Guest Post: Writing “A Sign of the Times” by Tom Milani

 

Please welcome back author Tom Milani to the bog today…

 

Writing “A Sign of the Times”

by Tom Milani

Michael Bracken’s invitation to contribute to Sleuths Just Wanna Have Fun: Private Eyes in the Materialistic Eighties, set the tone for the anthology: “Stories can be funny or humorous or just light-hearted. The cases probably won’t be earth-shattering.” When he asked which historical event I wanted to include in my story, I said the 1984 presidential election. Like a lot of people, I like to root for underdogs, and there were few underdogs bigger than Walter Mondale that election. For the case itself, I decided that the crime would be stolen campaign signs.

My setup was classic: Melody Murphy, a pretty young woman, walks into Steve Kahler’s office, asking for the PI’s help. At the same time, I wanted to play with the tropes. Rather than being a femme fatale, Melody is an earnest volunteer, still trying to decide when to take a stand. Rather than being a cynical PI with a bottle in the desk drawer, Kahler has been on the job barely a year, his office rent subsidized by Nunzio Vitale, his best friend and mentor.

Once I’d established the characters and the circumstances, I knew that the mystery contained two questions: Who was stealing the signs? Why were they being stolen? For Kahler, finding out who was stealing the signs was relatively straightforward. Answering the question of why required some research on my part. I read articles on the campaign and on the issues of the day.

Reagan’s reelection campaign was marked by the president’s optimism—“Morning in America” was the theme of one of his campaign ads. In contrast, Mondale promised to raise taxes. That was something to draw from, but it wasn’t enough. So, I turned to controversy, specifically the Reagan administration’s response to the HIV/AIDS crisis. In this case, the personal turned out to be political.

I hope you enjoy the story, and thanks again to Michael Bracken for the opportunity to be part of this amazing anthology.

 

Amazon Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/4i10lgL

 

Tom Milani ©2025 

Tom Milani (www.tommilani.com) has published short fiction in Groovy Gumshoes: Private Eyes in the Psychedelic Sixties, Illicit Motions, Janie’s Got a Gun: Crime Fiction Inspired by the Songs of Aerosmith, and Mickey Finn: 21st Century Noir vol. 5, among other places. “Barracuda Backfire” was published in 2024 as Book 4 of Michael Bracken’s Chop Shop series of novellas. His first novel, Places That Are Gone, will be published on May 13, 2025, by Unnerving.