Chiseler in Jade

Don’t mess with the hothead—or he might just mess with you. Slater Ibáñez is only interested in two kinds of guys: the ones he wants to punch, and the ones he sleeps with. Things get interesting when they start to overlap.

Slater meets Bucky on an airplane and gets drawn into a mystery—the guy can’t remember his name or where he is. As he works to track down his identity, Slater uncovers a blackmail scheme run by a pair of frat-boy grifters, and digging deeper, uses his Russian tech to run surveillance on the players, revealing a string of other victims. He befriends straitlaced smoke-show Walter, who turns out to have an explosive temper, and collaborates with a couple of the other patsies. With the help of a canny drag queen, he sets up a sting operation that might just shut down the extortion racket, if he can manage not to have it blow up in his face. Negotiating his evolving relationship with Pike, and keeping one step ahead of a series of belligerent lowlifes, Slater struggles with the world’s relentless demands on him and tries not to punch the wrong person in the face.

Freelance investigator Slater trolls the dark side of Los Angeles, rooting out insurance fraud, not afraid to use whatever means necessary to get things done, and not about to hold back with his fists. A queer antihero for a new age, Slater walks the line between ordinary life and the frayed fringes of society, keeping his balance with the back-channel support he gets from main squeeze Pike, business partner Max, and operatives Andy and Etta.