Stephen J. Koenig
Private Investigator
Writer
Stephen J. Koenig has worked as a private investigator for thirty plus years, and that work has informed his writing. Growing up on a farm on the edge of the Nebraska Sandhills, being married for 35 years, and a little dyslexic informed his writing as well. He has written the following books which are available at AMAZON.COM. Articles he has written on the private investigative profession are also noted below. If you have any questions, please send him an email.
Amazon Links – Attached to each book cover below.
Amazon Reviews are Appreciated.
Steve’s favorite writers/books, include: Cormac McCarthy – Border Trilogy & Blood Meridian; Annie Proulx – The Shipping News; Ernest Hemingway – The Old Man and the Sea; Phillip Kerr – Bernie Gunther Series, James Lee Burke – Dave Robicheaux Series; Loren Estelman – Amos Walker Series; Norman Maclean – A River Runs Through It & Michael Lewis – Moneyball. Then there is Steinbeck, Dickens, Cather & Dr. Seuss.
“Down these mean streets a man must go who is himself not mean.” ― Raymond Chandler, Author
“I don’t want to try to look smart. I just want to tell a story.” ― Elmore Leonard, Author
APPEARANCE
COLUMBUS PUBLIC LIBRARY
AUTHOR FAIR
Saturday, September 2nd
Columbus, Nebraska
SODTOWN BOOKS
FLATWATER
Assorted Stories
SUMMER 2023
Short stories and sample chapters from Steve’s prior and future books.
LITTLE BOHEMIA BLUES
2024
Harry Valentine, a former minor league baseball player, works as private investigator in the Little Bohemia area of Omaha, Nebraska.
A YOUNG COWBOY & A MERMAID
2024
JOE BAUER TRILOGY
Joe Bauer is sixteen and is working at his uncle’s cattle ranch in the Nebraska Sandhills when he has a strange encounter.
UNREMARKABLE
Private Eye Story
JOE BAUER TRILOGY
(Paperback & eBook)
Joe Bauer finally graduated college and started his career as a private investigator. But he is not the only investigator in the sleepy college town of Fort Kearney, Nebraska. It is the late 1980’s, and Joe is working for Herb Compton, a Nebraska sheriff turned insurance investigator. A Lakota private eye and a future exorcist are also working cases. And a Russian agent is tracking down stolen Fabergé Eggs. By the end of his first year, Joe begins to learn how to conduct covert surveillance. A skill he discovers that is part art and part luck. Joe learns that in the gray world of the private eye business the trick is not to be tricky. The trick is not to be invisible. The trick is to be unremarkable.
BARBED WIRE RUNS THROUGH IT
JOE BAUER TRILOGY
(Paperback, Large Print, eBook, Audible)
It was 1976, and Joe Bauer was a dyslexic, twelve-year-old boy, and he was having a bad year. Joe became involved in an investigation, led by his range detective father, on a case involving satanic cattle mutilations. He escaped death twice, watched a tornado ravage his family’s ranch, saw a plane crash-land near his one-room country school, and he met a Nazi. His parents sold their cattle ranch due to the injuries his father had sustained, and Joe’s teacher abandoned her job, leaving him to teach himself, as the last student at his country school in Holt County, Nebraska. Joe bared witness to the struggles of family and friends and the conflicts that were affected by these events.
THEY CALL HER ED
Colorado Private Eye Story
Luther Mahoney
(Mitchell & Koenig)
(eBook)
Johnny Loretto has had his heart broken about a hundred times – by the same woman. And for years he has plodded forward, trying to make a living as a private investigator in Horsetooth, Colorado. When two promising clients come his way, he thinks his luck has changed. Rex King, president of Horsetooth University, hires Johnny to handle an extortion case. The blackmailer is threatening to send some incriminating photos to King’s wife and, worse yet, the board of regents. A few days later Professor Throgmorton director of research at the veterinary school, seeks Johnny’s help in tracking down a missing sheep. The two cases collide, and Johnny uncovers an illegal cloning project involving several big players in town. When a cross-dressing sheep thief is murdered, Johnny becomes a prime suspect. With some help from his lifelong friend, Father Hank Redwine, Johnny embarks on a bruising tour de horse as he searches for evidence to expose the conspirators and prove his innocence. As he traverses the weird boulevards of Horsetooth, he must dodge his pursuers: Copeland, his freaky, stalking nemesis; Detective Shepherd, the cop convinced there is blood on Johnny’s hands’ Luther, the vengeful leader of the Bros. of Bedlam biker gang; and, at the center of the storm, Jane Crowe, Johnny’s treacherous old flame. Along the strange journey Johnny finds himself in the struggle of his life, one that brings him to the edge of his existence as he fights for his very soul. They Call Her Ed twists through a landscape of glaring wit, arresting satire, and brutal authenticity. Check your wiper blades and top off your tank, for this clearly is a trip into new territory,
PRIVATE EYE MAGAZINE & NEWSPAPER ARTICLES
PURSUIT MAGAZINE
Steve Koenig has written several articles for Pursuit Magazine on being a private investigator. The articles can be found at PursuitMag.com – via the link below. pursuitmag.com/author/steve-koenig/
THE CASE OF THE DISAPPEARING DASHBOARD LIGHTS
I wrote to the CAR TALK brothers – Tom & Ray Magliozzi. Their famous talk show on NPR was a hoot. The story ran in various papers around the country.
cartalk.com/content/case-disappearing-dashboard-lights
Stephen Koenig 