The Val Lyon Stories

"... down these mean streets a man must go who is not himself mean, who is neither tarnished or afraid."
-- Raymond Chandler (1888-1959)

In Hawaii the beaches can be as mean as the streets and it might be a woman who has to go down them.

Meet Val Lyon

Val Lyon, sexy Honolulu Private Eye, has two things men want -- a big gun and a sweet jump shot. She is an ex-cop and an ex-pro basketball player with a PI's ticket. Val can handle a gun as easily as she handles a basketball. You can catch her exploits in her debut novel, Pilikia Is My Business, now available as an ebook or trade paperback from LTDBooks .

Click on the cover to read the first chapter

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Pilikia Is My Business, is available as an ebook from LTDBooks in either download or on disk. It is also available in trade paperback.

ISBN: disk: 1-55316-033-9

From Pilikia Is My Business:

My name is Val Lyon. Pilikia is my business.
Pilikia means "trouble" in the Hawaiian language. You pronounce it "pi" as in what children do in the swimming pool, "li" as in the Confederate general, "ki," an instrument to open locks, and "ah." At one in the afternoon, two weeks before Christmas, I had an appointment with an attorney about some pilikia.

Since 1998, Val's adventures have appeared in several magazines and on the web. You can join the many fans who have thrilled to her tales of mystery, suspense and action. See what the honcho of the hardboiled, the sultan of shamus, the Thrilling Detective himself, Kevin Burton Smith, has to say about Val.

The Short Stories:

Wahine O' Ka Hoe. Murderous Intent Mystery Magazine, Spring 1998. Now you can read it here in PDF format.

From Wahine O' Ka Hoe:

There were six of us in the canoe, all wahine, stabbing and pulling in unison as Leilani Fo, in the strokes bow seat, pounded out the pace. The craft throbbed with each punch of the paddles -- seventy-two throbs per minute. The canoe was alive, sensing, surging ahead as our paddles ripped the sea.

Drop Dead Zone. Mystery Buff Magazine, April 1998. Now you can read it here in PDF format.

From Drop Dead Zone:

The lyrics to American Pie tumbled through my head: "This will be the day that I die." I sat on the floor of the Cessna, knees to chest, bound in a webbed harness that clamped the blood flow below my crotch and squashed my boobs like a medieval breast band. My insides churned like chem lab beakers.
.

Kill Leader. Plots With Guns, Fall1999/Winter 2000.

From Kill Leader:

Paula Evangelista's weapon was her fabulous arm speed. On this day, at Dolphin Bay Resort, it was on display. She leapt high in the air, swung her fist through the top of the arc, and crushed the volleyball over the net. It exploded in the sand, centimeters from the hands of a diving Karen Szymanski. Another kill for "Vengelista."

Homewreckers. NEFARIOUS-Tales of Mystery. December 1999.

From Homewreckers:

The telephone jangle yanked me to consciousness. I flicked on the light and reached for the receiver, knocking the hotel services directory to the floor. My watch said six ten in the morning. Somebody was going to pay for this. I dragged the phone to my pillow. Mumbled something about death to whoever disturbed my beauty sleep.

The Big Dance With Death. FUTURES. June/July 2001. On your newstand now. If you can't find FUTURES on the rack, you can order a copy online

From The Big Dance With Death:

Memorial Arena on the campus of U.C. Santa Christa had not changed in the years I'd been away. It still smelled like floor polish and competition. The hardwood gleamed like a California sunset. I stopped at the edge and removed my shoes before stepping onto the court on which my girlfriends and I had left so much sweat and tears.

Teed Off. Appearing in Fedora: Private Eyes and Tough Guys, an anthology of private eyes stories edited by Michael Bracken, published by Wildside Press, 2001. ISBN: 1-58715-554-0

TEED OFF was named one of the fifty best mysteries of 2001 by Otto Penzler and James Ellroy, editors of Best American Mystery Stories, 2002.

From Teed Off:

Glenn Floeck moved down concourse C of Honolulu International Airport as though he expected everybody to get out of his way. Most people did. Not so much because he was Glenn Floeck, whom few people recognized, but because he strode in the wake of a black man the size of a Lincoln Towncar. The black man hefted a golf bag carrier over his shoulder as though it were a middle schooler's book bag.

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	Wahine O' Ka Hoe. Murderous Intent Mystery Magazine, Spring 1998. Now you can read it here in PDF format. From Wahine O' Ka Hoe: There were six of us in the canoe, all wahine, stabbing and pulling in unison as Leilani Fo, in the strokes bow seat, pounded out the pace. The craft throbbed with each punch of the paddles -- seventy-two throbs per minute. The canoe was alive, sensing, surging ahead as our paddles ripped the sea.
	Drop Dead Zone. Mystery Buff Magazine, April 1998. Now you can read it here in PDF format. From Drop Dead Zone: The lyrics to American Pie tumbled through my head: "This will be the day that I die." I sat on the floor of the Cessna, knees to chest, bound in a webbed harness that clamped the blood flow below my crotch and squashed my boobs like a medieval breast band. My insides churned like chem lab beakers. .
	Kill Leader. Plots With Guns, Fall1999/Winter 2000. From Kill Leader: Paula Evangelista's weapon was her fabulous arm speed. On this day, at Dolphin Bay Resort, it was on display. She leapt high in the air, swung her fist through the top of the arc, and crushed the volleyball over the net. It exploded in the sand, centimeters from the hands of a diving Karen Szymanski. Another kill for "Vengelista."
	Homewreckers. NEFARIOUS-Tales of Mystery. December 1999. From Homewreckers: The telephone jangle yanked me to consciousness. I flicked on the light and reached for the receiver, knocking the hotel services directory to the floor. My watch said six ten in the morning. Somebody was going to pay for this. I dragged the phone to my pillow. Mumbled something about death to whoever disturbed my beauty sleep.
	The Big Dance With Death. FUTURES. June/July 2001. On your newstand now. If you can't find FUTURES on the rack, you can order a copy online From The Big Dance With Death: Memorial Arena on the campus of U.C. Santa Christa had not changed in the years I'd been away. It still smelled like floor polish and competition. The hardwood gleamed like a California sunset. I stopped at the edge and removed my shoes before stepping onto the court on which my girlfriends and I had left so much sweat and tears.
	Teed Off. Appearing in Fedora: Private Eyes and Tough Guys, an anthology of private eyes stories edited by Michael Bracken, published by Wildside Press, 2001. ISBN: 1-58715-554-0 TEED OFF was named one of the fifty best mysteries of 2001 by Otto Penzler and James Ellroy, editors of Best American Mystery Stories, 2002. From Teed Off: Glenn Floeck moved down concourse C of Honolulu International Airport as though he expected everybody to get out of his way. Most people did. Not so much because he was Glenn Floeck, whom few people recognized, but because he strode in the wake of a black man the size of a Lincoln Towncar. The black man hefted a golf bag carrier over his shoulder as though it were a middle schooler's book bag.