Overall Content Rating: Restricted R
This installment is an adult crime-and-action mystery with a journalist-turned-investigator embroiled in political violence, organized hate groups, and family feuds around a casino-like stronghold. Expect sustained profanity, periodic strong swearing, recurring physical fights and weapons violence, and plot threads involving sexual assault in backstory and wartime misconduct. Parental notes: a central lesbian character and bisexual identity come up in relationship talk; racist and anti-gay language is shown as part of antagonists’ beliefs. Sexual content stays mostly verbal or referential rather than graphic, aligning with reader comments that the book engages without heavy gratuitous sex, but the overall tone remains mature because of language, bigotry in dialogue, and frequent injury and killing.
Reviews first uploaded September 29, 2026 11:25 pm. Revised October 8, 2026 6:23 am. Page updated October 8, 2026 6:23 am.
These summaries are AI-generated from relevant Amazon reviews of this book.
Crude Mild
4Homophobic slurs appear in graffiti and as expected hostile labels; most other sampled crude-adjacent words are ordinary insults or neutral wording.
Amazon reviews mentioning crude
Specific words
- idiot: 2
- fag: 1
- faggot: 1
Fbombs Moderate
32Strongest swear words appear regularly in heated exchanges, bar scenes, and action sequences but are not on every page.
Amazon reviews mentioning swearing
Specific words
- fuck: 27
- fuckin: 5
LGBTQ+ Moderate
7Lesbian identity and women’s venues are part of the setting and cast, including a lesbian private investigator working with the narrator; extremists also vilify gay people alongside other targets.
Amazon reviews mentioning lgbtq
Specific words
- lesbian: 6
- queer: 1
Profanity Heavy
485Rough language is widespread in adult dialogue and narration, including frequent mild and moderate swearing, vulgar insults between suspects and investigators, and harsh terms during protests and criminal subcultures.
Amazon reviews mentioning profanity
Specific words
- damn: 141
- hell: 113
- shit: 95
- bitch: 36
- bullshit: 32
- bastard: 25
- ass: 24
- goddamn: 10
- butt: 8
- apeshit: 1
Racism Moderate
4Racial slurs and exclusionary doctrine are attributed to villainous extremist and prison-gang characters rather than being endorsed by the narrative voice.
Amazon reviews mentioning racism
Specific words
- nigger: 3
- spic: 1
Sex Moderate
23The story is crime-focused rather than erotic; readers still encounter sexual insults, references to adult writing and nude artwork, a brief mention of unwanted touching, and serious discussion of rape as past trauma and wartime crime without prolonged explicit depictions.
Specific words
- rape: 6
- whore: 5
- nude: 3
- slut: 3
- rapist: 2
- boob: 1
- grope: 1
- orgasm: 1
- porn: 1
Violence Heavy
142Investigations involve murder, riots, beatings, shootings, stabbings, and an escalating armed conflict with injured and dying characters; physical harm is described repeatedly as the series mixes crime and action.
Amazon reviews mentioning violence
Specific words
- blood: 58
- kick: 27
- punch: 21
- bleed: 20
- smash: 11
- stab: 5
About this book
NICE JEWISH COP TURNS PI... Ex-Chicago-cop (now unlicensed PI) Jake Samson is living the life of “an urban gentleman farmer” in laid-back Oakland, California, occasionally “handling discreet matters” to keep his cats, Tigris and Euphrates, in kitty treats. His lesbian BFF, Rosie the carpenter, and her justice-dispensing two-by-four are the perfect complements to his relaxed casual style – no room for macho posturing with this crew! Readers will love their easy, breezy relationship, and wish they had a friend like either one of them. WHO WILL LIKE Jake and Rosie : Fans of Parnell Hall's Stanley Hastings series, Tony Dunbar's Tubby Dubonnet series, Bill Pronzini's "Nameless" Detective series, Marcia Muller's Sharon McCone series, Susan Dunlap's Jill Smith series, Julie Smith's Rebecca Schwartz series ... and vintage TV series like COLUMBO, THE ROCKFORD FILES, HARRY O, MAGNUM, and HAWAII FIVE-O. Also LGBT fans! TORCH SONG ’s post-apocalyptic kick-ass heroine will particularly appeal to LGBT readers, young adults, and people of all ages who never met a dystopian thriller they didn't love. “Singer has a good ear for dialogue among the witless …” - San Francisco Bay Guardian SAMSON'S DEAL When an acquaintance is the primary suspect in his wife’s murder, Jake and Rosie go inside a radical right wing activist group to which the wife is connected. An assortment of Berkeley kooks and interesting plot twists keep things hopping till the very end. FREE DRAW Jake’s buddy and quasi-boss calls in a favor when his nephew is accused of murder. It's up to Jake and Rosie to find the real killer, and they've got a number of suspects: the victim's fellow executives at a questionable correspondence school, his divided and bitter family, and his quirky Marin County neighbors--a truly odd assortment of California woods dwellers. FULL HOUSE An ark in the middle of suburban Oakland is interesting but not strange by California standards. Even one built by peaceful cultists preparing for the coming flood. Until sometime private eye Jake Samson is hired to find Noah, their leader, who has disappeared with a lovely devotee and a quarter million in cash. The cult suspects foul play, but the police aren’t convinced. SPIT IN THE OCEAN The North Coast Sperm Bank in tiny Wheeler, California has been knocked over, and the perp’s tossed its assets in the ocean, leaving a religious-nut note of explanation. Just a prank, says Wheeler law enforcement. But the bank hires Jake Samson and his ever-sharp Watson, Rosie Vicente to find out who made the unauthorized withdrawal. As a storm brutalizes Wheeler, a bank employee slips in the mud and falls to her death. SUICIDE KING Jake's never been a big fan of politics, but Rosie invites him to a posh California fundraiser for an energetic gubernatorial candidate of the liberal underdog Vivo party, and Jake can't resist. It's all fun and political games until the candidate’s aide finds her boss in her backyard, hanging naked from an acacia tree. The police rule the death a suicide, but Jake and the aide suspect foul play, and she hires Jake to find the culprit. He finds campaign shenanigans, affairs, a possible German mafia connection, and more danger than our hero could possibly have imagined. ROYAL FLUSH Laid-back, unlicensed PI Jake Samson is understandably nervous about infiltrating a local Marin County neo-Nazi group called the Aryan Command. Read more
