Bat Poe Series
Spanning a time frame from the 1970s to the present day, the Bat Poe series of novels follows an intrepid L.A. narcotics detective who just can’t stay out of trouble, even after he’s retired. Coauthored with a real-live retired narcotics sleuth, these books will take you into the gritty world of drug trafficking with a unique sense of humor that will have you chuckling to the last page.
67 Hours
January 8, 2019
Book 1 in the Bat Poe Novels series. When it comes to good guys and bad guys, they don’t make ‘em like they used to. It’s 1974 Los Angeles and two cops who never catch a break can feel a change coming. With a little luck and a lot of disregard for procedure, they’re not going to let anything stand in the way of finally getting ahead. Follow them for 67 hours and gain a vision of how police work used to be done, back when the line between the good guys and the bad guys really meant something.
Interstate 15
September 30, 2019
Book 2 in the Bat Poe Novels series. There comes a time in some investigations where a cop should do the smart thing and cut his losses. The problem Detectives Bat Poe and Fran Gomez have is that they’re many miles beyond that point, and never noticed when it passed. They’re stuck chasing a gang of drug dealers they’ve been after for years and have finally pushed things to the point where failure might cost them their careers and lives. Join them on the bad guys’ trail in the summer of 1978, as what should have been a routine case devolves into a study in vendetta and survival. Bat and Fran like to finish what they start, but this time their commitment will take them to the other end of the country and the edge of sanity. Strap in for a hell of a ride to the end of Interstate 15.
Terminal 9
February 25, 2020
Book 3 in the Bat Poe Novels series. A detective’s job is to learn the truth, but in 1983 Los Angeles narcotics detectives Bat Poe and Fran Gomez are having a hard time even figuring out what’s real, much less true. After having one of their suspects disappear in a mysterious jailbreak, they find themselves cast into a world of espionage and international intrigue that is a long way from an L.A. cop’s job description. Come along as they wager their careers and lives on the streets of the City of Angels and the runways of LAX.
Echo 3
June 30, 2020
Book 4 in the Bat Poe Novels series. Detective Bat Poe has been a cop for a long time, and it would appear that there is nothing he can’t handle. But when he is rendered unfit for duty from a bump on the head during a routine drug bust, that illusion dissolves. Effectively put out to pasture, Bat finds himself at the tail end of his career spending his days on what he considers a useless endeavor: training a police dog. Just when it looks as if he’ll never be good for anything again, he teams up with another dishonored cop, and together they embark on what might be Bat’s greatest adventure. Echo 3 proves that old dogs can still learn new tricks.
April 29
August 23, 2020
The L.A. riots have been called the city’s darkest hour. April 29th, 1992 is a day when a career police officer like Bat Poe should be trying to quell the civil unrest, but he’s got private problems to deal with. As the city burns, Bat and his long-time partners Fran Gomez and Derek Doyle are out to find a Columbian cartel boss who has targeted Bat’s family. Follow the boys through the chaos of L.A. under siege and see the riots and law enforcement from a wholly new perspective.
51 Kilos
April 5, 2021
After too many long and bloody years working the mean streets of Los Angeles as narcotics cops, Detectives Bat Poe and Fran Gomez have decided to retire and move on to the quiet life. They’ve bought a couple of nice little suburban homes in Boulder City, Nevada and have gotten retirement gigs in the insurance industry. Theoretically, their daily commute to the office should be the most excitement they’ll ever face again. Unfortunately, the world doesn’t always give people what they want. Bat and Fran are allowed precious little peace and quiet before they are once again drawn into their same old set of problems, but without the LAPD paycheck or the privileges that come with a badge. Bat and Fran might want to walk away from their old life, but the bad guys won’t let them. Follow the boys as they push their luck in Vegas, right up to the breaking point.
3 Alchemists
June 6, 2021
Some guys just can’t relax in a rocking chair, even if they should. Bat Poe and Fran Gomez haven’t been cops for a long time, but that’s not making their lives any safer. Bare moments away from retiring from their sunset positions in the insurance industry, Bat and Fran find themselves mired in yet another narcotics trafficking investigation. There’s a blown-up minivan on an Air Force base that’s perked their curiosity and it’s got them in over their heads. By now, they should know that discretion is the better part of valor, but they just can’t help it. Come along as Bat and Fran work one last case that might prove to be one too many.
Odd Number of Things
August 30, 2021
All things must come to an end, and Bat Poe is nearing his. Retired to Montana, Bat is finding his twilight years to be something of a drag. Most of Bat’s friends, coworkers, and even enemies have passed away. He’s begun to feel like the last man standing of his generation and he doesn’t care for it. Fortunately, fate intervenes and Bat is pulled out of his doldrums when a man Bat had assumed would die in prison finally gets parole. Come along for the ride while Bat Poe and his recently released nemesis, Doc Wilson, prove that you’re never too old to raise hell.
Elmer Gilhooley Series
Perched on a Scarecrow
May 3, 2012
Elmer Gilhooley has everything a guy could want. At just over thirty he’s retired and living off an ill-gotten windfall that he came into at his last job as a bounty hunter. He has a nice little house, a huge gun collection and plenty of time on his hands to enjoy both. His only problem is utter boredom and a longing for the sense of purpose and excitement that he used to know. When Elmer’s former boss lands him a new job to break up the monotony things get real interesting again, real quick. In no time at all he lands himself in a knee-deep mess of crooked officials. A new romantic entanglement further complicates matters: getting framed, getting even and getting out alive are all things Elmer has a lot of experience with but none of that has prepared him for the rigors of being a boyfriend. As his troubles multiply Elmer soon discovers that being extraordinary in some respects means that it is very hard to be ordinary in everyday life.
Beneath the Poison Tree
February 28, 2017
Life has gotten a little boring for Elmer Gilhooley. He hates his job as a process server and he’s so bad at it that he gets fired and rehired monthly when his employers are chronically unable to find a replacement. For a hobby, Elmer has taken to poaching wolves to annoy the local game warden, but so far the response isn’t what he’d hoped for. It looks as if Elmer may never have any fun again until a chance to resume his old job as a bounty hunter comes along. At first, Elmer is thrilled to have a break from the monotony of day-to-day life, but he soon discovers that he’s just about the only one with fond memories of what he considers to be the “good old days”. As the past rushes to catch up to the present Elmer begins to realize that he’s the kind of man a lot of people never forget.
Near the Oblivion River
September 30, 2019
Elmer Gilhooley has come to the conclusion that being a gunman is a rather thankless job. His friends won’t talk to him, he’s got no job, his girl left town, and shooting prairie dogs is his only entertainment. He would like to forget the past and be left alone. He’s resigned himself to staying out in the woods and keeping his head down, until he draws one of Montana’s rare bighorn sheep tags and is convinced to go hunting in the Missouri Breaks. Elmer’s hunt takes a nasty turn when he discovers that he’s the kind of man who is not easily forgotten or forgiven.
Standalone Novels
The Junkyard Dogs
April 30, 2015
It’s 1998 and a small group of Montana teenagers are rapidly stumbling towards their high school graduation. As the boys wile away their last days of real youth they have no concerns and their only goal is to continue as they always have: drinking, stealing and having a good time. As graduation day approaches the boys come to realize that the juvenile games they have been playing have very real consequences in the grownup world.
An Instructive Tale
November 20, 2018
Meet Mr. Conley, a shooting instructor who trains people in the time-honored American custom of self-defense. He also practices self-defense, but only when he can’t come up with a better option. Most hitmen live in fear of the legal system, but Conley considers it his best friend. In a world where there’s nothing new under the sun, Conley has worked out a whole new twist for a very old game.
The Three Screw Man
April 30, 2017
There are some people who just shouldn’t socialize. Clyde Vallon has managed to carve out what he considers to be his own little piece of heaven in rural Montana. He only has to go into town once a month and usually only has to speak to one person during the trip. To the outside observer it might sound like Clyde is merely frittering away a lonely life, but it suits him right down to the ground. Everything changes when Clyde has the poor luck to get pulled over by two clumsy cops and meets a judge with far too many idle hours. As Clyde finds himself immersed deeper and deeper in small town society he longs to get back to the mountains -- and most of the town’s citizens come to agree that he should have stayed out in the woods. Some people are just better off left alone.
Curriculum Vitae
August 12, 2015
Have you ever met a principled criminal? How about an ethical snitch or, more unimaginable still, a truthful politician? Here’s your chance to read the completely honest work history of a man who is all these things. Follow Frank Marten through the strange coincidences that either plague him, save him…or both. This is the story of a man who rises far higher than anyone ever thought he would -- despite his best efforts -- and becomes the one thing he never thought he would be: a good man.
Sunset Road
September 11, 2010
Jake McCarthy and Peter Grayson are next-door neighbors who have been friends since childhood. Although they are all but brothers, their respective life experiences have given them dramatically different world views. Peter is a well-paid computer technician, constantly trying to improve his material lot in life at the behest of his gold-digging girlfriend. Jake is a bounty hunter who is utterly indifferent to the people and the world around him. Each man recognizes the shortcomings in his friend’s life without acknowledging the problems in his own--until Jake saves a mutual childhood friend in a roadside gunfight. Upon reflection, the two men determine that the most expedient way to right the wrongs in their mediocre lives is to rob a local insurance company. As their scheme unfolds, problems arise when the vengeful family of the men Jake killed comes after him in pursuit of old-west style vigilante justice.
Short Stories
The Great American Gun Fight
January 6, 2021
In this short volume Robert Ryan examines the American gun debate and the role he plays in it along with the rest of the country. With acerbic wit and striking practicality, Ryan also takes the time to examine current American gun laws and their effectiveness. Flip through this volume and find out what everybody’s been fighting about, or what they think they’ve been fighting about.
Helena Papers
October 26, 2019
Writers have been making fun of elected officials and government employees ever since the first caption was added to some crude graffiti on a temple wall. It’s an age-old practice, but hardly egalitarian. Most scribes only waste ink on kings, prime ministers, or presidents. Here, for the first time, anyone drawing government pay is considered an equal, at least in the author’s hometown. This is America. This is a democracy. You shouldn’t have to be nationally famous to have somebody make fun of you.In this volume, Robert Ryan makes a few observations regarding those in Helena’s governmental machine that are generally overlooked and finds new ways to lampoon old standards. From meter maids right up to the governor, few escape. If you think there’s nothing funny about bureaucracy, The Helena Papers will change your mind.
Gut Piles
December 1, 2021
In today’s high-strung, overly sensitive world, it is hard to find practical advice. This is why Robert Ryan has taken the liberty of compiling this volume of hunting wisdom that cuts to the quick about everything a hunter might need to know, but can’t generally get a straight answer on. If you are having a hard time coming to grips with the fact that you hate elk hunting or don’t know the proper method for stealing your friend’s boat, this volume can help. Gut Piles includes all the information the other hunters won’t admit to and a few things they never even considered.
Near Misses
March 16, 2015
A motley crew of characters including: a werewolf hunter, a math geek who turns into a supercriminal when he drinks, a game warden who's found a brand new way to poach, a crusty old crook bemoaning America's criminal youth and a bank robber whose most dangerous experience occurs at a real job. These are but a few of the strange inventions of Robert Ryan's mind that you'll find in this short story collection that refuses to be defined, but never fails to entertain.
Standard Deviation
October 18, 2017
Ever wonder what that creepy guy with the crooked nose is thinking? Ever wish you could know what goes on in his head -- from a safe distance? Well, here’s your chance. Here, for the first time, Robert Ryan offers you the opportunity to get an inside look at the world of bounty hunters, bail bondsmen, big game hunters, gun writers, criminals and misanthropes, all from the comfort of your own home without the danger of standing too close to him. Standard Deviation shows the funny side of life with scumbags, scuzzballs, and homicidal moose. From advice on how to properly kill your girlfriend’s dog to the proper methods to employ when making change for prostitutes, this book has all the information you were always too squeamish to ask about.