{"id":2799,"date":"2012-05-14T14:06:58","date_gmt":"2012-05-14T14:06:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/?page_id=2799"},"modified":"2026-02-11T19:57:34","modified_gmt":"2026-02-11T19:57:34","slug":"about-the-rich-are-different","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/the-dakota-stevens-mystery-series\/about-the-rich-are-different\/","title":{"rendered":"About The Rich Are Different"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a>The high\u00adly-antic\u00adi\u00adpat\u00aded mys\u00adtery sequel\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Rich Are Dif\u00adfer\u00adent<\/strong><\/em>, the 2nd nov\u00adel in the Dako\u00adta Stevens Mys\u00adtery Series by Chris Orcutt, explores the rar\u00adefied world of a Long Island heiress and her mur\u00addered broth\u00ader who owned an Old West resort in Mon\u00adtana. To hunt down the man\u2019s killer, Dako\u00adta and his asso\u00adciate Svet\u00adlana Kr\u00fcsh must go under\u00adcov\u00ader as actors in a make-believe min\u00ading town straight out of 1885.<\/p>\n

This much-antic\u00adi\u00adpat\u00aded sequel to A Real Piece of Work<\/em> picks up a few months after that dif\u00adfi\u00adcult case. Dako\u00adta Stevens is depressed. He\u2019s lost his detect\u00ading mojo and has\u00adn\u2019t tak\u00aden a case since A Real Piece of Work<\/em>. Can he get his mojo back and find the killer?<\/p>\n

Like bul\u00adlets from a Gatling gun, the sus\u00adpects come fast and furi\u00adous: eccen\u00adtric heiress\u00ades, greedy CEOs, cat\u00adty thes\u00adpi\u00adans, sexy hench\u00adwomen, angry Native Amer\u00adi\u00adcans, mys\u00adte\u00adri\u00adous mob\u00adsters, men\u00adac\u00ading mer\u00adce\u00adnar\u00adies, kinky house\u00adwives and con\u00adtract killers.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a clas\u00adsic case of East meets West as Dako\u00adta and Svet\u00adlana fol\u00adlow a trail of clues that takes the read\u00ader from the sophis\u00adti\u00adcat\u00aded set\u00adting of The Great Gats\u00adby<\/em> to the for\u00adbid\u00adding land of Pale Rid\u00ader<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Buy: <\/strong><\/span>Ama\u00adzon<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Excerpt from The Rich Are Different<\/em><\/h1>\n

Dur\u00ading the long dri\u00adve to Yel\u00adlow\u00adstone, Svet\u00adlana kept a per\u00adfect two-car buffer between Heather\u2019s and ours. Once inside the park, how\u00adev\u00ader, an RV the size of a blue whale some\u00adhow slipped between us, and then we were stopped by a bear-jam and wait\u00aded half an hour for it to clear. We lost Heather briefly on the Grand Loop Road and caught up to her just as she parked in front of the Old Faith\u00adful Inn. She car\u00adried her overnight bag to the geyser view\u00ading area and sat on a bench. I got out while Svet\u00adlana parked, and we met at the hotel entrance. The evening sun was dip\u00adping beneath the tree\u00adtops.<\/p>\n

\u201cLooks like she\u2019s here for the night,\u201d I said. \u201cSee if you can get us rooms, and meet me on the obser\u00adva\u00adtion bal\u00adcony.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ll meet<\/i> in the restau\u00adrant,\u201d she said. \u201cYou\u2019re buy\u00ading me din\u00adner.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the restau\u00adrant, I got a cor\u00adner table with a view of the entrance, ordered shrimp cock\u00adtail, and wait\u00aded. At first I suf\u00adfered the pity\u00ading stares of cou\u00adples who thought I was din\u00ading alone. How\u00adev\u00ader, I was amply vin\u00addi\u00adcat\u00aded when Svet\u00adlana sashayed in and every man in the place choked on his bison burg\u00ader. I knew that cat\u00adwalk gait of hers well. It was the same one she used when\u00adev\u00ader she left chess tour\u00adna\u00adments with the cham\u00adpi\u00adonship purse.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell?\u201d I said.<\/p>\n

She sat down, spread the nap\u00adkin on her lap and ate a shrimp before toss\u00ading a plas\u00adtic room key on the table.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019d you do, mug them?\u201d I said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wan\u00addered into the staff lock\u00ader room. One of the house\u00adkeep\u00aders left her lock\u00ader open, and she had two, so\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou bor\u00adrowed one,\u201d I said.<\/p>\n

\u201cCor\u00adrect. And now\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

She snapped her fin\u00adgers and the wait\u00ader mate\u00adri\u00adal\u00adized at her elbow.<\/p>\n

\u201cI will have a Vir\u00adgin Mary and the prime rib,\u201d she said. \u201cRare. <\/i>Sim\u00adply coax the cow into a warm room.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cVery good, miss.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMiss.\u201d She rest\u00aded her chin on her fist. \u201cDid you hear that Dako\u00adta? Such a smart young man. Make sure you tip him well.\u201d<\/p>\n

I strummed the room key across my fin\u00adgers like a gui\u00adtar pick. \u201cHave I ever told you how much I love your sit\u00adu\u00ada\u00adtion\u00adal ethics?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, but you may fawn over me while I eat these shrimp.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Where did you get the idea for The Rich Are Different<\/em>?<\/h1>\n
\"The<\/a>

Ghost town of Ban\u00adnack, MT. Pho\u00adto by Chris Orcutt.<\/p><\/div>\n

The orig\u00adi\u00adnal man\u00adu\u00adscript that became this nov\u00adel grew out of a trip I took to Mon\u00adtana in 2002. Besides see\u00ading Yel\u00adlow\u00adstone Nation\u00adal Park and the vast Mon\u00adtana plains and wilder\u00adness, I vis\u00adit\u00aded sev\u00ader\u00adal ghost towns<\/a>, includ\u00ading Ban\u00adnack<\/a>, and Vir\u00adginia City & Neva\u00adda City, MT<\/a>. I saw what tourist attrac\u00adtions these sites can be, and I thought, \u201cWould\u00adn\u2019t it be cool if some rich per\u00adson cre\u00adat\u00aded a mod\u00adern-day Old West park?\u201d I imag\u00adined such a place, staffed by actors, with a town and its own rail\u00adroad, and then I imag\u00adined the own\u00ader of the place being mur\u00addered and his sis\u00adter being an heiress on Long Island.<\/p>\n

\"Typical_West_Egg_Mansion_LI\"<\/a>

A typ\u00adi\u00adcal \u201cWest Egg,\u201d Long Island man\u00adsion.<\/p><\/div>\n

I decid\u00aded I want\u00aded to write a mys\u00adtery nov\u00adel that also paid homage to two works I deeply admire: West\u00aderns and The Great Gats\u00adby<\/em>. I want\u00aded to con\u00adtrast the East with the West in such a way that would make read\u00aders look at both places a lit\u00adtle dif\u00adfer\u00adent\u00adly. I think I\u2019ve accom\u00adplished that while also adding, in a mod\u00adest way, to both the detec\u00adtive and West\u00adern gen\u00adres.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

With so many 5\u2011star reviews, was A Real Piece of Work<\/em> a tough act to follow?<\/h1>\n

Ini\u00adtial\u00adly I had con\u00adcerns about The Rich Are Dif\u00adfer\u00adent<\/em> fol\u00adlow\u00ading such a big suc\u00adcess because I kept think\u00ading the nov\u00adel had to be \u201ceven big\u00adger\u201d than the first. Then, through some wise coun\u00adsel from my wife and friends, I real\u00adized that it was\u00adn\u2019t about try\u00ading to write a sec\u00adond, \u201ceven bet\u00adter\u201d A Real Piece of Work<\/em>; it was about let\u00adting The Rich Are Dif\u00adfer\u00adent<\/em> be the unique nov\u00adel it was meant to be.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m hop\u00ading for the Dako\u00adta books to become an estab\u00adlished series, and if you look at oth\u00ader authors\u2019 detec\u00adtive series, every case is a lit\u00adtle dif\u00adfer\u00adent. The Rich Are Dif\u00adfer\u00adent<\/em> holds up as a sequel to A Real Piece of Work<\/em>, but it also stands on its own as a more tra\u00addi\u00adtion\u00adal PI case than in the first book.<\/p>\n

In fact, in some ways The Rich Are Dif\u00adfer\u00adent<\/em> is supe\u00adri\u00ador to the first book. It\u2019s dark\u00ader and emo\u00adtion\u00adal\u00adly deep\u00ader. Dako\u00adta is bat\u00adtle-scarred and less cav\u00ada\u00adlier. He and Svet\u00adlana find them\u00adselves in sev\u00ader\u00adal pre\u00adcar\u00adi\u00adous sit\u00adu\u00ada\u00adtions that push them clos\u00ader togeth\u00ader. And the mys\u00adtery is just as baffling\u2014maybe even more so.<\/p>\n

-<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The high\u00ad\u00ad\u00adly-antic\u00adi\u00ad\u00adpat\u00aded mys\u00adtery sequel\u2026 The Rich Are Dif\u00adfer\u00adent, the 2nd nov\u00adel in the Dako\u00adta Stevens Mys\u00adtery Series by Chris Orcutt, explores the rar\u00adefied world of a\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"parent":2835,"menu_order":41,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-2799","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2799","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2799"}],"version-history":[{"count":184,"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2799\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9987,"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2799\/revisions\/9987"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2835"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/orcutt.net\/weblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2799"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}