A Firing Offense is a 1992 crime novel and the debut from author George Pelecanos

George Pelecanos

George P. Pelecanos is a Greek-American author. Many of his works are in the genre of detective fiction and set primarily in his hometown of Washington, D.C. He is also a film and television producer and a television writer...

. It is set in Washington DC and focuses on marketing executive Nick Stefanos as he investigates the disappearance of a colleague. It is the first of several Pelecanos novel's to feature the character and the first of a trilogy with Stefanos as the main character. The other books in this series are Nick's Trip

Nick's Trip

Nick's Trip is a 1993 crime novel from author George Pelecanos. It is set in Washington DC and focuses on bartender Nick Stefanos as he investigates the disappearance of a colleague. It is the second of several Pelecanos novels to feature the character and the second book of a trilogy with Stefanos...

and Down by the River Where the Dead Men Go

Down by the River Where the Dead Men Go

Down by the River Where the Dead Men Go is the third book of a trilogy by novelist George Pelecanos with the same protagonist, Nick Stefanos. In this volume he has retired from his previous job as a crime investigator in Washington D.C., and makes a living as a bartender at a local bar. He...

.

Plot introduction

Nick Stefanos is a marketing executive for electrical goods chain Nutty Nathan's. When a stock boy from the company disappears he is convinced to locate the boy by his grandfather.

Explanation of the novel's title

Stefanos is fired from his job at Nutty Nathan's but the reason for his dismissal does not become clear until the end of the book.

Characters

Nick Stefanos is a marketing executive and one time process server. He works for a chain of electrical goods stores. He was once a floor salesman. He remains friends with his old sales colleague Johnny McGinnes. Both Stefanos and McGinnes drink heavily and abuse recreational drugs.

Major themes

The novel is concerned with substance abuse both by the main characters and facilitated by the drug distributors.

Literary significance and reception

The novel was positively compared to Charles Willeford

Charles Willeford

Charles Ray Willeford III was an American writer. An author of fiction, poetry, autobiography, and literary criticism, Willeford is best known for his series of novels featuring hardboiled detective Hoke Moseley. The first Hoke Moseley book, Miami Blues , is considered one of its era's most...

 and Daniel Woodrell

Daniel Woodrell

Daniel Woodrell is an American writer of fiction. He has written eight novels, most of them set in the Missouri Ozarks. Woodrell coined the phrase "country noir" to describe his 1996 novel Give Us a Kiss...

 by a reviewer. The reviewer commented that the plot was perfunctory and that the novel was more concerned with examining the lives of the salesmen. He praised the book for drawing such interest from a seemingly mundane profession. The reviewer commented on Pelecanos frequent use of music references.

The series as a whole has been described as tightly plotted with "intricacies to rival Hammett

Dashiell Hammett

Samuel Dashiell Hammett was an American author of hard-boiled detective novels and short stories, and political activist. Among the enduring characters he created are Sam Spade , Nick and Nora Charles , and the Continental Op .In addition to the significant influence his novels and stories had on...

 or Chandler

Raymond Chandler

Raymond Thornton Chandler was an American novelist and screenwriter.In 1932, at age forty-five, Raymond Chandler decided to become a detective fiction writer after losing his job as an oil company executive during the Depression. His first short story, "Blackmailers Don't Shoot", was published in...

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