Like if Fletch met Travis McGee . .

. and they started fighting.

A short story collection about an artist and part-time private investigator. "He said he'd call the RCMP immediately, and that I did some good work.

He also told me to get the hell away from there. I was inclined to do what he said, for once.

I was standing in the middle of a downtown parking lot in someone else's bathing suit and flip-flops. And my hair was wet.

"Meet Zack Virtue. He makes a lot of bad decisions.

The first was to become a full-time artist. The second was to moonlight as a private investigator.

Whether it's foiling nuclear terrorists and bank robbers, or finding missing persons and beating the crap out of Russian mobsters, Virtue is on the case. As a private investigator, he's a great painter.

As an artist, he's a great magnet for bullets. Supporting him is Vijay Dhaliwal, a computer genius who throws the occasional security agency job his way.

He tries to lure Virtue into the business, but our artist-turned-vet-turned-janitor-turned-artist wants nothing to do with Vijay's shenanigans. Until, of course, the money runs out.

Then there's William Lacroix, the dude-bro cop who never grew up. Kind of like Peter Pan meets Joe Friday.

Virtue puts up with his attitude in exchange for access to the police. In this collection of stories, Zack Virtue tries to navigate the seedy world of private investigation, while half-assing his way through the seedy world of professional artists.

"Blog Me Deadly" is the title story, where Virtue tries to blog his psychological issues away. He finds out quickly that even a baggage-laden artist with a highly varied skill set can become a force to be reckoned with-whether he's wielding a paintbrush or a gun.

. .