The Death Of Ronnie Sweets Part 21

He fills in the blanks.

Neil Cullum's facing a manslaughter charge. Killing his own father. I get the impression that if Lindsay had his way, Cullum would be getting a medal.

It was Cullum called the police. They found him weeping over his father's corpse, still holding the knife he'd wrestled from the old man. I was a couple of feet away on the landing. They'd thought I was dead too, when they first saw me.

I think about how Cullum's life has been pulled apart.

Because of his father. Because of the expectations of family. He had wanted to believe that somehow he and his dad had a connection because they were flesh and blood.

But being a parent is about more than that.

Flesh and blood only counts for so much.

After the DS is gone, Ros comes into the ward and sits beside my bed. I reach and take her hand. She looks at me, and her brow furrows. She seems uncertain what to say as though she still hasn't worked out how to react.

I try for a smile. "I hope this isn't a preview of future Fathers' Days."

She doesn't return the smile.

More than anything, she looks scared.

I take a deep breath. My voice has been coming in fits and bursts, like my vocal chords have forgotten how to work properly.

"I've made a decision," I say. "About the business. About our future." And when I say our I'm thinking about all three of us.

Ros doesn't say anything.

So I tell her.

AFTERWORD AND CASE NOTES.

By the author.

It's a strange feeling, to look back on your old work.

In a.s.sembling this collection, I had to re-read some stories I hadn't looked at since initial publication. That's odd for any writer. You see ticks and quirks you had forgotten, parts of yourself that belong to another age. You forget how different you used to sound, how much you've learned over the years.

Which isn't to say that I'm ashamed of any of these stories. Quite the opposite, in fact. I'm immensely proud of them. When I first began this project, Kevin Burton Smith of Thrilling Detective Magazine urged me not to make any changes to the stories. He cited the case of John D MacDonald's OLD STORIES, where the author made substantial edits to his original works. Mr Smith urged me to let these stories breathe "warts and all", and I have attempted to do so wherever possible. Admittedly, some deletions have been made here and there, where certain lines made me want to weep upon re-reading. I think there were maybe four such clunkers in total, and all confined to one story. Which is pretty staggering when you consider that I'm my own worst critic. I won't tell you which story it was, but I think even KBS would have to agree with me if he read the original lines..

As Sean Chercover notes in his introduction (after mentioning and how could he resist? about the time I ruined his shoes - - and let me re-iterate that it's the absolute truth concerning the mushroom allergy) Sam was essentially a dry run for the character of J McNee who appeared in my later novels. Sam's an easier going character, I think, than McNee. Certainly less tragic.

But he's no less fuelled by a sense of unjustice in the world. In his own eyes, Sam is the embodiment of the fictional white knight. He is the only man who can set the world to rights. And as much as this is a virtue, we see it can just as often be a curse. Sam is apt to act in the heat of the moment (witness his "interrogation" of Beany in What Friends Are For), absolutely convinced of his own righteousness and to h.e.l.l with the consequences. He is, in short, exactly what I intended him to be: the traditional hardboiled PI transplanted to modern Scotland.

Sam's rougher edges are smoothed, thank goodness, by the supporting cast. I still am half in love with Ros, which is I think as in love as you can be with a fictional creation. As to Sandy, he was always meant to be far darker than he eventually became. Although hints of the past I had originally planned for him do sneak through in one or two of the stories. And then there's Babs, who was meant to have a far larger role when I took the stories to novel length. Unlike the traditional private eye's secretary who tends to be cast in a wife/emotional partner role, Babs was always intended to be a mother figure. I like to think that fear of Babs's disapproval was often what kept Sam more or less on the straight and narrow.

Of course, Sam's story isn't finished. Not quite yet. Eagle eyed readers of my novels will have spotted that Sam appears in THE GOOD SON (and indeed that J McNee appears in one of these short stories), providing some hint as to his fate. As such it might be worth noting that all of these stories occur prior to 2007/8, even the ones written after those years. It's not necessary to your enjoyment that you know that, of course. It just helps if, like me, you're a freakish continuity geek. But there's every possibility that a few more stories will appear that fill in the gaps between Sam's last appearance and his short but sweet appearance at the start of J McNee's investigative career.

Anyway, I guess all there's left for me to say is that I hope you enjoyed these stories. While they have all appeared before, I know a great many of you will have missed them during their first run, and there's something kind of cool about collecting them together like this. I'm seeing some of the stories in a whole new light and finding to my delight and surprise that they still hold up after all this time. I certainly hope you feel the same.

Russel D McLean.

Dundee, 14/08/11.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS.

With thanks to, Mum and Dad who've been there from the beginning.

Allan "Suns.h.i.+ne" Guthrie Cheese addict, agent, editor, friend, and sensei-like guide to the vagaries of digital publication.

JT Lindroos for another brilliant cover.

Linda Landrigan, Kevin Burton Smith, Gerald So, Sandra Ruttan, Brian Lindenmuth who all gave Sam a home at one time or another and in many cases helped him to find his voice.

The Do Some Damage Crew for helping resurrect Sam in 2011.

The Readers all of you, everywhere. Those who read the novels, those who read the shorts, and especially those of you who said nice things and didn't object to the naughty words. Thank you, all.

Also by Russel D McLean.

The J McNee novels:.

The Good Son.

(UK Kindle).

(US Kindle) (UK paperback from Five Leaves Publications).

(US hardback from St Martins Press).

The Lost Sister.

(UK Kindle - forthcoming).

(US Kindle) (UK paperback from Five Leaves Publications).

(US hardback from St Martins Press).