At Guns, Gams, and Gumshoes, we’re a couple of PIs who also write…and are also married to each other. This can be great…and sometimes challenging. Today we’ll each answer “what are the pros and cons” of being a married PI team.
Shaun’s Pros
- You really know your partner, there’s no learning curve.
- During those times when you have to improvise or pretext, you can cue your partner and pick up their cues, which makes what you’re trying to accomplish believeable and effective.
- There’s no need to inform your work partner of demands or troubles in your personal life because she knows!
Shaun’s Cons
First of all, I’m a brave man for being the first to answer this question, but I’ve been granted absolute immunity. Here’s my cons:
- You can’t bullshit your partner about anything, and there’s no hiding behind your moods.
- Whereas other households might have two spouses with independent revenue streams, the married-PI couple is often working the same job. If that client’s check bounces, it can hit us hard.
- Chasing cheating spouses can be deleterious to one’s libido. After a night of watching spouses cheat, I’m not always in the mood if you get my drift.
Colleen’s Pros
- Sometimes being a husband-and-wife PI team gets us the case. For example, a client thinks his wife will be meeting her paramour at a swanky restaurant — we can easily fit into that scenario as another couple dining in that restaurant, even being romantic together, versus a PI sitting alone at a table.
- Shaun’s a big-picture person, I’m a detailed person. Together, we get a good snapshot of a case.
- Shaun trained a lot of PIs over the years in his attorney practice, so if I’m working a new type of case, I get the benefit of working side-by-side with a mentor (or having one on call).
Colleen’s Cons
- It’s that big-picture thing. Sometimes I don’t understand how he glosses over the details.
- We’ve had clients who think two-for-the-price-of-one. No, just because we’re married doesn’t mean we each get paid half-price.
- When we’re both in the field, there’s no one to call at home to let the dogs out.
Other news this week
Check out Gerald So’s interview with Colleen at Chatterrific.
Colleen’s mystery eBook, The Zen Man, featuring a fictional married PI-team, is on sale for .99 at Amazon, Nook and
Smashwords through January 18.
