A Study in Crimson

In this thrilling prequel to the series, readers will encounter "a younger, devil-may-care Dakota at his charming, witty and resourceful best."

DAKOTA BEGINS...

Dakota Stevens has just thrown off the shackles of the FBI and launched his own private detective agency. But it's not going well. His so-called cases are limited to tawdry divorce work, and his personal life is a shambles. In short, Dakota Stevens is a hot mess.

Back to School...

Enter the Director of the FBI, who compels Dakota to go undercover at an Ivy League university. His task? To rescue a college coed from the clutches of a Svengali-like sex researcher.

Dakota Meets Svetlana...

While working the case, Dakota meets sexy international chess grandmaster Svetlana Krüsh. Svetlana, bored with her chess career, is seeking a new challenge. Dakota desperately needs an associate of her caliber, but the two get off to a rocky start.

Learning the PI Trade...

Can Dakota navigate a minefield that includes flirtatious coeds, passionate professors, hired thugs, and former FBI colleagues? Can he repair his personal life? Can he learn to trust Svetlana? And, most importantly, can he rescue the girl in time?

A Devil-May-Care Dakota...

A Study in Crimson, the prequel to the critically acclaimed Dakota Stevens Mystery Series, shows a younger, devil-may-care Dakota at his charming, witty, and resourceful best.

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Publication Date: 10-18-2018
Publisher: Have Pen, Will Travel Publishing
Binding Type: Paperback (print)
ISBN 13: 978-0996278393
No. of Pages: 368

Chris Orcutt

About Chris Orcutt

CHRIS ORCUTT has written professionally for 25 years as a novelist, journalist, scriptwriter, playwright and speechwriter. He has also taught high school U.S. history and college writing. As a newspaper reporter he received a New York Press Association award.

Chris is the author of the critically acclaimed Dakota Stevens Mystery Series. The first novel in the series, A REAL PIECE OF WORK, was an Amazon bestseller and achieved a #1 top-rated ranking in Literary Fiction for Kindle, and #4 in Mystery.

Chris considers himself first and foremost a general practitioner in fiction writing, and has written a great deal of non-genre fiction. He has had well over two dozen short stories published in literary journals, and his short fiction has won a few modest awards, most notably 55 Fiction's World's Shortest Stories. Chris's short story collection, THE MAN, THE MYTH, THE LEGEND, was selected by IndieReader as one of the Best Books of 2013.

In April 2014, Chris published a ONE HUNDRED MILES FROM MANHATTAN which was selected by IndieReader as a Best Book for 2014. In a review of the novel, Kirkus Reviews favorably compares Chris to Pulitzer Prize-winning author John Cheever. His 2017 memoir PERPETUATING TROUBLE moved The Midwest Book Review to write, "absolutely fascinating and entertaining read from cover to cover..." and Kirkus Reviews to write "Orcutt's writing style is lighthearted and conversational...[readers] are sure to find him a vibrant character and enjoyable writer."

In his free time away from the writing desk, Chris enjoys cross country skiing, hiking, mountain climbing, golf, tennis, swimming, chess, and classic films.

All books by Chris Orcutt