Who Are Sam and Allie Foureyes?

If you follow my social media posts on Facebook, “X,” or Instagram, you may have noticed a number of posts with the banner, “Sam and Allie Foureyes…” Perhaps you saw the original post, “Sam and Allie Foureyes are the official spokespersons of the Backcountry Conservation Angler,” and you wondered, “who the heck are Sam and Allie Foureyes?” Well, let me tell you.

Many, if not most, of you don’t know that I am a rather prolific self-published author. I have written sixteen epic Christian fantasy novels, two steampunk adventures, two Christmas novellas, and, in a change of genre, four, soon to be five “Sam and Allie Foureyes Mysteries” starting in January of this year. To date, they have been the best-selling of my literary efforts. Sam is dubbed, “the fly-fishing P. I.” And his RAM pickup even bears the license plate, “FISHIN PI.” His real last name is Forsythe, "Foureyes" is an LLC.

Sam considers himself to be a hard-boiled gumshoe, in the Mike Hammer/Sam Spade tradition. He's an Army veteran, Military Police. In the first book, “Sam Foureyes, Private Eye,” he’s sitting in his Bronx office one day, casting casual bets on the ponies and considering going down to the deli on the corner for a pastrami on rye sandwich, when a beautiful woman, Theadelinda Cartwright, comes into his office and hires him to help find her missing father.

Thea Cartwright

Thea, as she is known, is good-looking babe. (I’m not being sexist here; I’m describing her of the way Sam does.) She is an attorney, a former assistant district attorney, an adjunct court justice, and filthy rich. She is a Hamptons trust fund baby in addition to her legal career, and lives in a sumptuous mansion on the south shore of Long Island with her cook and housekeeper, Carlotta. Her father, Madison Cartwright III, has vanished leaving a string of clues that will take Sam and Thea across the country. He is also a collector of classic vehicles including a Bentley Bentayga Mulliner fly fishing edition. Thea, having no desire to cross the country in a pickup truck (she drives a Maserati) allows Sam to pick from the vehicles in daddy’s garage, and he picks the Bentley with four custom fly rods and a tying bench in the back.

In the Independence, Missouri, a place not renowned for trout fishing, Sam encounters Alistronia Archer, and her two “assistants” Brandon and Leo. Alistronia is a college professor, and the two guys are students who are helping her in exchange for passing grades to keep them on the football team. To make a long story short, Alistronia, or Allie as she prefers to be called, is actually Iphigenia Cartwright, Thea’s identical twin sister and Madison’s estranged daughter who received a cryptic letter from her father about Thea’s quest and now wants to be part of it.

Allie Foureyes

Despite getting off to a rocky start, (Sam threw Leo and Brandon into the lake after Leo pulled a gun on him.) (The gun was empty.) Sam and Alistronia/Iphigenia take an instant liking to each other, much to Thea’s dismay since she has been flirting with Sam ever since Long Island. Both women are fly anglers, however, with Thea it’s just a hobby, while Allie is almost as passionate about the sport as Sam is. She is also an Army veteran, still in the reserves. Like her twin, Allie also has a trust fund even though her father had disowned her after she exposed one of his shady schemes in court. Their mother, Arabella, who we meet later in the book, had stipulated the funds be set aside for her daughters when she divorced Madison.

By the end of the book, the case is resolved, the sisters and their mother are reunited, and Sam and Allie are married and head out on a flyfishing honeymoon.

Why then did I make them my spokesmen? Twofold: First, as I said, the mysteries are my best-selling books thus far, but that doesn’t mean they are bestsellers by any stretch of the imagination, so using Sam and Allie to highlight things like the importance of carrying the “10 Essentials” with you every time you go into the backcountry, or the importance of water temperature when fishing, or the importance of carrying a first aid kit, also publicizes the Sam and Allie Foureyes Mysteries. Second, through the magic of Grok, Sam and Allie (and Thea) have faces. Whether it’s advocating for stream access, encouraging anglers to get first aid training, or congratulating the World Champion Flyfishing Team USA, Sam and Allie do it better. I’m still the “man behind the curtain,” but I let my book characters talk for me.

Besides, they are better anglers than I am, or at least more successful.

The books can be purchased on Amazon or at gewellynchronicles.com

And Madison let Sam keep the Bentley as payment.