EIGHT VERY BAD NIGHTS is here!

Eight Very Bad Nights

It’s pub day for the short story anthology Eight Very Bad Nights: A Collection of Hanuhhah Noirwhich includes my nasty novella “If Were a Rich Man,” featuring Ray Boyd, the “anti-Reacher,” a character I introduced in my collection Crown Vic.

The other ten stories in Eight Very Bad Nights are by James D.F. Hannah, David L. Ulin, Ivy Pochoda,  Nikki Dolson, J.R. Angelella, Jim Ruland, Liska Jacobs, Gabino Iglesias, and Stefanie Leder, and my brother Tod, who edited the book and wrote the foreword.

This is the first time Tod and I have been in a book together…and it’s perhaps the first time you can clearly tell by our stories that we’re brothers. I’m sure if we swapped bylines on his story and mine, nobody would notice the difference. But you can be the judge of that. 

The reviews for the book have been terrific, but of course I’m especially happy about the ones that call out my story for special attention…

“My favorite story in Eight Very Bad Nights is Lee Goldberg’s “If I Were a Rich Man,” featuring his anti-hero Ray Boyd tracking down a bundle of stolen cash during Hanukkah. Boyd plays all the notes just right and even falls into a honeytrap with both eyes open. Of course, everything works out for Boyd and the trip is a blast.” Dark City Underground

“Tod Goldberg’s titular story as well as brother Lee’s “If I Were a Rich Man” — the latter involving a Jewish ex-con, now a dementia patient in a retirement home in Merced — bring on the funny while being wildly observant.” Los Angeles Times

Fair warning… “If I Were a Rich Man” is a sharp and crude departure from my other fiction. It’s full of violence and explicit sex. So if you’re looking for the kind of stuff I wrote with Janet Evanovich, or for Monk and Diagnosis Murder, you are going to be disappointed and, perhaps, offended.