All Comments on 'Finding Reginald Markham'

Extremely entertaining, and as well written as anything you've ever done. Just a master at work.

And this , though not Noir , is a prime example of what I meant .

Great job JPB ! Really enjoyed this.

Onto the next one !

A very fun read, thanks! But you departed: Protagonist isn't named Rob, no Nancy, no cream pies, and no XYZ industries.

It's like my world tilted on its axis.

I'll obviously withhold judgement until the end, but knowing that he's married to her now, we know that SOMETHING is going to happen to Mr. Markham, so that she ends up available for Hector, so some of the suspense is gone. I know we still don't know WHAT, but why not begin with the "It was obvious..." and have them get together at the end?

Her husband has a "habit" of disappearing for days? Habits don't START as habits, there had to be a first time, did she report it that time?

Having finished, my original thought stands, that some of the suspense was lost knowing that her husband was going to be out of the picture, one way of the other, the only suspense was how.

Fun read as usual. I don't understand some of these idiot Anonymous Comments! Constructive criticism is fine but some of these must have a miserable life to rant over a free story! I'm going to sign this Anonymous so these idiots don't come after me.

A new Just Plain Bob story is out. And it's good. And it has an ending. And the ending is good. 4 for 4!!! Might as well go back to bed, it's bound to be all downhill from here.

The ending wasn't up to the level of the beginning and middle, but fleshing it out probably would have doubled the length of the story, so I will deal with my disappointment.

Really enjoyed it, thanks.

Punchy and I am always glad to see the Landing Strip in the story. Alas for Pauline French, missing in action, but perhaps Heck can find her too (probably blowing QBs beneath the bleachers, if I know that thot).

Write on, Bob.

Good story!

But like sbrooks103x said, knowing that hubby was not gonna be found alive did take the suspense out of it.

And I also agree that a woman who would rub an asshat ex-boyfriend in her hubby's face just to piss him off (and she claims to love him so much that he's the only man for her) is a woman I don't want to snuggle in with, never mind marry and make babies! ;-)

"I flipped through my Rolodex" is an historical (hysterical?) line that you'll need to explain to some of your younger readers! (Look it up on Wikipedia, kids.)

Thanks for this fine contribution to MMT day!

Well done . Good little bow tie tale . Miles better then the tripe HDK went with . As we all know you are way way better then HDK.

Good mystery !! And i too was hoping to hear from Pauline French. I envision her to look like Raquel Welch

for anothers stupidity, TK U MLJ LV NV

It's hard to feel much for Hector when one finds he still likes this woman. Her actions were cruel and selfish, and though it was inadvertent, did indeed lead to the death of her husband.

What a piece of work she is, a few tears, and she's right as rain, and ready to go with the next easy mark(um) who'd fawn on her . . . a new rube that she could take advantage of.

Now, if the intent were that she be somehow likable, she'd need a near breakdown, heavy remorse, a couple of years therapy, and an avoidance of any serious involvement with men. A couple of yers later Hector could meet her again, find her changed - an honest, somewhat reticent, and perhaps a bit saddened looking woman. He could then forgive a woman who might never totally forgive herself . . . and then we'd have the nice follow-up love story.

As it is, very readable and fun . . . just with a sad and frustrating ending.

She killed her husband. '''''she did all she did to piss him off? You don't do that to people you love.!

Where is Pauline French I like others love the babe .She and thunder thighs went out many a Friday night with me in high school ,oh the wet sheets my mom had to clean .Great job thanks JP.B.58

though with no surprise revelation once we understood how bitchy the lady had been to her husband. Never later to our Private/Corporate Eye husband?

What's a Pauline French?

She may be beautiful on the outside but she is not a person I would marry. A tale told by a master writer, though. JPB doesn't waste a word.

I kept thinking of Humphrey Bogart as Sam Spade. Although Heck never got threatened or beat up in this story, it was still an interesting tale. I'm not sure she was worth marrying though. She seemed to have both a bad temper and a hard-head. JPB has written some other good stories where the women therein had similar characteristics and ended up divorced. High school crush aside I'm thinking he should have passed on this marriage for his long term health and well being. Thanks for the read. 5 stars

Bev Holbrook... in the Landing Strip parking lot... with a cold PBR (to the head).

I enjoyed this story very much. JPB always writes interesting storylines.

A bit different from your usual fare,

but nicely written. Thanks for the

entertainment.

A man was kidnapped and murdered on the Landing Strip Parking! I'll never be able to enjoy it when people get up and tell jokes there again. Suddenly my PBR is flat. This is just awful!

And worse! I always thought all these years Bob's real high school crush was Pauline French. Now I've been doubly crushed!

Then S.Brooks was looking for suspense? Suspense in a Just Plain Bob? Is he out of his mind?

Thank God. At least Bob got the girl.

Jesus Christ people! This is a JPB! It's like MacDonald's! A Texas Road House! Olive Garden. You know what you're getting, and you know you're going to like it.

Thanks Bob. Here's your five!

Jedd Clampett (carvohi) (I'm not on my lap top.)

Nuff said *****

It wasn't bad and it had an ENDING!!

It's not so much that I'm LOOKING for suspense, but why pop the balloon before the story even starts?

However, I am suspicious! Are we sure JPB wrote this??? Hmmmm? No Pauline French! Very suspicious! Now this is a real mystery. Did he, or didn't he??? LOL

Just different enough from the usual Bob formula to be fun, but not so far afield as to lose that good ol' Bob vibe. I enjoyed it. Thanks for the story, JPB.

Cog

Interesting, quick pace, reasonable ending. Enjoyable!

Damn, reading a JPB story these days sure cures my insomnia.

I think it was a mistake to show them happily married in the first scene, it destroys any suspense there might have been.

This is a good one from @JPB...Using a private detective character, making me remember Archie Goodwin, Nero Wolf's assistent and Donald Lam (a fictional detective created by Erle Stanley Gardner under his pen name A. A. Fair)...4*

This was up to your usual brilliance. You doubted how good you would be at writing a mystery. You weren't sure about the Western, but you tackled them both and came out smelling like a rose. You are better than you think. I knew you could do it. You are Just Plain Bob, and that's enough. Many hugs, Randi.

Just a good ole fashioned murder mystery. Featuring a beautiful dame, and a private eye. What's not to like. Great job Bob!

Never marry a woman who is used to manipulate and disrespect her partners. Liz seems to be a spoiled rich girl who takes her lovers for granted - beeing a beauty and beeing worth millions.

In a future part 2, she will make Heck believe she is always faithful, just by tearing wool over his eyes at home. After some hints his suspicion grows that her travelling is not only for business, and as a well-connected ex-PI he will discover that she is not only on the verge of cheating (as in the case of Dave), but fully in the game. She probably thinks Heck is a lovesick puppy she can lead on a leash. JPB will surely write a follow-up, wouldn't he?

4*

The bad guy wanted to marry the heiress, but hubby needed to be gone. That part works, but wouldn't the bad guy want people, especially the heiress, to know the husband is dead? Hiding the body in a freezer isn't the way to do that.

I enjoyed this one. My only negative is the end was rushed. I felt the story had begged to go on a bit longer.

In order for this Bart to marry Liz, you need a body . Or it will take 6 years before he can be declared dead. This Bart on had 3 months before they broke his legs. So how in the world would this work. He assumed a lot from a few interactions with Liz. Now the ending was really rushed. Hec. Marries her and we could have had a house full of children instead of this flat ending.

His body was in the freezer in Dave's storage unit. The police found it after Heck told Phil where it was. Go back and read again. There will be a test. Reading comprehension is important if you are going to comment.

Now as to Heck. He better be sure Liz has grown up a little. What she did to Reg was enough to divorce her. She couldn't be trusted after her actions with Dave.

And a good, first rate detective story, too.

I think Heck would make a good recurring character.

We used to drive by this private airstrip and members only restaurant east of Lafayette on Colorado Hwy 7 when I was a kid. Is that the inspiration for the Landing Strip? As long as I’ve read your stories, with references to Colorado geography, I’ve wondered.

Great characters - could be the basis for an ongoing series. Thanks from a longtime fan.*****

Thanks for your time and effort.

P.S. You forgot the part where the wife found out hubby was cheating on her, and she setup her old flame to get rid of the asshole, with no divorce settlement. She was fucking the old flame for grins, found out he was desperate for money, and enticed him with her money and her twat if he could arrange for hubby to disappear. She killed two birds with one stone. New hubby is on borrowed time.

And she's still cheating when she's traveling, duh.

Surprised you left all that out. Must have been the one day of the year when you don't think all women are cheating whores. But you always get over it.

A bit predictable,

but fun anyway.

And Heck, good

luck being married

to a bitch, you stupid fuck (lol).

when the answer is super obvious on the first page. Otherwise, an enjoyable story. This one even had a fairly satisfying ending which is rare for JPB.

She was absent! There’s the real mystery!

Yes, the ending was really predictable.

Yes, you made him marry the slut with a terrbiel temper (it doesn't matter she didn't fuck the asshole, she cheated).

Yes, I enjoyed the reading. It was different from the usual LW story and truly refreshing

This was a different venue for you Bob but fun and different path for a wife to take and for the good guy to win, or so we think at the moment.

Carry on smart guy!

T.T.

Is this really JPB? JPB is a real good writer but I usually don't read his stories....don't like the endings BUT this one surprised me and I enjoyed it.

good.

Poor ending to a good start.

But a child can pick a Master lock. They are some of the worst locks out there, you can literally open them with a shitty shim made from a soda can. If is just a basic one, you don't need that level of skill. Apply tension to the hasp and rap on the side with a hammer or screwdriver, it will pop open. Master brand locks are the laughing stock of the lock making world.

Good one Bob, I was waiting on the cheating and am pleased it didn't happen. As always a good read.

When JPB wants to write a good story, this is the result.

The wife killed the husband with her bullshit

This wasn't a happy ending

As far as I'm concerned the killer got away with murder

I commented already but this is a sweet story.

As usual.

even Bob can write a good story

5starrs

she killed her husband just as if she pulled the trigger. It's like the wife that cheated on her husband with a serial killer. Her family would be alive if she wasn't a cheating whore. Now she's all alone and depressed. But she's the one the brought the killer in to her family home.Her husband is dead because of her and Heck is just as dumb as the husband. You know the facts and you fuck the slut any way.

Fifteen years since he last seen her, let's say junior year university, security for company for a year, 6 month engagement,married 3 years. Let's say 20 years, 6 months daddy retires, her p a to learn the ropes, 2 1/2 years. first conception the youngest she can be is 43. Multiple babies, they better be on ice

Just like real life

Was going with 3 stars but 4 due to realism

Cheaters get ahead and playing dirty does also

Just watch the news

Hate it

Want escapism so next story similar will probably get 1 star

Married and ended.

Well done story. An enjoyable read.

Thank you for the story, it was entertaining and enjoyable.

It did start stronger than it finished but that’s true of 90% of LW stories.

There were a few “wait, wtf” moments. Heck and the wife spent 4 years in HS and 4 years in college together, even taking some of the same classes, but she also toured Europe for a year when she broke up with Bart?

Heck and Bart played HS football together. Heck and Jake Winters met when they played college football together, and Bart was on that team, too. So Bart spent 4 years at the same college as the wife but they never saw each other?

No biggies, just weird, almost like you threw them in as parodies of noir or shaggy dog stories. Thanks again for the read.

THE STORYLINE IS VERY GOOD, JUST THAT SOME OF THE TIMELINE DOESN'T JIVE. A MINOR THING, BUT A 5* ANYWAY.

I seem to remember you basing stories in Co. That's Carhartt (two t's), Bud. Good tight story, well written.

Words have consequences. She contributed to the murder of her husband, she was extremely disrespectful and blatantly hostile. Quite frankly, the husband was not being unreasonable asking her to refrain from going on dates with her exboyfriend.

Over the years, I have liked your stories and read the new ones when they come out the chute.

This one was very good - well done and kept my interest to the point that I wanted to (and did) read the story in one sitting.

I don't need to analyze your stories ad nauseum.-

i read them for enjoyment, which you've given me over the years - Thank you!

5 *****

Burninglove

But yes she sort of did lead to his death, unintentionally though. She didnt know the guy was a potential murderer.

Very well done.

Wouldnt mind more stories on this guy, very likeable character.

Good story, I like the story and the atmosphere you created - OK not Hammett or Chandler, but good. A guy wearing out shoe leather in the modern age - using his brain, gut and contacts. All the old PI shows had a cop friend and this one is no exception. Well done.

No empathy for her. He has my sympathy.

Next bad boy comes along he is CUCKOLD

jty

Great story! I loved it. 5* of course, ~~JB Edwards

Okay story, good diversion from regular crap on LW. I would have prefered more elaborate plot as in "Liz having another boyfriend and using Dave Bart to get rid of her husband" but I guess that would be too complicated for a short story.

Love crime stories by those who know how to write, apart from comedies they are the hardest to write.

Good solid story. A fun read. Definitely a different type of story one finds on LW. IMHO it is belongs more in the Non-Erotic story section. In either case, I am very glad I found it. Thank-you

-

Pasqual

It's a really good story.

5starrs

5*

Read it again for the third time. One of your best, and that’s saying a lot! Well done!

Cliche

More original, but not particularly engaging.

Liz did kill her husband. She didn't intend it but she gave the psycho asshole.enough hope with her escalating infidelity (let's call it what it is).and not shutting the door at any point. Worse she just did it to get a rise and argue with her husband. Why would the MC fall in love with a woman who intentionally had an emotional affair with another man so she could fight with her husband by telling him about her infidelities? It doesn't matter that she did not commit full blow adultery. She pushed her marriage to a near breaking point because she was upset that he was worried and not cool with her meeting with her ex boyfriend? Wtf? If he wasn't upset at her actions, she would have lost all respect for her husband. But because he argued with her, she flipped out because of stubborn pride and gave psycho asshole the idea that he could repay his gambling debts and as a direct result of her stupid "game", her husband, whom she professed to have loved, ends up dead in a freezer in a storage unit. Wtf? In real life, IF she actually loved her husband, she would be wracked with guilt and broken with remorse, needing therapy galore and would not be going into a healthy rebound relationship. The ending of this story was repulsive for all still alive.

A bit boring

Liz seems like a manipulative bitch. The MC should not have married her. Well written.

Thanks for another well-written and interesting tale. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

@Anonymus "Liz did kill her husband..."

In essence that's the comment I was about to write. The P.I. was not to bright in marrying his high school crash, she's trouble.

However, I sure enjoyed reading this story, thanks JPB!

Why would PI make a photocopy of the receipts? Virtually all new copiers store a record of copies made. Normal people just take a picture.

Wish him all the luck in the world. But, with her temperament, mean streak, and selfishness, he's going to need it. She maybe a living doll but, she's not pretty on the inside.