By the Balls: The Complete Collection

The Triumphant Return of Ben Drake, Private Detective

Fifteen years ago, Jim Pascoe and I wrote a book together. That book, By the Balls: A Bowling Alley Murder Mystery, became the cornerstone of UglyTown, the independent mystery publishing house we co-founded and ran for more than 12 years.

By the Balls — A Rebirth

So today, roughly 15 years after the original By the Balls, I’m pleased to announce that By the Balls: The Complete Collection has been officially released from Akashic Books.

The book collects all the exploits of detective Ben Drake as he investigates cases across the crime-filled landscape of Testacy City. Of course it collects both By the Balls and the follow-up Five Shots and a Funeral as well as a handful of other archival, hard-to-find short stories It also includes two all-new pieces of short fiction, “Fireproof” and “Across the Line,” written specifically for this collection.

Find By the Balls: The Complete Collection in paperback and a variety of ebook formats at finer booksellers everywhere.