleuth John Ray.
John has also worked with the conceptual artists goldin+enneby on their ACÉPHALE project, which has so far taken him to Nassau, Bergamo, Oslo and London, and into the company of Bahamian off-shore bankers, defamation layers, prize-winning artists, and Martina Navratilova. His writing for the project has been published variously in English, Italian, Spanish, Swedish and Portuguese, and has featured at numerous art shows/galleries in the UK, the US, Canada, Brazil, Spain, Sweden, Norway and Italy. The novel HEADLESS, based on the project, was release in 2013.
His current project is the Joe Romano crime thriller series. The first novel, RIGHT TO KILL, is out in the UK with HQ/HarperCollins on June 24th, 2021.
***
John was born in West Yorkshire, England, in 1967. He worked as a musician before studying English Literature at Cambridge University and language acquisition at Hull University. After teaching English for several years, he moved to Spain to write full-time, and has been there ever since. He is married to Susana, with whom he has two sons. They currently live in the Galician city of A Coruña.
Apart from writing fiction, he also works as a ghost writer and journalist. He has written for the Washington Post, Slate.com, Penthouse, Departures Magazine and The Big Issue, and he is currently a feature writer for the award-winning food magazine Spain Gourmetour.
***
John's first published work, a novella, won the Paris Review's Discovery (Plimpton) Prize in 2002. He went on to publish a collection of novellas, EATING MAMMALS, the novel INTOXICATED, set in the late nineteenth century, and EVERYTHING BUT THE SQUEAL, a food-travelogue about Spain. He then published the off-beat noir novel WHAT EVER HAPPENED TO JERRY PICCO?, and three novels in the LS9 series, featuring amateur sleuth John Ray.
John has also worked with the conceptual artists goldin+enneby on their ACÉPHALE project, which has so far taken him to Nassau, Bergamo, Oslo and London, and into the company of Bahamian off-shore bankers, defamation layers, prize-winning artists, and Martina Navratilova. His writing for the project has been published variously in English, Italian, Spanish, Swedish and Portuguese, and has featured at numerous art shows/galleries in the UK, the US, Canada, Brazil, Spain, Sweden, Norway and Italy. The novel HEADLESS, based on the project, was release in 2013.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
November 22, 2018
Really enjoyed it. Good story and enjoyed the main character who tells the story and provides little comments and quips to build their personality without excessive monologues. First read of this author but will be looking for other books of his. Would recommend
May 27, 2011
Jack Storm, a former academic and now unlicensed PI is hired by adult film star Gloria Whole to find her wayward partner - Jerry Picco, a midget adult film star whose popularity is on the decline. What looks to be a relatively simple find and deliver deal turns south when royalty gets involved leading to the reemergence of the ghosts from 1979 which could have an adverse affect on a royal coupling. Along with hard nosed PI Storm, we're introduced to Tony Eagle, a muscle with promise and starlet Gloria who was probably the most well written character of the mains to feature in 'What Ever Happened to Jerry Picco', interestingly enough, the title character doesn't play a huge role but is every present. At times, this book really grabbed me, while others boring me with same-same dialogue, however, this book did have a distinct pulp aura to it (which I love) and moved along at a steady pace. Overall, this serves as a solid introduction to Jack Storm and co which didn't quite hit the mark but wasn't far off - 3 stars.
April 23, 2012
Saw this because I read one of Barlow’s others. Not the same at all. This is a kind of retro-noir about an ex-college professor who turns his hand to solving crimes. It’s also a spoof on a fairy tale (no spoiler intended, so I won’t expand). The writing, despite this unusual premise, is extremely good, real snappy, punchy noir stuff, and the main characters fly off of the page at you. I think you’d call this big-hearted writing, but well within the genre.
February 3, 2016
Couldn't finish this. Abandoned after reading only 20%.
It's not that it's badly written, just not particularly original. It's like the author looked at a blueprint, based on Noir/Hard-boiled novels he's read & then concocted this. No doubt he is a big fan of the genre. Perhaps he should leave it at that.
It's not that it's badly written, just not particularly original. It's like the author looked at a blueprint, based on Noir/Hard-boiled novels he's read & then concocted this. No doubt he is a big fan of the genre. Perhaps he should leave it at that.
October 4, 2014
American PI tale in the classic style, featuring porn stars and midgets.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews