''A Firing Offense'' is a 1992 crime novel and the debut from author

George Pelecanos George P. Pelecanos (born February 18, 1957) is an American author, producer and television writer. Many of his 20 books are in the genre of detective fiction and set primarily in his hometown of Washington, D.C. On television, he frequently co ...

. It is set in

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

, and focuses on marketing executive Nick Stefanos as he investigates the disappearance of a colleague. It is the first of several Pelecanos novels to feature the character and the first of a trilogy with Stefanos as the main character. The other books in this series are '' Nick's Trip'' and '' Down by the River Where the Dead Men Go''.

Plot introduction

Nick Stefanos is a marketing executive for electrical goods chain Nutty Nathan's. When a stock boy from the company disappears he is convinced to locate the boy by his grandfather.

Explanation of the novel's title

Stefanos is fired from his job at Nutty Nathan's but the reason for his dismissal does not become clear until the end of the book.

Characters

Nick Stefanos is a marketing executive and one time process server. He works for a chain of electrical goods stores. He was once a floor salesman. He remains friends with his old sales colleague Johnny McGinnes. Both Stefanos and McGinnes drink heavily and abuse recreational drugs.

Major themes

The novel is concerned with substance abuse both by the main characters and facilitated by the drug distributors.

Literary significance and reception

The novel was positively compared to

Charles Willeford Charles Ray Willeford III (January 2, 1919 – March 27, 1988) was an American writer. An author of fiction, poetry, autobiography and literary criticism, Willeford wrote a series of novels featuring hardboiled detective fiction, detective Hoke ...

and Daniel Woodrell by a reviewer. The reviewer commented that the plot was perfunctory and that the novel was more concerned with examining the lives of the salesmen. He praised the book for drawing such interest from a seemingly mundane profession. The reviewer commented on Pelecanos frequent use of music references. The series as a whole has been described as tightly plotted with "intricacies to rival Hammett or Chandler".

Footnotes

1992 American novels 1992 debut novels American crime novels Novels about missing people Novels about substance abuse Novels by George Pelecanos Novels set in Washington, D.C. St. Martin's Press books {{1990s-novel-stub