Overview: Tom Mayor, a man in his mid-fifties who had never really done anything with his life, somehow convinces his mother that he has “the stuff” it takes to be a private detective. With her help, Tom gets his first case, and solves the murder of the next-door neighbor’s granddaughter, earning himself both fame and fortune. But now, someone is trying to kill Tom, and to find out who has it in for him, he must regretfully become a P. I.—Again!Author Alan Zacher’s “Being a P.I.-Again!” is an irreverent, sass-talking modern crime thriller with an anti-hero lead harkening back to the Gumshoe Era. The author’s impromptu, conversational writing style instantly familiarizes readers with his main character while his story produces an engaging plotline for a well-written, entertaining, and engaging, macabre Crime Fiction read.While Zacher’s off-the-cuff, in-your-face writing style lends a great sense of realism to his story, his main character can be defined as a throwback to a grittier, more chauvinistic time. Tom Mayor is introduced as a typical slovenly, middle-aged, unmarried alcoholic who has survived life solely as an in-home-caretaker for his very spry and mentally adept mother. He’s a somewhat unsavory character who engages only in activities when there’s a payoff and will bring him some sort of profit. He also holds an obvious obsession with the size and quality of women’s breasts. But, all in all, Mayor is a fascinating character due to his unusual circumstances.Tom Mayor pops from the pages of Zacher’s novel as he relates his own story, engaging readers in a vivid, non-apologetic recounting of his life and the bizarre situation in which he suddenly finds himself. Tom explains his past, regaling readers with yarn after yarn about his neighbors and the strangers he runs into as he explains how he stumbled into fame and fortune as an amateur sleuth. He then tweaks his life, hoping that he is heading in a more positive direction, only to fall for a trampy, drug-addicted, foul-mouthed single mother of three girls, each with their own separate issues. When Tom meets two of Cindy’s exes at a birthday barbecue, things don’t go well... One ex hates Tom so much that he makes a botched attempt to end Tom’s life, and he himself ends up dead. From here, readers are led through a wild investigation, led by Tom, to clear his own name and find the true killer.Overall, and for the right type of reader, “Being a P. I.-Again!” is a surprisingly entertaining page-turner with a fascinating, self-doubting protagonist who bungles his way into becoming a hero. Like many others who hope to raise themselves from their current circumstances of merely wandering aimlessly through life, Zacher’s chauvinistic anti-hero, Tom, is trying hard to be a somebody in today’s world—His story may ultimately hold more appeal to middle-aged men of the same persuasion than Gen-Xers and women, but it’s interesting all the same. Although Zacher’s main character’s archaic opinions sometimes conflict with his well-intended actions, Tom Mayor does reflect the key personalities of those popular gumshoe detectives of a bygone era. Through all the negative qualities and backward opinions Mayor possesses, however, one can see that, deep down, in the end, he actually does have a heart of gold and would do anything to help out a neighbor or friend who has suffered a great unfairness—Especially if there might be a little something extra in it for him.“Being a P.I.-Again” does contain graphic violence, adult situations, and racially offensive language. Survivors of sexual abuse, domestic violence, eating disorders, and drug addiction may be triggered by this story. This is a read intended for adults only.