Standalone: A Dickie Cornish Mystery

(Paperback)

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Top 25 Mystery Novels of 2022The Strand Magazine

Chambers makes the smell and harrowing vibe of the mean streets of the nations capital come alive.Publishers Weekly

Dickie Cornish, Washington, DC street denizen turned unlicensed private investigator, is forced at gunpoint to track down the daughter of an ex-con, setting up a chain of events that unleashes a war within the corrupt police force, exposes shocking conduct in child services, and unearths a secret that threatens to tear the nations capital apart. The second book in the Dickie Cornish mystery series, STANDALONE is a must-read for fans of S. A. Cosby, George Pelecanos, and Joe Ide.

Its been over year since that bleak Christmas when a rich man peeled homeless, drug-addled Dickie Cornish from a steam grate, cleaned him up, and convinced him to use his street connections to track down his missing property. Now, as the summer sun bakes those same mean streets, the air is thick with crime, contagion, corruption. Dickie struggles with sobriety, anti-psychotic meds, and counseling at the VA, but manages to make a meager living as a private investigator with his sidekick, Stripeuntil an ex-con named Al-Mayadeen Thomas sticks a gun to Dickies forehead and kidnaps him to a grim flophousea motel filled with squatters more desperate than the poor souls in the shelters.

Thomas demands that Dickie find his daughter, missing for years from the motel in a notorious cold case. The other squatters plead for him to find their vanished children as well. Thomas takes his own life to seal Dickies help, Police Chief Linda Figgis hauls Dickie in, gives him a Faustian choice: she directs him to help her close the Thomas cold case, but only if he forgets about the other vanished and abused children. To his horror, Dickie finds himself in the middle of a war within the police, with either side closing in for the kill to keep the truth hidden.

Reviews

High Praise for Standalone

Top 25 Mystery Novels of 2022: After reading this novel, its apparent that the modern heir to Chandler, Woolrich, and Cain is Christopher Chambers, enough said. The Strand Magazine

Christopher Chambers stunned me with his hard-hitting debut, and now his street-living detective is back to track down a missing girl, who may be just one of a whole bunch of missing children. You cant get bleaker than Chambers, and thats certainly a compliment. Crime Reads (Most Anticipated Crime Books of Fall 2022)

Chambers makes the smell and harrowing vibe of the mean streets of the nations capital come alive. Readers searching for a grittier version of Joe Ides Isaiah Quintabe will find him in Cornish. Publishers Weekly

In his melding of classic detective fiction with modern day street level scandal Chambers crafts a truly unique and compelling sequel to his best selling book Scavenger and in the process creates a truly unique brand of storytelling. Independent Streak Podcast / Jesse Venturas Die First Then Quit

For those who like their crime served up raw, gritty and grimy . . . Comparisons to George Pelecanos, S.A. Cosby and Andrew Vachss and TV shows like The Wire abound, and this series offer a similar, no-holds-barred, street-level view; is unafraid to point fingers. The New Thrilling Detective

Once again Chris Chambers weaves a mesmerizing and timely tale of twists and deceit with his most unique street level gumshoe Dickie Cornish at the center of it all. A well crafted page turner. Gary Phillips, author, One-Shot Harry

PIs are only as clean as the streets they walk. In Christopher Chambers STANDALONE, Dickie Cornish works the gritty underbelly of DC, and its hard to decide who skirts the edges more, Dickie or our corrupt nations capital. Earthy, raw, all the way street, STANDALONEs got a lot to say. Listen up. Tracy Clark, author, The Cass Raines Chicago Mystery Series; winner, 2022 Sue Grafton Memorial Award

High Praise for previous mystery novels by Christopher Chambers:

Novels written from the perspective of homeless substance users dont come along every day. When they do, its a good idea to pay attention, since they offer a window into the casual cruelty of our social economy, which much fiction eschews. Like Hammett with San Francisco or Chandler with Los Angeles, Chambers mystery is as much about Washington as it is about the amoral monsters who prey on ordinary people and the lone gumshoe who takes them on. Washington City Paper

Christopher Chambers brings to life not only an unforgettable character but also the gritty DC streets he inhabits. A deeply realistic noir mystery with a social conscience. Hill Rag Magazine

[A] no-holds-barred crime novel . . . an exciting climax . . . a 21st-century twist on traditional hardboiled noir. Publishers Weekly

A voice that is distinctive, expressive, and is unafraid to challenge readers who may find the street patois hard to interpret. That's kind of the point. Dickie Cornish's world is far from most readers' lived experience, and it is his compelling voice and the dialogue of a vast cast of memorable street characters that helps immerse the intrepid armchair traveler in a world that's mostly invisible but just around the corner and down the alley from DC's halls of power. Reviewing the Evidence

I just read a really good book by Christopher Chambers called Scavenger, which really nails Washington in the current environment. And he knows the city well. George Pelecanos, author, The Man Who Came Uptown

Chambers weaves a fast-moving story that focuses on some of the major issues of the day: immigration, homelessness, police abuse, drug addiction, sex trade, political corruption, wealth disparity, racial injustice. What is so good about this novel is that it helps evolve and elevate the noir genre for anew audience and gives it more urgency. Dolores Barclay, former Arts Editor, The Associated Press

Gritty, raw, and lays bare the dirty consequences of political decisions on the lowest rungs of the population. The character comes from darkness to fight through darkness to defeat more powerful darkness Chambers gives a great thriller-mystery story and dares to embrace different ways of telling it. Jay Wilburn, 10 Most Recommended Books this Month

Author Bio

Christopher Chambers is a crime novelist, professor of media studies, lawyer, and International Fellow at International Conflict Resolution Center. His works include the first two installment in the Dickie Cornish mystery series, Scavenger and Standalone (Three Rooms Press); two Penguin Random House releases: A Prayer for Deliverance and Sympathy for the Devil (NAACP Image Award nominee); the graphic anthology (with Gary Phillips) The Darker Mask (Tor Books); the PEN/Malamud-nominated story Leviathan and "The Psalm of Bo"; and more. Chambers is a regular commentator and contributor on media and culture issues on SiriusXM Radio, ABC News, and HuffPost. He resides in his hometown of Washington, D.C. with his family and German Shepherd, Max.