32 Comments
User's avatar
Donkey Konger's avatar

Another great one, April. When should we expect the next part of the story when someone digs up the body?

April's avatar

Well Myra is now beyond the long arm of the law, while Bill is on the lam in France. But new Bill story in the works.

Ethny's avatar

What a great story! People, eh? April, you know how to write em! Wow, Thank you!

April's avatar

Thank you🤩

Acd's avatar

I got a little nervous when the Fuzz started getting curious and I was afraid Bill might have to dig a second hole. Even better, Myra got out of her sales slump—this was a modern noir with a happy ending.

G Jetson's avatar

Very enjoyable! The dialogue sounds so realistic to me, particular at the gas station with the cop. It's hard to do that well.

This cannot be the end of the story. Or maybe it's the end of this vignette in your larger 1991 California universe.

Henry C.'s avatar

Pot growing/smoking hippie that speaks hebrew. An ACF B&B cameo?

Speed's avatar

so im not the only one that thought it was ronnie

April's avatar

I have another Bill story in the works, takes place in 1966 and 1979.

Speed's avatar

but will it be in detroit though

April's avatar

Bill is an LA guy. I do have a ghost story I am working on that takes place in Detroit.

-Nate's avatar

We're waiting, I'll go make more ice and popcorn .

-Nate

Speed's avatar

finally a happy ending

at least i hope it ends on a high note

Andrew White's avatar

Fantastic. The pacing, dialog, tension, all good stuff.

April's avatar

Thank you Andrew 😎

linearphase's avatar

Just another day in the life of a car salesperson, carry on.

April's avatar

Life of a car salesperson is always intense. Apologies to Repo Man

Gene's avatar

Well hell....I was hoping for more XJ6.

April's avatar

I promise to include an English car in a future story yet to be written 😉

Rick T.'s avatar

“A filling station on the corner of Hollywood Boulevard and Van Ness was being redeveloped when workmen jackhammering the foundation discovered the skeleton of a woman buried in the concrete.”

Sounds like a case for Bosch!

April's avatar

A true story but the city wasn’t Los Angeles

unsafe release's avatar

This is my favourite of your stories thus far. I like the way you alternate viewpoints between your characters.

It’s also key that you don’t spend too much time on the cars. The story is about the characters, not what they’re driving, and I think you’ve balanced this very well.

Well done, I’m looking forward to more from you!

April's avatar

Thank you. I feel most authors will obsess over fashion or guns but never mention automobiles. Perhaps the most ubiquitous element of modern society and the most personal possession we have. So they deserve more attention but maybe not a staring role?

unsafe release's avatar

Exactly right. The best authors might make a sparing reference to the vehicle type and let your imagination do the rest; “Varchenko spotted the Lada three cars back with the driver hiding the sedan behind a five ton and carefully maintaining a distance between them.”

April's avatar

Yes but what colour Lada, what model, what condition? Drives me mad, especially when it’s something like, “he got into a black sports car.”

James Burns's avatar

We need new seasons of Bosch

sgeffe's avatar

Gotta wonder how she explained the missing trunk liner away!

April's avatar

Seville went to auction. 😎

-Nate's avatar

So very well written .

I remember communes & dirty hippies in Northern California in 1969, I've hated hippies ever since .

You really had to be there to understand .

Not long ago I stumbled upon an aging hippie in the woods up North a bit, he sold me the gas tank off his girlfriends old Honda Motocyle, the house was just as one would expect : all wood, no paint / preservatives, leaded glass windows and all falling apart .

I was wondering why he didn't bring any powdered lime .

-Nate

April's avatar

A strange breed indeed, to turn against the wonderful cornucopia of American consumerism at the time is near sacrilegious.

T Michaels's avatar

That damn Dr. Leary’s advice sure created a movement. But like most things inspired by drugs, it didn’t make much sense and it didn’t end well.

-Nate's avatar

C'est La Vie, non ? .

-Nate