Welcome to My Site!
Please excuse the mess as we get this site fine-tuned and finalized. You see, this site used to be our editing and proofreading business, offering our services to the public because we see on a daily basis something that could use a good copy edit, misspellings, bad grammar and all. Seeing ads, social media posts et cetera with bad grammar and spelling drove us insane, but the business didn't work out as well as anticipated. since we own the domain, there's no sense in not utilizing what we have to further promote this series and any future work (stay tuned!).
To check out the Thomas Jourdan mystery series on Amazon, please check out: Amazon.com: Audacity is My Middle Name (Thomas Jourdan Mystery Series Book 1) eBook : Sticht, Walter: Books
You can also check out my store at Locally Signed here:
but anyway, thank you for taking the time to look at my site. If you are interested, please check out the paperback or eBook versions of the series. your support of independent authors would be greatly appreciated!
MY FAVORITE PICTURE OF ME, ROCKAWAY BEACH, OREGON
Near Maryville, Missouri
BADLANDS NATIONAL PARK, SOUTH DAKOTA
I'm a storyteller. I have been my whole life. My vivid imagination has created all kinds of stories. I also love mysteries of any kind but specifically, I love the private detective. I grew up reading mysteries but also watching television and movie mysteries with detectives being the primary characters. I began this series all the way back at thirteen years old and the story and characters have evolved since then. in 2005, I began putting Thomas Jourdan on paper and for twenty years have been refining the series to what we have today. Originally, I mostly thought of myself as a musician as I studied music extensively in college and played semi-professionally for a time. However, as I navigate through life, I fine that I am better suited for what God calls me to be, a writer. The music isn't gone from my life. The writing is the focus. The writing is the most effective way I know to express myself as I have my whole life before I knew I had a talent for music. The talent for storytelling is not unique, but actually putting it all down on paper and being brave enough to put it on the public marketplace is the hard talent.
I love to travel and see different places in this great country, and I maintain a travel blog at Walter Sticht, Author and American Traveler
about me
who is Thomas Jourdan?
Know where you stand...because you can't stand on one leg....
Clearly, Thomas Jourdan is an imaginary private investigator. but where does he stand on most issues? from Encyclopedia brown to sherlock Holmes, the private detective subgenre is a mix of all kinds of people and while many private eyes in the literature can be of questionable morals, Thomas Jourdan has standards. Anchored by his traditional values, he wants justice for all his clients. Using his strong instincts, attention to detail, headstrong tendencies and a little humor, he brings that justice. But when you use your mouth more than your gun to get out of tough situations, sometimes it bites back.
While Thomas Jourdan is based a bit on my own personality, he and I are not the same. Only parts of him are. The pursuit of traditional American values is something I am passionate about. While I can be a wisecracker, I'm not nearly as gifted as he is with the wisecracks.
MY BOOKS
1
audacity is my middle name
Thomas Jourdan is a San Diego private investigator who relies on his traditional values, powers of observation, strong instincts and headstrong tendencies which have all served him well. All is good in his life. His motivation is to seek justice for all his clients, past and present…except for one. His first ever client resurfaces and needs help, accused of the murder of the husband he was supposed to find. Thomas does not want to get involved, embarrassed that he was unable to solve that mystery ten years ago and unsure of her guilt or innocence.
To keep himself distracted from this, he turns to his successful secondary career as a restaurateur. A prominent and influential food and restaurant critic is in town for a review of Thomas’s place and with a seemingly mediocre review comes a new client: the critic, paranoid and convinced someone from his past has followed him to San Diego with the intent of murder. Thomas Jourdan must somehow navigate both cases and, in his own way, make things right. The mayhem brings him new opportunities for friendship and love, but with rebellion comes a cost and, when all is said and done, leads to disastrous results.
A blend of the soft-boiled, cozy-adjacent and the modern gritty pulp, this story is full of emotional accessibility and realism that truly makes a modern mystery....
2
A Little Splash of Panache
It has been several months since he survived the traumatic injuries of his previous cases, but private investigator Thomas Jourdan can’t stay down for long. Life seems to be returning to normal. His friendship with former reporter Dave Parker and his romantic relationship with FBI Agent Heather Danes is still blossoming. Feeling as if he is ready to get back to work, he takes on his newest client, his semi-estranged brother. An assistant district attorney with San Diego County, Mike Jourdan has been receiving mysterious death threats over the investigation of a missing college student and wants to know who is behind them.
At the same time, a bonus case comes to him: the conductor of the San Diego Symphony falsely accused of murder of one of his own musicians. Once again, Thomas Jourdan is compelled to seek justice. When both cases seem to intersect, everything begins to unravel again. He must use all his wits and abilities to not only protect his brother and the conductor, but worse still, confront an emerging serial killer he has run afoul of. He must navigate them all with his wit, toughness and intelligence while dealing with the challenges of his disability.
Still in the soft-boiled, cozy-adjacent style, the continuation of Thomas Jourdan’s story and his personal arc as a private detective and a person reaches another level. Although his values have not and will not ever change, the events of these cases will test him, almost break him and force him to self-check and understand what his limitations are….
3
A Tad too much charisma
Stay Tuned--Coming Soon.
Here's a taste:
"WHEN I told my doctors that I wanted my permanent prosthetic to be as sci-fi and robotic as possible, I don’t think they took me seriously. And maybe I wasn’t serious, after all, humor was all I had to take the sting out of being an amputee so if I could live out the rest of my life partially cybernetic, I would be good with that. I, of course, hated having to do it in the first place. Improvement or not, it was like relearning to walk. For the third time. As with the earlier time learning to walk with crutches, it was difficult to get used to, but I knew I’d be wearing it for the rest of my life. Barring improvements in technology, or perhaps limb transplants, this was it. Everyone was patient with me, even though I complained a lot. They knew it would take time too. But I wasn’t one for patience. And that leads me to the next major upheaval in life.
Moving to Idaho wasn’t such a chore because of the great teamwork I had. However, there were more than a few new adaptations to adjust to in our new state. Change was always hard, but most were of my choosing. The only one that wasn’t my choice was Dave dead. No one chose that. Max Young took his place as my business partner and in another extent my best friend. That may seem cold, but it was true. Heather had transferred to the FBI field office in Boise. We had an apartment, an overpriced one, but ours, nonetheless. We were doing some early planning for our wedding, but no official date had been announced. The steakhouse venture I had started with Charlie Danes in Boise was beginning to take off and most of my free time had been spent getting it perfected. It was in its initial stages of success. Overall, it took a year to get most of our affairs settled, but everything eventually did.
Once I got my private investigators license, which was extremely easy compared to getting one in regulatory hell California, I felt a bit more complete. But I admit, my love for the detective business had waned some and I had not done the amount of advertising in the immediate area as we should have. And somehow, despite this lack of advertising, we got a call from a potential client. This was going to be the first real case Young and I had together on the same ticket. We had no office and decided my apartment in the small suburban town of Eagle would suffice as a place to meet clients until we could find a suitable space or if we even had an office which is what we were leaning toward."
UPCOMING EVENTS
updated often, so check regularly
DECEMBER
Saturday December 6th Lawrence Extravaganza Artisan Fair
Lawrence, Kansas
9 Am to 4 PM