The “hard-boiled” detective story has a colorful history in literature and film. Although most of the genre’s archetypes involve tough guys living in Los Angeles, Jack Lime’s home turf is Iona High School, Nova Scotia. Jack nurses a root beer float, carries no weapons, collects no retainers; he usually ends up at the wrong end of a fist, but he always solves his cases, bringing the culprits to justice. Jack Lime introduces himself and the three short stories in this collection, saying, “I’m a detective, a private investigator, a gumshoe. What I do is fix problems” (7). What he’ll do is provide mysteries to chal lenge his readers. lmp