For twenty-year-old Li Johnson, a job as a cruise ship waiter was supposed to be a way to get over his father’s death and earn enough money to go back to college. Instead, Li is struggling to maintain his sanity while coping with the demands of a sadistic maitre d’ and a boatload of entitled rich jerk passengers. Li just wants to keep his head down and survive his job from hell, but when he finds a passenger sunburned to a crisp on the Sunbathing Deck, something about the scene just doesn’t add up. Before he knows it, Li is on the track of a murderer and if Li doesn’t find the real killer soon, he might just get framed for the crime - or worse, lose his crappy job. A brand-new classic in the amateur detective genre, Sunny Side Up is a traditional murder mystery for the 21st century, with a glamorous setting, a gallery of suspects, clues that will keep readers guessing to the last page, and a delightful new hero in Li Johnson, the millennial minimum wage manhunter, who brings sleuthing to the service economy. AUTHOR: Daniel Stallings’ love of Golden Age detective fiction by Agatha Christie, Dorothy Sayers, Ngaio Marsh, Raymond Chandler, and Rex Stout inspired him to bring the style of the classic murder mystery to digital-age audiences in a modern voice. In addition to writing mysteries, Stallings works in theater as a producer, director, and actor. Combining his interests in mysteries and theater, Stallings operates Master Mystery Productions, which produces custom interactive mystery game events. He currently serves as President of the Eastern Sierra Branch of the California Writers Club. Stallings lives in the city of Ridgecrest in California’s Mojave Desert. SELLING POINTS: . Amateur detective with millennial appeal: The hero, a young intellectual with an interrupted education, stuck in a low-paying service job, will have immediate sympathetic appeal to readers aged 20-35. . Satisfying character development, as the hero grows from an easily bullied weakling to a resolute investigator who will not be intimidated. . Fast-paced, intricate plot. . Light, humorous, enjoyable writing style. . Traditional murder mystery in a contemporary, realistic setting.
