Dan talks “An American Tragedy” with Peter Okonkwo on the P. English Literature You Tube channel – October 2024

Hard Boiled Friction: Dan Flanigan’s private dick novels hit the naked city

Illustration by Cassondra Jones

After winning awards like “Best Lawyer” in Kansas City, Missouri, and plenty more on a national level, Dan Flanigan goes from mouthpiece to bloodhound. An extremely successful career in law didn’t quite satisfy Flanigan, so off the clock, he pens his detective chronicles.

His self-published novels, The Peter O’Keefe series, earned recognition from American Fiction and National Indie Excellence Awards. First having been published in 2019, he’s now released his fourth installment, all while continuing his legal counsel. As I read through his biographies and countless awards, I began to wonder if he had the same 24 hours in a day as the rest of us. When asked how the hell he finds the time for everything, Flanigan says, “Being a workaholic helps. I’ve lived a long life too.”

“I decided that I wanted to be a writer when I was a sophomore in high school. All kinds of things got in the way of that. I think one of the main things was, I didn’t have anything to write about. I haven’t lived enough life,” Flanigan says.

After obtaining his Bar admissions in both Missouri and New York, he began a highly successful career in financial and real estate law. But that urge to write creatively always seemed to nag at his mind. He decided to leave the courtroom for a few years to open a rehabilitation center in Arizona with his wife Candy to focus on his art.

One of his plays got a stage reading in New York City, but his agent and the theater went bankrupt. He took it as a sign to leave writing behind him. “So I just said, ‘I’m going to stop punishing myself with all this. I’ll just be a lawyer, and go about my business,’” says Flanigan. “But it still never quite leaves you completely. My wife died in 2011. So, I decided to write a book of poetry about her last illness and death. That sort of triggered me getting back into it.”

Dan Flanigan

Once he broke the writing seal, he wrote a novel series, a poetry book, a novella, and a couple of plays, on top of his scores of legal publications. His novel series follows private investigator Peter O’Keefe—a recovered addict and Vietnam War veteran. His lawyer childhood friend sends him on what seems to be a run-of-the-mill case, but it ends with O’Keefe getting into trouble with the mafia. Taking place in the ‘80s, the series showcases the cyclical nature of history. Though the novels follow a through-line narrative, Flanigan says the stories can all stand alone.

The fourth installment, An American Tragedy, came out in June 2024 and has already received high praise from reviewers from The St. Louis Literary Review and more. The book delves into the 1980s satanic panic frenzies and sexual abuse in daycares or classrooms. “I was on a podcast, it was in the UK, in England. He said, ‘Well, Americans go through a moral panic every 20 years anyway.’ And that’s kind of true. So it’s kind of a cautionary tale, too,” Flanigan says.

An American Tragedy delves into the childcare abuse scandals that began to break out during the “greed is good” era. When O’Keefe’s daughter’s favorite teacher faces harsh allegations, he’s thrust into dilemmas of morality and justice. It’s up to him and his rag-tag team to determine if it’s herd mentality or reality.

Inspired by the current QAnon tinfoil-hatters that are causing baseless hysteria, Flanigan couldn’t contain himself from drawing from this historical parallel. “I just got into this whole satanic moral panic thing, just knowing it was going on and I said, ‘I can’t let this go. I can’t not talk about it,’” he says.

The themes across the Peter O’Keefe series continue this pattern of highlighting how the ‘80s weren’t some golden era where everyone and everything was inherently better, but instead looked almost exactly like today, just with more hairspray. “We must just not deal with the issues. Maybe we can’t deal with them,” Flanigan says.

The earlier books in the series, Mink Eyes, The Big Tilt, and On Lonesome Roads, also connect to contemporary issues like the never-ending economic crises, organized crime, and widespread panic over frivolous things. The first of the series was originally written by Flanigan in the ‘80s.

“I wanted to do a late coming of age. Somebody in their 30s like I was when struggling with addiction. I wanted to make this more interesting than just navel-gazing,” Flanigan says. “So I put it in this detective/crime format and maybe it’ll be more interesting for everybody that way.”

Illustration by Cassondra Jones

The first novel of the series was inspired by a real case he worked down in the Ozarks on a mink farm. “I mean, believe me, my case wasn’t as exciting as what happens in that book,” says Flanigan. His extensive background in the courtroom and his PhD in history make him an endless well of knowledge, which creates a balance of realism and entertainment that many detective and crime books simply can’t offer.

Though O’Keefe seemingly fits into the whiskey-reliant, troubled past stereotype of many literary detectives, Flanigan wanted to approach from a place of understanding. “I’m a recovering alcoholic, and I sobered up in the early ‘80s, and my wife and I did our own treatment center,” he says. “So that’s a theme in the book, but I didn’t want to force it.”

Though An American Tragedy was recently released, Flanigan has already begun workshopping his next installment. This book is where O’Keefe finally reaches the Grunge Decade. “This next one will be in 1990/1991. There’s so much to do,” he says.

Already equipped with another aspect of our messed up society, the next may be dealing with religious boot camps, foster care, or Playboy.
Making up for lost time with his passion and ideas seem to pour out of Flanigan. He’s still working as a lawyer, but he spends more time developing Peter O’Keefe’s stories now. “As long as I can do it. I’m gonna carry this whole thing up toward as close to the present day as I can,” he says. “And I haven’t made it out of 1988.”

The Peter O’Keefe series is all available digitally or in physical copies on Amazon or his website. His poetry book, Tenebrae, and his novella, Dew Drops, can also be purchased online.

After a lifetime of running from his creative inner world, he’s finally feeling fulfilled in his work and does not plan on transcending eras any time soon. “I’m not a bestseller, but I’m doing the right thing here,” he says.