Mr. Smith and the Roach by J.J. DiBenedetto

A retired cop and a six-foot-tall cockroach team up to solve a mystery.

Mr. smith and the roach

John Smith has a problem.  He’s a retired cop whose pension just got wiped out, and he doesn’t know why or how.  Now he needs to find a roommate to help pay the bills.

Sam has a problem.  He’s a six-foot-tall talking cockroach and he doesn’t know who created him, or why, or how.  Now he needs a place to live.

Thrown together as roommates and amateur detectives, Mr. Smith and the Roach realize their problems might be related. 

But those problems are far more complicated than they imagined, and before all is said and done, they’ll run afoul of a Russian gangster, an imprisoned Mafia don, a crooked Wall Street banker, a mad scientist and, maybe worst of all, Mr. Smith’s baby sister.

Can they get to the bottom of an unbelievable plot before someone exterminates the Roach – and Mr. Smith – for good?  

Genre: FICTION / Mystery & Detective / Hard-Boiled

Secondary Genre: FICTION / Occult & Supernatural

Language: English

Keywords: weird, mystery, police, mafia, mad scientists, new york

Word Count: 62000

Sales info:

This is a new book, but it has sold well and has over 20 5-star reviews.


Sample text:

The day had begun like every other day since his retirement.  John awoke at seven AM and reached over the pile of unopened mail stacked high on his bedside table to silence the alarm clock. 

Unlike every other day, he was clumsy, and knocked the top two or three inches of the pile onto the floor.  He sighed as he climbed out of bed and bent over to retrieve the envelopes that had fallen.  Before he put them back, to be ignored for another day, something made him look more closely at them, specifically the envelope from his bank.

He recalled receiving it the day before.  He’d assumed it was his monthly statement, although now he thought about it, those usually arrived the first week of the month.  Yesterday was the 22nd of October.  And the envelope was lighter than the ones that usually carried his statements. 

It was not a statement.  Instead, it was something John hadn’t received in nearly forty years: an overdraft notice.  The last time – the only time – he’d bounced a check, Jimmy Carter was President, and the original “Star Wars” was still a month away from premiering in theaters.


Book translation status:

The book is available for translation into any language except those listed below:

LanguageStatus
Portuguese
Already translated. Translated by nick hops
Spanish
Already translated. Translated by Ana Medina

Would you like to translate this book? Make an offer to the Rights Holder!



  Return