It Started with the "Continental Op" by Dashiell Hammett

The one question everyone asks is "Where do you get your ideas from?"

The simplest answer is from everywhere. Unfortunately, while that answer is accurate it doesn't answer the question. In order to come up with ideas, one must be open to ideas. That's another non-answer. There are a number of wise-sounding non-answers out there, but for me to honestly provide you with an answer that doesn't help, let me share with you how the Jonas Watcher Detective Series was born.

I was looking for something to read in my local bookstore in the mystery section. I can't tell you why I suddenly started looking up writers from the thirties, but I came across Dashiell Hammett. I had read a number of novels by him, so I looked for something he had written that I hadn't read. There it was, a book of short stories names "The Continental Op". My wife had found a couple of books and so we went home with our purchases. After dinner, I put my feet up and read. I can't tell you the story I was reading, or much about it, though I know I enjoyed it. 


The one thing that stuck with me was an incident that was part of a background for a set of stories. A husband was "missing" and his wife was trying to get some money to him. After I had finished reading the book, the idea stuck with me. What if the husband was dead? What if the husband wasn't dead but didn't want to be found? 
I had remembered a story from a TV show called "The Outsider" with Darren McGavin. It had an episode with a husband who staged his death to get away for financial reasons and then he found he had a talent that would make him rich and he needed to make things right. Earl Stanley Gardner had used this idea also. 

Did I have a new vent on the idea? I started outlining a story. First I needed a detective. I wanted him to be a bit of a fish out of the water, but not too much. A man who is down and out who accidentally falls into the position that isn't as coincidental as it seems. I have a bit of a quirky side and I needed an element to satisfy that need. Ever hear the phrase "Life is a bitch"? Well, "Fate" can be a bitch too. With some additional research, I realized that fate isn't a bitch, but fate is three bitches; Clotho, Lachesis, and Atropos. Now I needed just a couple of additional touches. His name is born from a comic book character and a name that just works; Jonas Watcher. I had always wanted to write an episode for "Have Gun Will Travel" so I will put Jonas Watcher in San Francisco. He needed a unique weapon, a modified single action Colt 44. Next was "When"; The Nineteen-Thirties, No internet, no TV,  no fancy forensics, and not the wild west, but close enough.

The first book in the series is free and you can get it Here.