Standalone Novels
Cindy’s Story
After walking out on yet another convenience store job, Cindy needed to find herself a new job as quickly as possible, otherwise she was going to end up broke and living on the street. Her apartment manager informed her that his brother, a private investigator, was looking for an assistant, so he offered to make a call for her to see if he could arrange an interview. With no other prospects, she jumped at the chance for not only quick employment, but also a new career that would get her out of the convenience store business once and for all.
As it turns out, being a private detective isn’t as glamorous as they make it look on television. It comes with certain indignities and moral issues that she’d never really considered before she applied for the position. Not only that, but Frank, her boss, seems to delight in pissing her off. The only thing he seems to enjoy more than pissing her off is complaining about how horrible her coffee is, yet for some reason that she can’t quite seem to figure out, he goes out of his way to help her succeed in any way that he possibly can. Then she’s got his sister Kayla to deal with. She’s like a nightmare on wheels with no empathy and no filter whatsoever, so you never know what’s going to come out of her mouth next.
The one thing Cindy’s got going for her is that she’s got a super high aptitude for the job, so all she needs to do in order to succeed is to learn how to control her temper, work hard, and most importantly…learn how to make a decent cup of coffee. The first two are relatively simple, but the third…not so much.
Standalone Novel Trivia
Cindy’s Story Trivia
This story originated from a random story I told someone on Facebook chat one day to entertain them while they were at work. It was all just spur of the moment and off the top of my head, but I liked how it came out, so I started working on it after I finished book 20 of the Unseen Things series.
This book was only ever intended to be a standalone. I wanted to get a non-series book done and published so I could not only use it to introduce people to my writing, but also so I could possibly farm it out to an agent who might be more reticent to accept a huge series rather than a single novel.
In chapter 3 when Frank comically feigns caffeine withdrawal, it’s a nod to Adam Sandler’s The Waterboy, when Bobby’s mom has the “brain pain”.
In chapter 4 Frank mentions losing his penis in a bizarre gardening accident when he was twelve. This is a little nod to how one of Spinal Tap’s many drummers died. Then when she calls him on it because she’d already seen it during her interview, he says, Well, it got better.” This is a nod to Monty Python and the Holy Grail’s witch burning scene where John Cleese says she turned him into a Newt, but he got better.
In chapter 15 when Cindy says she was just hangin’ out, playin’ Nintendo, that’s a reference to the movie Baseketball.
In chapter 16, Frank says, “Lotta people tell me that.” That’s a reference to a bit at the beginning of one of Andrew Dice Clay’s concert videos.
By Duane • Series and Standalone Novels • 0