Trace Walker. Sure, he can’t find a job, but he can still find a murder!
The Trace Walker Temporary Mysteries are a series of flash-fiction stories (about a 1000 words each) about a guy who did something really, really stupid, and lost everything because of it.
Private Investigator Trace Walker thought he was smarter than most.
His track record: Impeccable.
He had friends, love and a long career ahead of him.
So, he got cocky,
And then he got caught.
The victim of his “victimless” crime took everything away from him in a media free-for-all. Left a pariah, Trace is penniless and jobless. With his credit shot and license gone, his only option for employment is taking temp work. Unfortunately, Trace’s new agency has killer benefits!
At each job site, Trace finds himself involved in a crime. He examines them as only a man with nothing-to-lose can. He’s one unlicensed investigation away from being arrested and sent away for good, but he can’t un-see what everybody won’t see.
Someone powerful still wants Trace solving crimes…just on a temporary basis.
Trace Walker Temporary Mysteries premiere
for FREE at
Season 1
Burnt Offerings
Clean Cut
Execution of an Electrician
Five the Hard Way:
Case 1: The Draining Assignment
Case 2: The Stock Taking Assignment
Case 3: Another Trucking Assignment
Case 4: A Trying Assignment
Case 5: A Step Up Assignment
If it’s a Stiff, it Ships!
Pain in the Asphalt
Hot Tub Timed Murder
Tired Out (Collection Exclusive)
Murder Knows No Language
Mauled at the Mall:
Part One (Spring)
Part Two (Fall)
The Band Slay’d On
The Temporary Hitman
Collection:
The Clocked-In Collection
Season 2:
Froggy Gone ‘A Killin’
X-Ray Spies
Copping to a Crime
Trace Walker used to think he was the smartest person in the room. And for a time…he was.
After a brief stint as a patrol office and then police detective, he left the Port Harbor P.D. to go private. However, he worked closely with the understaffed homicide department, knowing how to get exactly what they needed to close cases. As high profile crimes rolled in, Trace became somewhat of a celebrity in their coastal city, often putting his life in danger. When he started a relationship that he felt could go the distance, he backed off of the most deadly stuff.
However, danger paid better, and he decided he needed extra cash to keep up the lifestyle he and his lady had grown accustom to. So, Trace started B-roll footage of cheating spouses to Caughtindaact.org for major $$$. He’d made sure to obscure their deceitful faces, thinking he’d covered all his bases.
Trace should’ve also covered their tattoos. Turns out, he wasn’t the smartest person in the room, after all. The woman who’d suddenly discovered she was a porn star’s lawyer was. Under the “revenge porn” laws, Trace lost everything in the civil trial and just barely escaped jail time under the criminal one. A condition of his release stated that he’d never be allowed to have a P.I. license again. If he’s discovered investigating crimes, Trace could find himself behind bars this time.
Homicide Detective Ernesto Lopez earned the Top Fan Badge in the Trace Walker fan club, until his best buddy broke bad. That betrayal wounded Lopez’s soul, souring their relationship. The short-tracked-to-be-captain has made it his mission to see Trace go to jail. Having come from the poor side of the tracks, Lopez, a self-made man, hates it when someone “games” the system. He knows Trace can’t be caught actually investigating anything and yet, the pariah always manages to stay clean, probably with help from that weird agency he works for. Ironically, Lopez has no problem taking credit for the villains Trace discovers. Each time he does, it gets him one step closer to making Chief.
Cheryl Madsen is often Trace’s only friend in a world turned against him. She didn’t meet him until after his fall from grace, so judges him on the man he is today. Sometimes, that man is kind, dependable, and a half-way decent kisser. Other times, he’s frustrating, a user, and she wants to punch him in the kisser. Like when he takes advantage of her day job working at the DMV. Or drags her from her night job as a bartender to help him on a case he shouldn’t be investigating. But then, Trace gives her that lopsided smile of his, and she pulls his ass from the fire again. Cheryl often wonders if it’s him, or the danger, she’s attracted to more?
The Helping Hands Temporary Agency offered Trace a job after his name showed up on the sex offender’s list (not even Mickey D’s would hire him). Relieved that someone still found value in him, Trace signed on. However, there was a big catch not covered in his orientation packet.
On almost every assignment, Trace found himself in the middle of a murder or embezzlement or other crime that’d escaped the notice of his “betters” at the Port Harbor Police Department. Left with the choice of ignoring the evidence he’d come across, or risk his freedom, Trace finds ways to “accidentally” stumble upon the solution, much to the chagrin of Lopez.
While he’s never met her, his placement representative, Brandi Lestrange, is Trace’s only contact with the Agency. She can be emotionless and sardonic in alternate breaths. At times, Trace believes his rep wants him to fail, and others, Brandi is the only lifeline he has. She’s playing with him…keeping the Agency’s secrets close to the vest, but every so often, she drops a piece of the puzzle to him, if only to keep him interested. He was a detective, right? Can’t give him all the answers right away. What’s the fun in that?
The Clocked-in Collection:
Dave assembled the first sixteen published Trace Walker stories into a collection along with the behind-the-scenes look at what temp job he was on that inspired the story and original art. Added to it, was a seventeenth original story just for the collection. After a very limited run and currently out-of-print, Dave is considering revised version to include all twenty stories of the “first season” of TWTM, with the possibility of a second original story. Look for it sometime in 2026. (re-release coming 2026. First printing only had thirteen stories.)
He’s started writing “season two” to be titled, “Murder, He Temped.”