September 17 2026
September 2026: Don’t miss this month’s episode of Chris Chambers Noir!
This month’s topic: Are humor and noir spiritually exclusive? Or does humor transform noir into the pulp genre?
Meet our guest: Whiskey Leavins, a humorist with a crime-writing problem, who has lived a nomadic life in multiple cities and states both north and south of the Rio Grande.
Now he loves life in Santa Cruz, California, and has no plans to leave. He is the author of the “Santa Lacrimosa” humorous crime series, which features murderous clown factions, turkey-worshiping cults, brawling street performers, and was referred to by one Goodreads reviewer as “A one-man genre.”
His work has appeared in Mythic Pizza, Punk Noir, and his short story Boom Boom Mancini is included in the recent anthology Bad Intentions, crime stories inspired by Warren Zevon. He has been nominated for both Diddly AND Bupkis. Like his main character, Detective Rock Cobbler, Whiskey appreciates a good dive bar and more than a bit of bourbon. He also loves riding around the Santa Cruz Mountains on his Royal Enfield, but not when drinking bourbon. He’s responsible like that. Learn more: whiskeyleavins.com
Murder in Greasepaint: A Rock Cobbler Case (Santa Lacrimosa Book 1) — Washed up pitching prospect, Rock Cobbler, now a hotshot detective with the Santa Lacrimosa PD likes working alone as much as he likes bourbon. That is to say, a lot. One rainy night at Santa Lacrimosa Clown College he finds himself looking out a dorm room window. Down below lay the hilariously twisted body of Mr. Rubadubdub, apparently tossed from that very same window.
The investigation into the defenestration of the promising young clown will lead Rock through dive bars, contemporary Christian clowning performances, and down into the seedy underbelly of clown lore. He will discover what no non-clown should know; like the existence of dangerous, rival clown factions that will stop at nothing in search of clown dominance and the possession of one particular venerated clown relic. To crack the case, he will have to match wits, and game, with the alluring Professor Wiggles. Will Rock take a pie to the face? Or will he solve the case before more clowns die?
Murder in Greasepaint is equal parts Chandler, Christopher Moore, Bozo, and Bourbon.
A Turkey Danced Death: Another Rock Cobbler Case (Santa Lacrimosa Book 2) — Early morning. A wooded clearing. The body surrounded by a conga line of head-bobbing wild turkeys. Then Detective Rock Cobbler’s Thursday really starts to get weird. Before he can begin to dig into this turkey-murder, his attention is diverted by a soft-spoken young woman filing a run-of-the-mill missing person report. Santa Lacrimosa PD’s crack detective knows he should focus on the murder, but unexplainably finds his interest being drawn towards the routine case. The dual investigations will lead Cobbler through seedy residential motels, close encounters with local burlesque royalty Caramel Slice, and on to interactions with a bizarre mountain cult, its charismatic leader, and his bulldog-like henchman. Will the bourbon-loving Cobbler get to the bottom of both cases? Will he figure out the turkey angle? Or will he wind up getting stuffed?
A Turkey Danced Death combines equal parts Chandler, Christopher Moore, Carl Hiaasen, and a dash of Jim Jones into a quirky, tawdry, Whiskey’d up cocktail.
Bestselling Books: He is the author of 19 books, including the Angela Bivens thriller series for Random House, The Rocket Crockett pulp noir series, and Black Pulp for Prose-Press, and editor, along with Gary Phillips, of The Darker Mask graphic short story collection, the Bronze Buckaroo Rides Again: Honoring Harlem’s Herb Jeffries. He is also the Mid-Atlantic President of the Mystery Writers of America.
And there’s more: Chris has contributed short stories to “The Obama Inheritance: 15 Stories of Conspiracy Noir” (Three Rooms Press), which won the Anthony Award; “The Black Panther: Tales Of Wakanda,” “The Faking of the President and Midnight Hour,” and “Witnesses for the Dead with Gar Anthony Haywood.” Each book includes stories by award-winning and bestselling authors.
