Nocturnity P.I. Volume 2 by Scott Blasingame

 Nocturnity P.I. Volume 2 by Scott Blasingame

Martial arts author extraordinaire Scott Blasingame returns to the snarky, fight-filled world of private investigator Parker Cassidy in this second anthology book.

For the uninitiated, Parker Cassidy is a cop-turned-P.I. who is also a former amateur kickboxer, known by his peers and fans as "The Kempo Kid." His mouth is as fast as his fists and kicks, and he unleashes a barrage of puns and dad jokes as he deals with the scummiest elements of our society...and I don't mean the President's cabinet. Although Blasingame is just as detailed and creative in the martial arts-in-prose as he is expected to be, he is a master of entertaining dialog and the characters are always fun to read, even when they are engaging in fisticuffs.

In volume 2, Cassidy finds himself taking on a plethora of new enemies: mobsters, seven-foot-tall mountains of muscle, arms dealers, gangbangers, crooked cops...the whole she-bang-a-bang. The stories also bring back supporting characters from the previous book, including "Joe Joe" the Bounty Hunter, Keith "Clubfoot" Cunningham, and a certain deadbeat dad. Some of his run-ins with villainy are directly related to stories from the previous anthology, which gives the collection a nice sense of continuity, like a mobster trying to save face from a scuffle at a chop-shop in the previous book.

The book also gives us not one, but two opportunities to see (or read) Parker interacting with his mother, who was the butt of so many jokes in the first story. And she really is a piece of work. One of the few people who can keep up with his sense of humor, she has a few tricks of her own up her sleeve when the bad guys get in too close.

The best story is "Worst First Date," in which Parker has a reunion with a character from Volume 1. That one is filled with fighting, gunplay, romance, intrigue and even some heartbreak. Great writing from Scott. As in the last book, the anthology ends in a sparring match between Parker and another character, although Scott finds some creative ways to not make it a simple rehash of "Sparring Partners." And as usual, I enjoy the banter between those two particular characters. And one running theme of the stories is that very few of them end with him getting paid; a lot of the drama that he is getting mixed up in occurs after hours, or circumstances prevent him from making the meager salary he already earns. Poor guy. Wants to do the right thing. Takes the lumps to get it done. And then has nothing to show for it.