At a time when print journalism is rapidly fading away, there is a need for a book about the day-to-day life of a newspaper and magazine writer. This memoir by award-winning writer James L. Dickerson is such a book. In addition to providing exciting stories about investigative reporting and investigative editorial writing (a concept he developed at The Commercial Appeal of Memphis), the book pulls back the newsroom curtain on the many intrigues and scandals that happen behind the scenes at a daily newspaper.

Currently celebrating 50 years of journalism, James L. Dickerson is one of the most successful journalists in the South. He has been a staff writer for three Pulitzer Prize-winning newspapers while writing for magazines and authoring more than 30 books on investigative history and investigative biography (one of his investigative biographies Colonel Tom Parker: The Curious Life of Elvis Presley’s Eccentric Manager was purchased by Warner Bros. for director Baz Luhrmann for his upcoming Elvis movie starring Tom Hanks).

In a fascinating transition from college rock musician to civil rights activist to Vietnam War resister, Dickerson enters the world of investigative journalism. His style of reporting is unique in that he assumes different personas for different interviews, becoming Bogart’s Sam Spade (hence the book cover), Johnny Cash and Clark Kent-and he is one of the very few reporters to carry a gun on difficult assignments. For that reason, reading this memoir is like reading a Dashiell Hammett mystery novel.

Go on assignment with Dickerson when he investigates the Shah of Iran’s sudden appearance in Jackson, Mississippi during the Iran hostage crisis; when he organizes a nude pictorial for Playboy on the Girls of Country Music ; when he chases after Bill Clinton for a Q&A interview for Playboy; when Omni magazine asks him to investigate historical murder cases; when he interviews the first Marine Corps pilot in history; when he interviews the stars of country, blues and rock music; and when he romances one of the first women to be elected to the Tennessee House of Representatives; and much more as he writes more than 30 investigative books on civil rights, hate crimes, and internment camps, to name just a few.