“Detached” is a collection of short stories, all with Rocsoe Swift as the protagonist. The stories weave in popular culture tidbits from the ’60s and ‘7os, much of it local. One of the stories, “Cross-eyed Mona,” is set in the bar that set the standard for wild saloons in the Fan District for decades to come, J.W. Rayle.

At 10:45 p.m. Swift locked the bank deposit from the evening’s take in the ancient safe in his office. As he left the theater the 29-year-old manager set out to wash away the still-clinging vestiges of a hangover that had dogged him all day. Swift’s destination was the stained glass and wood-paneled confines of J.W. Rayle, his favorite watering hole. Once outside, he decided to walk, hoping the fresh air would do him some good.

Monroe Park was quiet. As he walked Roscoe recollected a series of images from events that had unfolded in that park, which bordered the Virginia Commonwealth University academic campus. The montage stopped abruptly at his memory of a Sunday afternoon live-music happening where a young man fell to his death from atop the park’s cast iron fountain.

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