Oliver Dean Spencer Books In Order

Publication Order of Devon West Mystery Books

Publication Order of James Cartwright, P.I. Mystery Books

Publication Order of James Cartwright, P.I. Mystery Short Stories/Novellas

Author Oliver Dean Spencer is based out of Montreal, Canada. Spencer’s writing derives its stylistic inspiration from the hard-boiled P. I. pulp serials that date back to the thirties and fifties. Some favorite authors of Spencer’s include Philip K. Dick, Dashiell Hammett, Ross MacDonald, Raymond Chandler, and Edgar Allan Poe.

He got his (MFA) Master of Fine Arts Degree in Visual Arts at the University of Ottawa in the year 2010. He also got his (BFA) Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree from Concordia University, Montreal in the year 2008.

When Spencer is not busy working stories for his James Carwright series, he paints, spends time with his daughter, and plays chess at a local cafe.

Spencer gets inspired to write from the conversations he has with friends or the ones he overhears while in his local cafe. Conversations, just like dialogue in a story, begins to take on a life all its own, branching into different tangents. They seem random at first, but unexpectedly will start taking on an overarching and coherent purpose.

He writes the “James Cartwright P. I.” series of hard boiled stories. The series is made up of short stories Spencer released on a monthly basis. The first five stories, released by themselves, were released in “The Spencer Files”. It is a collection of sixteen stories, eleven of which tell a separate story all its own. These tales can be read from start to finish, or back to front, or any order at all. It allows the reader to dive right into the story at any entry point they so choose. Also included is a preview of the first novel of the series, called “Call of the Nightingale”, which was released in the year 2019.

“Tell Me That You Love Me” is the first story in the “James Cartwright P.I.” series, which was released in the year 2018. Former Detroit detective turned private investigator James Cartwright gets pulled right into a world of misdirection, corporate espionage, and murder. A runaway goes to Cartwright for help. She says that she has got evidence that will clear her boyfriend from the murder he has been charged with, but he will be executed in the next few hours. Will Cartwright be able to beat the hangman’s noose?

This is the first of a collection of short stories that feature James Cartwright, that plies his trade on Detroit’s backstreets. He is tough, cynical, and resourceful. He has a moral code he lives by that helps him be able to distinguish fact from fiction, right from wrong, and truth from lies. While Cartwright finds during his cases, it is one thing to believe in his code and another entirely to live by it.

“The Polka Dot Affair” is the second story in the “James Cartwright P.I.” series, which was released in the year 2018. During his latest case, Cartwright finds a sordid tale of murder, betrayal, and deceit. The clues do not come at all easy. He must match wits with the enigmatic Veronica Stone, and Sophie, a stripper and has a fascination for the color pink as well as a teen stowaway he finds on a yacht. This stowaway could have the critical key to cracking this case wide open.

The story is a fast-paced whodunit and mystery thriller short story that is in the tradition and the spirit of hard-boiled noir genre.

“The Spanish Curse” is the third story in the “James Cartwright P.I.” series, which was released in the year 2018. Cartwright attempts to race against the clock in order to prevent some ancient curse from claiming yet another life. An enigmatic elderly Spanish gentleman goes to Cartwright to get help to find a missing girl, and all hell breaks loose as a result. The girl supposedly stole a valuable artifact that belongs to his family.

Cartwright reveals though, is a sordid story of murder, deceit, and betrayal that stretches back through generations.

“The Final Ring” is the fourth story in the “James Cartwright P.I.” series, which was released in the year 2018. James Cartwright faces his most personal, puzzling, and deadly case to date. A sequence of recurring nightmares have got Cartwright on edge. When he gets called to help solve a case that involves a former cop buddy of his that has been charged with murder, he is reluctant, as he fears that his nightmare could soon turn into a reality.

This story brims with corruption, deceit, and betrayal.

This is a story sure to have you on the edge of your seat, as you try to figure things out ahead of Cartwright to its conclusion.

“The Conversation” is the fifth story in the “James Cartwright P.I.” series, which was released in the year 2018. Cartwright gets pulled right into a world of misdirection, corporate espionage, and murder. Albert Martin, a surveillance expert that was hired by a military contractor Consolidated Enterprises to investigate some irregularities, contacts James. When Martin goes missing all of a sudden, Cartwright quickly suspects Martin’s wife until he is visited unexpectedly by a pair of government spooks.

It seems these two are also hunting for Martin, whom they believe has got an incriminating and highly sensitive file. Two killings later, Cartwright races against time itself in the hopes he can prevent a third by hunting down the missing file and figuring out its secrets.

“Call of the Nightingale” is a novel in the “James Cartwright” series. During Cartwright’s latest case, he is called in to identify a young girl that has been charged with her grandfather’s murder. Cartwright has got no idea who the girl is, yet she says that her grandfather knew him. All of the evidence points to the girl being guilty, but Cartwright believes the girl is innocent of the grisly killing and goes out to prove it.

He soon realizes that this is no simple case of murder. There are sinister and dark forces at work and they have plans to release their formula that is set to redefine the genetic makeup as well as the future existence of all mankind.