A Firing Offense was published by St. Martin’s Press in 1992. Nick Stefanos, a Greek-American electronics store advertising director in Washington D.C., investigates the disappearance of Jimmy Broda, a young stock boy from the store who has vanished into the city’s drug underworld. The investigation takes Stefanos through the D.C. that tourists never see: the neighborhoods east of the Anacostia River, the go-go clubs, the crack corners, and the working-class bars where people drink to forget what the city does to them.
Pelecanos brought something new to crime fiction: a D.C. novel that was not about politics but about labor, about the people who actually lived in the District — mechanics, bartenders, stock boys, music lovers — and the drugs and violence that consumed their neighborhoods while the political class looked away. His prose style, influenced by James M. Cain and Charles Willeford, was spare, rhythmic, and suffused with the music that his characters played on their car stereos.
Collecting A Firing Offense
First edition (St. Martin’s Press, New York, 1992): Boards with dust jacket.
Market values:
- Fine in dust jacket: $200–$500
- Very good: $75–$200
- Signed first edition: $300–$800
Projected values (2026–2036): Strong appreciation. As Pelecanos’s debut and the foundation of his D.C. literary project, first editions will become increasingly valuable.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is George Pelecanos known for? Pelecanos is the preeminent novelist of Washington D.C.’s working-class neighbourhoods. He is also a television writer and producer, most notably for The Wire, Treme, and The Deuce. His fiction and television work share a focus on the people and communities overlooked by conventional media.
Is Nick Stefanos based on a real person? Partly. Like Stefanos, Pelecanos is Greek-American and grew up working in retail in Washington D.C. The character’s knowledge of the city’s streets, music, and bar culture draws directly on Pelecanos’s own experience.
What is go-go music? Go-go is a percussive subgenre of funk originating in Washington D.C., characterised by an unbroken beat that keeps the audience dancing between songs. Pioneered by Chuck Brown and the Soul Searchers, it is D.C.’s indigenous music and features prominently in Pelecanos’s novels as the city’s cultural signature.