Jan Dana

Dive deeper into the gritty world of the Acme Indemnity Op, a hardboiled investigator with a penchant for uncovering the truth in the murkiest of waters. In Volume 2, our elusive protagonist tackles a series of violent cases that reveal the darker side of human nature. From "Moveable Alibi" to "The Murder Was a Pleasure," each story unfolds in raw, first-person narrative, capturing the heart of the crime noir genre. Written by John Lawrence under the pseudonym Jan Dana, this collection promises relentless action, unexpected twists, and a thrilling glimpse into the life of a lone wolf who operates in the shadows.

He was a hardboiled lone-wolf investigator whose real name was never revealed. And he was a true company man, identified only by the name of the business he worked for, with an "Op" tagged at the end. His stories were tough and violent, and while they sometimes revealed him to be indecorous or not particularly heroic, he laid them all out in a straightforward, first-person style. He was, however, not the Continental Op. Credited as the author was the mysterious "Jan Dana," in reality John Lawrence: a former stockbroker and author of another long-running Dime Detective series, the Marquis of Broadway. Volume 1 collects the first six stories in the series. Includes an all-new introduction by John Wooley.