Cool for Cats by Andrew Ordover

Cool for Cats

Book 1 of the Cool for Cats mystery series

by Andrew Ordover

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Jordan Greenblatt deals with life the way he deals with music—as a supporting player. Jordan is the bass guitar in the band of life—steady, solid, able to keep his cool, emotionally detached.

Even as a private investigator, Jordan keeps a low profile. He takes pictures of adulterous husbands and helps local lawyers with medical malpractice cases, but he rarely breaks a sweat. He lives a quiet life with his wife and his jazz musician friends in suburban Atlanta. Nothing about him says “private eye,” even his name.

And then, one steamy summer day, Jordan agrees to look into an old hit-and-run accident that took the life of a girl he knew in high school—a case in which he has a personal stake, for once in his life. The more he looks into the story, the more he is forced to question everyone’s assumptions. Bit by bit, he is dragged deeper and deeper into a mystery that he is not prepared to handle—a mystery that threatens to uncover many closely-guarded and long-protected secrets—including his own.

A Word from the Author

My main character is not anyone’s idea of a private investigator. He’s not a cop, like Inspector Gamache; he’s not a genius, like Sherlock Holmes; he’s not a tough guy, like Sam Spade. He doesn’t even have a cool detective name. He’s just Jordan Greenblatt, an ordinary guy, hanging out in Atlanta, Georgia with his wife and his friends, trying to make a living (but not trying very hard). He spies on fornicating husbands. He serves subpoenas. He uncovers some low-level fraud. It’s basic, paint-by-numbers drudgery that pays the bills and gives him time to play jazz on his front porch with his friends. Work is just work…until, all of a sudden, it’s not.

For me, the fun of writing “Cool for Cats” was the challenge of taking this least-likely character and forcing him into a situation in which he would have to rise to the occasion, take a real risk in life, and grow up a little. The characters and the sense of place were just as important to me as the mystery. I wanted to write a story that felt very lived-in, very real—with people you’d like to meet and places you’d like to spend time in.

(Andrew Ordover, May 2020)