Former legal investigator, Vincent Malone, is heading to Albuquerque where he’s hoping to live on the cheap until his Social Security benefits kick in. He makes it as far as Santa Fe where he impulsively finds work as a driver for a new bed and breakfast – only to find himself soon mixed up in the murder of a high-profile sports agent.
Charged with the crime is the dead man’s client, a […]
Miranda, seemingly a stranger to Dave, knocks on his door and is let into the house. She is looking for answers – but to what? Dave himself is harboring some intense secrets of his own. The undercurrents between the two are violent and dark and swim just beneath the surface, but reveal a much darker past for them both.
What Goff does best is layer (no pun intended) […]
When Layla takes over as head of the Culiacan Cartel with her uncle in prison, she strikes her first drug deal to prove her mettle in the machismo world of the cartels. Things go sideways fast: planes crash, bodyguards die, and a Mariachi band unwittingly fronts for an assassin. Her Canadian partner, Clay, sticks by her side as they face down Guatemalan kingpin Don Guillermo and her uncle’s slimy business partner.
Smart and beautiful Layla tangles with a cast of characters as she and Clay plot their deal, trample through a jungle, and seek revenge on Guillermo. In Mexico, the […]
In Whither, Willie Wicked? Jan Ewing has produced a terrific piece of work, tackling hard subjects that are both topical and magical, melding the real with the imagined.
The story follows Thomas Llewellyn Gareth, known as Gareth, a private investigator tasked with locating the punk rock star Jeff Christopher after his disappearance in light of a rape accusation. All is not as it may seem, with rumors that Jeff Christopher has turned into someone else, Willie Wicked, and questions arise as to his father’s intentions after Gareth learns Jeff squeezed him out and lost his father a lot of money.[…]
Hard times and dark days set a grim tone for Wyatt Hamby’s hardboiled crime tale, The Haunted Streets, Book 1 in The Vacant Exordium series.
The year is 1937. Seasoned Detective Frank Palmer and his young partner, Charlie Callaghan, are called to the home of prominent radio host, Morgan Maxwell, who’s been murdered. There are no bullet casings or murder weapon – only a .38 slug and two leather-bound ledgers with cryptic entries. Maxwell’s death has also coincided with the passing of seventy-two-year-old Salvadore Barone, head of the Barone crime family. As Palmer digs deeper into the murder investigation, […]
The Spy Who Hated Me! by Shaun Chapman is a rip-roaring race through a shadowy noir world of dames and danger, with a healthy dose of technological surrealism that gives this world a slightly unpredictable edge.
James Spillaney epitomizes the stereotype of private detectives, and the novel is an immersive and enjoyable dive into this dramatic style. The colloquial speech and affectations are constant, but within a few chapters, it becomes easier to read – and believe.
The high-speed nature of the novel keeps you interested, even if some of the plot points seem superfluous – a little too much […]
Swollen Identityby Rich Leder is the second book in the electric McCall & Company series about Kate McCall, who’s inherited a PI company from her murdered father, and reluctantly takes the reins. Moonlighting as a way-off Broadway actress starring in a series of absurd musicals, Book 2 finds socialite Brooke Barrington walking into her living room, who claims to have had her identity stolen, as well as stealing a kiss…
This leads to a complex, but still breezingly entertaining case, where Kate has to contend with Brooke’s deranged twin sister Bailey, who wants to murder her sister and who’s […]
Emboozlement is Rich Leder’s third novel in the excellent McCall & Company series. Kate McCall, an off-off Broadway actress has inherited her dad’s private investigator business, and now finds herself embroiled in a possible embezzlement scheme at a popular sports bar run by a former Major Leaguer, while somebody is murdering lawyers – who may just be her father’s killer – and somebody is letting her know about the murders ahead of time.
Meanwhile, Kate might be falling for the ballplayer, and also meanwhile he might just the one committing the embezzlement. As always, Leder provides a uniquely entertaining page-turner […]