The Big Bitch: 1 (Jackson "Doc" Holiday Mystery)

"John Patrick Lang's highly entertaining first book, The Big Bitch, is a tale of murder, kidnapping, even a mutilation, set in the East Bay. It is told in gritty turgid prose with the brutal immediacy of the first person point of view, but with a generous leavening of humor, especially the Chandlerian similes ('I'll beat on you like a rented mule.')."

--Armand Croft, author of The Andrew MacCrimmon novels

"A wild East Bay mystery that doesn't just show us the underbelly of the region, but the vitality of the diverse population, all through the eyes of a darkly whimsical sleuth."

--Nick Mamatas, author of Love Is The Law

"The Big Bitch is a very, very good read with the dialogue and description of an old school hard-boiled novel. Some characters could have walked in from the world of Joseph Wambaugh and some in from the world of Elmore Leonard but they all walk off the page. I haven't encountered a character as sophisticated, smart, savvy and with the skill for skullduggery like Doc Holiday for twenty years. In other words, not since Ross Thomas died."

--Eric Mortensen, poet and author of Green Beret Blues