Today I am sharing my Feature Post and Book Review for MIDNIGHT CLIMAX (A Kats Takemoto Novel Book #2) by Peter Kageyama on this Virtual Book Tour arranged by Stephanie Barko Literary Publicist.
Below you will find a message from the author, a book description, my book review, an about the author section and the author’s social media links. Enjoy!
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A Message from the Author
Lest you think I have started writing erotica, I should explain that the title comes from an actual CIA operation of the same name. Operation Midnight Climax was a subset of the better-known MK Ultra project that tried to use psychedelic drugs as a form of mind control. Midnight Climax involved two CIA-run brothels, one in New York City and the other in San Francisco, from the mid-1950s into the 1960s that used prostitutes to lure unsuspecting ‘clients’ in and then dosed them with psychedelic drugs to study their effects. I first learned about this strange tidbit of San Francisco history from a column my friend, Gary Kamiya, wrote several years ago in the San Francisco Chronicle. When I first read it, I thought oh my god, there is a story here! You can find Gary’s original piece here!
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Book Description
Kats Takemoto, the nisei private detective from Hunters Point, returns to investigate the murder of a young Chinese girl, killed in a covert CIA brothel in the heart of San Francisco. Her family, members of a Tong, a powerful Chinatown gang, demand vengeance that threatens to start an all-out war in Chinatown unless Kats can discover the truth behind the slaying. Along the way he will discover a personal connection to the suspected killer, a fellow veteran who was tortured and experimented on, turning him into a lethal weapon and a ticking bomb. Kats and his friends race to find this soldier before the government and the rival Tong gangs spiral into more bloodshed.
MIDNIGHT CLIMAX (A Kats Takemoto Novel Book #2) by Peter Kageyama is a thrilling immersive historical suspense/mystery trip back to 1959 San Francisco. This is the second book featuring the nisei P.I. Kats Takemoto and it can be read as a standalone novel, but the first book in the series was so great that I feel you should read them both.
A young Chinese girl is killed in a brothel and her family members in one of the Chinese Tongs in Chinatown want revenge. The head of this group is friend of Kats from college and hires him to find the man responsible. As Kats begins to ask questions, he discovers the brothel was a cover for a CIA drug testing operation and the accused man is a veteran asset the government wants back.
Kats and his friends race to find the accused veteran before a government black ops group can find him and Chinatown explodes into a war between rival Tongs.
I could not stop turning the pages in this exciting historical suspense/mystery. Mr. Kageyama’s writing pulls you back in time effortlessly and you feel like you are in the middle of the action. The CIA operation plotline is based on a true story and since I love history, I can point out the sad fact that it is far from the only time the military and/or CIA experimented on the unsuspecting. I love Kats and, in this book, we learn even more about his personal history while in WWII. The empathy between Kats and the veteran they are trying to find and save is palpable. I also enjoyed reconnecting with Molly and Shig. This story has so many interesting little side tidbits also, with historical San Francisco’s intolerance for gays and drag, having to find a payphone or landline to communicate, the literary bans and the city’s avant-garde beatniks.
I highly recommend this exciting, action-packed P.I. historical suspense/mystery addition to the series and I am anxiously waiting for more cases with Kats.
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About the Author
Peter Kageyama is an author and urbanist who writes and speaks about emotional engagement with our places. For over a decade now he has been making the case for why it is a good thing for more people to fall in love with their places. Since publication of the first book, For the Love of Cities in 2011, Peter has given hundreds of presentations and has traveled all over the US and around the world as the so-called “Pied Piper of City Love.” He has since authored three more non-fiction books, Love Where You Live: Creating Emotionally Engaging Places (2015), The Emotional Infrastructure of Places (2019) and For the Love of Cities REVISITED (2021).
In 2022 he launched a new project, writing fiction. The first book in the planned series, Hunters Point, harkens back to the experiences his own family had during and after World War 2. The book draws upon real events and real people from the Cold War era and weaves them together in San Francisco in 1958.
Today I am sharing my Feature Post and Book Review for COLD PURSUIT (Ryland & St. Clair Book #1) by Nancy Mehl on this Partners in Crime Virtual Book Tour.
Below you will find a book description, my book review, an excerpt from the book, the author’s bio and social media links, and a Kingsumo giveaway. Good luck on the giveaway and enjoy!
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Book Description
Ex-FBI profiler River Ryland still suffers from PTSD after a case went horribly wrong. Needing a fresh start, she moves to St. Louis to be near her ailing mother and opens a private investigation firm with her friend and former FBI partner, Tony St. Clair. They’re soon approached by a grieving mother who wants them to find out what happened to her teenaged son, who disappeared four years ago. River knows there’s almost no hope the boy is still alive, but his mother needs closure, and River and Tony need a case, no matter how cold it might be.
But as they follow the boy’s trail, which gets more complicated at every turn, they find themselves in the path of a murderer determined to punish anyone who gets in his way. As River and Tony race to stop him before he kills again, an even more dangerous threat emerges, stirring up the past that haunts River and plotting an end to her future.
Genre: Christian Suspense Published by: Bethany House Publishers Publication Date: July 2023 Number of Pages: 336 ISBN: 9780764240454 (ISBN10: 0764240455) Series: Ryland & St. Clair (#1)
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My Book Review
RATING: 4 out of 5 Stars
COLD PURSUIT (Ryland & St. Clair Book #1) by Nancy Mehl is a fast paced and gripping Christian suspense and the first book in this new series. These stories feature ex-FBI profilers, River Ryland and Tony St. Clair who have left the FBI and are opening their own private investigation firm.
Watson Investigations is opened by River Ryland and Tony St. Clair in River’s hometown of St. Louis. River left the FBI with PTSD after her last horrific case and her mother needs her now after her Alzheimer’s diagnosis. Tony follows and has mild aphasia and some loss of feeling in his hand and feet after being shot four times by the same perp. The killer is now in prison, but the DNA is not only his and there may be a follower who wants to finish the job of killing River.
At the same time, they get their first P.I. case. A mother whose son has been missing for four years comes to them for help finding him. She knows he is probably dead, but she would like his remains to put him to rest. They begin the investigation and follow a convoluted series of clues and help from people in his life that lead them to a surprisingly close suspect who is determined to punish anyone who makes him mad.
This is an intense suspense read with well-drawn protagonists. Their introduction in the prologue starts you off with a bang and this is the over-arcing plot that will continue in the series and keeps you on the edge-of-your-seat even as you follow their first P.I. case from start to finish in this book. The evidence, clues and twists come at you quickly even as they intertwine so this book is difficult to put down. I read Christian suspense/fiction from other authors and do not mind religious dialogue, prayer, or religious references, but there is too much for me in this story. It pulled me out of the thrills and chills. Overall, I really did enjoy the cold case mystery, the potential of romance between the two protagonists, and the threatening serial killer in the background who we know will return in the future.
A great start to a new Christian suspense series.
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Excerpt
Prologue
River Ryland was convinced that madness exists only a breath away from genius. The man who stood in front of her and Tony had proven this to be true. He’d kept his identity hidden from the FBI’s best. Now River and Tony’s lives were about to end, and there was no one to save them.
Moonlight caused the river to sparkle as if it were layered with precious jewels. But the image didn’t provoke a sense of beauty. It spawned a feeling of terror so deep and evil that her body betrayed her. She couldn’t move. Why were they even here? She and Tony were behavioral analysts for the FBI, not field agents. They wrote profiles for the agents who were trained to confront insanity. A call from another agent had brought them here. “Come and see,” she’d said. “It’s important. I think we got it wrong.”
This was someone they trusted. Someone whose opinion mattered. Jacki was so smart. So naturally intuitive. And so surely dead. Why hadn’t River been alerted by the quiver in her voice? Why hadn’t the profiler profiled her friend and realized she was in trouble? She’d failed Jacki, Tony, . . . and herself. And now, without a miracle, she and Tony were going to die on the bank of this killer river—with moonlight standing guard over their execution.
“Come closer,” the man said to River, his face resembling a Greek theater mask. Was it Comedy or Tragedy? She wasn’t sure. She couldn’t think. Even though she willed her feet to move, she stayed where she was. It was as if her shoes had been glued to the ground. But that wasn’t possible, was it?
The man swung his gun toward Tony. “I said move. If you don’t, I’ll shoot your friend.”
River forced her feet from the spot where she stood. It took every ounce of strength and willpower she possessed. She locked her eyes with Tony’s. Slowly, she made her way toward the man in the moonlight, his gun glinting in the soft light as he pointed it at her. A line from Shakespeare’s Othello echoed in her mind. It is the very error of the moon; She comes more nearer earth than she is wont and makes men mad.
She turned her face toward the man who planned to take her life. She knew she shouldn’t panic. She knew how to fight. How to defend herself. She hated feeling so helpless. So afraid. This was the moment she desperately needed to summon the trained agent inside of her. The one who knew how to confront evil. Yet she was aware of how powerful this man was. How deadly. He’d killed eleven women that they knew of, not counting Jacki, but he’d teased authorities with letters claiming up to eighty. Although it sounded impossible, it wasn’t. Transient women went missing every day. Hookers. Teenagers living on the streets. The number could be right. The one truth that was indisputable? No one had ever survived him. No one.
When she was close enough to smell his sour breath, in one quick move, he swung the gun back toward Tony and fired four times. Tony fell to the ground.
River started to scream his name, but before she could make a sound, the killer’s hands were around her neck, squeezing. Choking the life out of her. Suddenly, something clicked on in her brain, like her alarm clock in the morning. She had to help Tony—if it wasn’t already too late. She struggled, hitting at this horror of a human being. This man full of death and destruction. Then she rolled her eyes back in her head and stopped breathing, holding her breath for dear life. And that’s exactly what it was. Life. Hers and Tony’s. She went limp, hoping the monster would think she was dead.
He finally dropped her on the ground and walked toward his car. She needed to gulp in air but was afraid he’d hear. Breathing in a little at a time hurt her chest, yet she had no choice. She began to crawl quietly toward the gun he’d taken from Tony. It lay only a few feet away. She had no idea where hers was, but that didn’t matter.
She heard him close the trunk. She scrambled as quickly as she could until her fingers closed around the barrel of the gun, but before she could pick it up, he was behind her. He hit her on the head, and she felt herself losing consciousness. She could only stare up at the moon and hate it for watching this happen.
The next sensation she experienced was throbbing pain in her head and neck. Her first reaction wasn’t relief, it was surprise. The pain was awful, but didn’t that mean she was alive? A flash of euphoria gave way to terror when she realized she couldn’t move. Where was she? Why was she wet? She couldn’t see anything, and her hands were bound in front of her. Her fingers reached out and touched something hard. What was it? When she realized she was trapped inside some kind of container—and that water was leaking in—she screamed out in horror. She was in a large chest. All of the Strangler’s victims had been found in the Salt River, and most of them were inside old trunks. But they’d been dead when they went into the water, and she was still alive. He’d done it on purpose because she’d come too close. He needed more than her death. He wanted her to experience the terror he knew his madness could create.
River struggled with all her might, but she couldn’t get free. She pulled her hands up to her mouth and tried to use her teeth to rip through the duct tape wrapped around her wrists. She realized immediately that there was too much of it. She couldn’t make enough progress to help herself before she was completely submerged. The river was seeping in, slowly but surely. She was on her side, and half of her head was already under water. She cried out in terror as she tried to push herself onto her back so she could clear her nose and mouth, but there wasn’t enough room. As hope faded, she did something she never thought she’d do again. Something she hadn’t done in many years. She prayed.
“God, please. If you’re real, if you care anything about me, save me. Get me out of here. I’m sorry I’ve been so angry at you. If you give me another chance . . .” She couldn’t get the rest of the words out because water filled her mouth and she began to choke. She’d swallowed some of it, and she couldn’t catch her breath. She was suffocating. Drowning. Just when she’d decided to give in to the inevitable and let death overtake her, something flashed in her mind. Right before the Strangler hit her . . . there was something. A movement on the hill behind them. Was someone watching? Had they gone for help? Was there a chance? As much as she wanted to believe it, another part of her thought it would be best to just relax and float away. Hope only brought disappointment, and she’d experienced too much of it. Still, she couldn’t help but grab onto a slim chance that . . .
That’s when she felt it. Movement. Something jostled the trunk. Was she being lifted out of the river? As the water level began to decrease inside the trunk, River began to cry. She was going to live. “Thank you, God,” she croaked. “Thank you.”
He was convinced he’d been born to be exceptional. He was certainly smarter than these weak, feckless creatures who revolved around his genius. Was he a god? Or was he a demon? Who was smarter, God or Lucifer? It seemed Lucifer had certainly ruined the plan of the Almighty. If God was really the Creator of all things, how was it that one of His creations was able to rebel and cause such havoc on Earth? Seemed to him that the devil was the winner of that particular contest.
So, on whose side was he working? Being honest about it, he didn’t really care. He only knew that the desire to rid the world of those who were unworthy of life burned in him like a fire. One that he had no power or will to quench. It was his destiny. His reason for living. His fate had been decided for him many years ago, and he’d accepted it gladly. Lucifer or Jehovah. It didn’t matter.
Some would call what he’d done sin. But what was sin anyway? Perhaps it was the road less traveled because of fear of retribution. He didn’t fear judgment. His god didn’t threaten him. Instead, he only fueled the glorious desire that clawed and scratched inside him, demanding release.
He especially enjoyed pitting himself against those who called themselves righteous because they had the ability to forgive. Forgiveness was for the feeble-minded. He would never forgive. He hated anyone who considered themselves moral or spiritually justified and had promised the voice that whispered in the darkness that he would never fail to respond to its unending song of reckoning against them.
He laughed suddenly, the sound echoing around him. These idiotic cattle thought they’d defeated him, but he had a surprise for them. All he had to do was wait. They would rue the day they’d tried to cage him.
The killing hadn’t stopped. It had only just begun.
Chapter One
Brian woke up shivering again, calling out for his mother and father. As he looked around the small room he rented in the rundown boarding house, reality sunk in. He had no idea where his parents were, and even if he could find them, they didn’t want him. They’d stuck him in that residential facility until he was eighteen, like some kind of unwanted dog left in the pound. They’d paid the hospital boatloads of money for all those years, yet when he’d been released there was no family waiting to take him home. So why was he still having the same nightmare? Would it ever leave him alone?
Before they’d kicked him out, the social worker at the hospital had found him a job, but if he wanted to keep it, he had to visit a therapist every week. He hated going, but he couldn’t walk away from his job. Although he didn’t make much, at least he could pay for this room. Fredric, a kind man who’d worked in the hospital cafeteria, had helped him find this rooming house and had even paid his rent for two months. Brian was grateful for Fredric’s help, but this place was really awful. Paint peeling off the walls. A shared bathroom for all three rooms on this floor, which was usually dirty. The guy who lived across the hall drank and didn’t flush the toilet. And at night the cockroaches came out. Brian didn’t blame Fredric. He’d done everything he could with his limited funds. Brian blamed his parents. They were rich. They could have helped him. Kept him safe. Brian hated them with every fiber of his being.
When he was very young, they were attentive—even loving. But as he grew older, and they realized he was different, everything changed. Although he’d never met his father’s father, he’d heard the whispers—that Brian was crazy, just like his grandfather had been. When he first began to tell his parents what he was experiencing, they seemed concerned. Then when doctors informed them he was hallucinating and that he needed professional help, the way they looked at him changed. The word schizophrenia became his enemy—and his identity.
At first, his father appeared to care for his broken son, but as his mother applied pressure, he began to distance himself—just as she had. It was clear he wasn’t the child they’d wanted. And then his brother was born. And his sister. They were perfect. As he grew older and his problems began to increase, it was obvious that his mother only saw him as an embarrassment. Something that interfered with their perfect lives. Thankfully, in their eyes, God had shown them mercy and given them the children they deserved, so sending him away solved their dilemma. He had a memory of his parents fighting one night. His father wanted Brian to stay with them, but his mother had threatened to leave him and take his ideal children away. Finally, his father gave in. Brian hated him even more than his mother for caving in to her demands. For turning his back on the son that needed him so desperately. After he went to live in that terrible hospital with its white walls, disinfectant smells, locked doors, and abusive staff, his parents began to visit him less and less. The more he begged them to take him home, the more uncomfortable they became, and by the time he was thirteen, they stopped coming altogether. As he remembered the anger he’d felt, bad words swirled around in the air, each letter a different color. As they turned red, he mouthed the words he saw, and rage built inside him. He would need to release it soon.
Suddenly his alarm clock went off, causing the air around him to pulsate. He hit the alarm and pushed himself up from the bed. It was an especially cold November. The blanket he’d purchased from Goodwill wasn’t enough to keep him warm, especially in this drafty room, but it was all he could afford if he wanted to pay his rent and eat. As his teeth chattered, the word cold floated in front of his eyes. He couldn’t hold back a sneeze that made his mouth feel funny. He swiped at the bad words that started flying around his head.
“Stop it!” he said loudly. Immediately, he put his hand over his mouth. What if someone complained because he was too loud? No matter what, he couldn’t lose this room. He had nowhere else to go, and he didn’t want to live on the streets. That was a nightmare he couldn’t face.
The afternoon sun shone through a gap in the curtains on his window, but it brought no warmth. He took off his sweatpants and sweatshirt and hurried over to the decrepit chest of drawers where he kept his clothes. He pulled out his work pants and some clean underwear. Then he went over to the hooks on the wall where he hung his three work shirts. There was only one clean shirt left. He’d have to go to the laundromat tomorrow. That could be a problem since he had to see his therapist in the morning. He’d have to wake up early to get everything done. He glanced at the clock on the top of his dresser. Four o’clock. He needed to leave by five-thirty to get to work on time. At least the cleaning company left him alone, since they trusted him and knew he would get the job done. As long as he had a place to live and he could keep his fifteen-year-old car running, he would keep showing up.
His supervisor usually only showed up once a week to collect Brian’s time sheet. He used to check his work, but he didn’t anymore. Most importantly, the man never gave him the look. Brian hated that look. The one he saw on his parents’ faces before they’d shipped him off. Rage burned inside him toward normal people who laughed at him and treated him as less than human. As he headed toward the bathroom, the word blood pulsated in front of his eyes, and he could almost taste its sugary aroma in his mouth.
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Author Bio
Nancy Mehl (www.nancymehl.com) is the author of almost fifty books, a Parable bestseller, as well as the winner of an ACFW Book of the Year Award, a Carol Award, and the Daphne Du Maurier Award. She has also been a finalist for two Carol Awards, and the Christy Award. Nancy writes from her home in Missouri, where she lives with her husband, Norman, and their puggle, Watson. To learn more, visit nancymehl.com.
Today I am sharing my Feature Post and Book Review for WHERE NO ONE WILL SEE by Felicia Watson on this Virtual Author Book Tour.
Below you will find a book description, my book review, an excerpt from the book, an about the author section and the author’s social media links. Enjoy!
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Book Description
Lucia Scafetti, a Philly private eye, has tried to move out of the shadow of her infamous crime family. She has her own business, her beloved dog Rocco, and she’s starting to date the cute lawyer down the hall. Her life is upended when her notorious hitman father disappears while in search of the diamond and gold coins he stole from his last victim. Lucia races to unravel the mystery of her father’s disappearance before a crooked and powerful cop beats her to it. Though Lucia’s allies are scanty and her enemies numerous, she tries to resist the questionable help on offer from her Mafiosi family. It looks like Lucia must finally decide on which side of the law she truly belongs, knowing the wrong choice could send her to prison – or an early grave.
WHERE NO ONE WILL SEE by Felicia Watson is an exceptional P.I. crime mystery/thriller with romantic elements that grabbed me immediately and I could not put it down. The female P.I. protagonist is hard-boiled and yet very empathetic and dealing with a unique family. I am very glad I signed up for this book tour and was introduced to this character, story, and author.
Lucia Scafetti works as a P.I. in Philadelphia. Lucia and her dog, Rocco live in her basement office as she saves to buy her own home. She is working hard to make her business profitable even as she tries to live down the fact that all her relatives work for or have ties to the Mafia. Unexpectedly her hitman father shows up after his release from prison. It is rumored he hid a large diamond and eleven gold coins after killing the courier, but he disappears while searching for them.
Lucia suddenly has plenty of enemies and few allies. A crooked cop has been waiting for Lucia’s father to recover the missing items for himself, a rival Mafia family wants them, and a mysterious hitman may be on the hunt also. Lucia works to unravel the mystery, decide which law enforcement officials and family members she can trust, and stay alive in the process.
This story has everything that makes me a happy reader. A protagonist with sarcastic wit, determination, intelligence, loyalty, and a dog she loves, a plot that is action packed and perfectly paced, and realistic romantic entanglements. Lucia’s investigation is filled with surprises, but the ultimate surprise at the climax I was not anticipating at all. I love it when that happens. The ending is believable with what you learn about Lucia throughout the story, but I still felt it was not what everyone might be expecting.
I highly recommend this P.I. crime mystery/thriller!
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Excerpt
It was a rather dull surprise for Lucia when the next day, Detective Pike called her down to PPD Headquarters to make a statement about the death of Paul Lugano, found in his car, killed by a bullet to the left eye. She told Colona and Pike what she knew about the murder, which was nothing – except it was further proof that Carlo Scafetti was still alive. She learned nothing new during the interrogation except that both murders had employed the same weapon and surmised that her father had somewhere picked up a Sig Sauer P226.
Upon leaving the police station, she noticed a black BMW E38. It was a distinctive car, especially in that neighborhood. She went over to the driver’s side and tapped on the tinted-glass window. When it slid down slightly, she leaned in. “Hey there, looking for me?”
Her cousin Micky eyed her impassively. “Yes, as a matter of fact, I am. Please get in.”
She wanted to refuse but knew Dominic Vetere was a dangerous man – one only an idiot would trifle with. She wasn’t feeling particularly idiotic that morning, so slipped into the passenger’s seat, saying, “Good to see you, Mick.”
“I wish I could say the same.”
“You could if you lied, like I just did.” Okay, maybe she was feeling a little bit idiotic – but Micky’s pomposity was too tempting a target.
“You’re making jokes? Che cozz’?” He moved into her personal space, growling, “Don’t you realize you are in big trouble?” Lucia didn’t respond but started scanning the area to see if there were other cars of a suspicious nature in evidence. Micky took that as a sign to continue. “You know, if you had just stopped at Frankie, we could’ve looked the other way. That gavone was dragging the organization down and my Gabriella is better off without him. Which she will see in time. But Paulie.…” He shook his head, continuing, “He was a good soldier and D’Amico is not gonna’ let this go.”
“D’Amico thinks I killed Frankie and Lugano?”
“Yeah, he does. I’m warning you, do not try and play Salvatore D’Amico for a fool.” While Lucia was fighting the urge to roll her eyes at him, Micky continued, “Because you’re family, I might be able to make a bargain with him and get you out of this. I need to give him something though, so you have to hand over the diamond and coins to me right—” She couldn’t suppress a snort of laughter, causing Micky to snap, “You still think this is funny?”
“I shouldn’t but…I do think it’s funny how you all got your tongues hanging out for those damn things that are probably in some European collector’s vault. And that my old man has you all chasing your tails like this. He’s outsmarted everybody and is probably having a good laugh about me taking the heat for it.”
“Lucia – your father is dead.”
“No, he’s not. The proof is staring everyone in the face. He’s killing everyone they send for him.”
Micky gripped the steering wheel and threw his head back against the seat. He whispered to himself, “Managgia, Patsy was telling the truth.” He looked back at her and spoke very deliberately. “I know you don’t like me, I know you don’t trust me, but I think you know I am not a stupid man. You can believe me on this: Carlo Scafetti is dead. Hai capid?”
Doubt about her father’s status creeping into her mind for the first time, Lucia stared at Micky. She started shaking her head. “No. You’re wrong. These killings…it has to be him. My father isn’t a stupid man, either. He’s just hiding out.”
“He’s not. I’m sorry.” He reached over and clasped her briefly on the shoulder. “I’ll tell D’Amico it doesn’t look like it was you. He’ll trust me on this matter. I can do that for you, at least.” He stared at her for a moment before asking, “And you have no idea where the diamond and coins are?”
“How could I? My father never had them, Micky.” He shook his head in disgust whether at her supposed naiveté or subterfuge she wasn’t sure and didn’t care. She categorically refused his offer to drive her back to her office and exited the car in a hurry.
During the subway ride back home, Lucia ruminated on the situation. She still believed her father was responsible for the murders, but Micky was right about one thing – she knew he was no fool. What was going on? How had her father managed to convince so many people that he was dead? She knew what Bac would say: stop assuming and start looking. And the place she needed to look was at the piers, where Lugano tended to dispose of bodies. She didn’t believe she’d find much of anything. Colona and Pike had to have already been there, but it was time to see what they might have missed.
Felicia Watson started writing stories as soon as they handed her a pencil in first grade. She’s especially drawn to character driven tales, where we see people we recognize, people who struggle with their mistakes and shortcomings, acknowledge them, and use that knowledge to grow into wiser human beings.
When not writing, Felicia spends her time chasing after her not-so-brilliant, but darling and beloved dogs, is chased by her truly brilliant, darling and beloved husband, is known to friends and family as an amateur pastry chef, and still finds time for swimming and her day job as a scientist.
Today I am sharing my Feature Post and Book Review on the Blackthorn Book Tour for THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN MIND (Detective Maier Mystery Book #2) by Tom Vater.
Below you will find an about the book section, my book review, an about the author section and the author’s social media links. Enjoy!
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About the Book
Detective Maier has a new case. This time it is a cold case: investigating the death of Julia Rendel’s father, an East German culture attaché who was killed near a fabled CIA airbase in central Laos in 1976.
But before the detective can set off, his client is kidnapped right out of his arms. Maier follows Julia’s trail to the Laotian capital Vientiane, where he learns different parties, including his missing client, are searching for a legendary CIA file crammed with Cold War secrets.
The real prize, however, is the file’s author: someone codenamed Weltmeister, a former US and Vietnamese spy and assassin no one has seen for a quarter century. Racing against time, Maier needs to dig deep into the past – including his own – in order to make sense of the present.
The second book in Tom Vater’s Detective Maier Mysteries series, The Man With The Golden Mind is an action-packed thriller with plenty of sex, drugs, assassinations and double-crosses.
THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN MIND (Detective Maier Mystery Book #2) by Tom Vater is the second noir crime fiction/spy thriller which takes the reader on an intriguing, atmospheric and thrilling trip into Asia with German war correspondent turned private investigator Maier. While his last adventure took him back to Cambodia, this time he is sent to investigate a twenty-five-year-old case in Laos.
Julia Rendel hires Maier to investigate what happened to her East German cultural attaché father who was murdered twenty-five-years-ago in Long Cheng, a CIA run airbase in Laos during the Vietnamese war. Before the two can even begin their journey to Laos, Julia is kidnapped right from under Maier in their hotel room.
Maier arrives in Laos and is immediately dragged along by circumstances rather than following a step-by-step investigation. Maier learns his information is far from complete and he ends up searching not only for his missing client and answers from the past, but also a cache of gold, a legendary CIA file and a spy who does not wish to come in from the cold.
I found the intriguing and unique characters, the vividly drawn atmosphere and locations and the surprising twists and action kept me turning the pages. There are a lot of characters to keep track of, but eventually they sort themselves out and the plot moves along at a fast pace. I was surprised by the return of a character from the first book and with his return comes a very unexpected plot twist. The author steeped me in the atmosphere and culture of Laos, past and present which made it a unique read. While this is not an easy book to read, the characters, location and plot all come together to make it a very special noir crime fiction/spy thriller book to read.
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About the Author
Tom Vater is an Asia-based writer.
He has published some 20 books – four novels, nonfiction, illustrated books and guidebooks, all on Asian subjects.
Tom has written four crime fiction novels. The Devil’s Road to Kathmandu – the third English language edition out with Next Chapter out now – is a travel thriller set on the 70s hippie trail between London and Kathmandu. A Spanish translation is out with ExploraEditorial.
The Detective Maier trilogy – The Cambodian Book of the Dead, The Man with the Golden Mind and the The Monsoon Ghost Image, a Southeast Asia series of novels follows the exploits of a former conflict journalist turned private eye.
Tom has written for The Guardian, The Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Daily Telegraph, the Nikkei Asian Review and many other publications. He co-authored Sacred Skin – Thailand’s Spirit Tattoos (2011), a notable bestseller. He is also co-author of several documentary screenplays, including The Most Secret Place on Earth (2008), a feature on the CIA’s covert war in Laos in the 60s and 70s.
December 6, 2021 – January 31, 2022 Virtual Book Tour
Hi, everyone!
Today I am sharing my Feature Post and Book Review on the Partners In Crime Virtual Book Tour for THE BURDEN OF INNOCENCE (The Infantino Files Book #2) by John Nardizzi.
Below you will find a book description, my book review, an excerpt from the book and the author’s bio and social media links. Enjoy!
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Book Description
Private investigators Ray Infantino and Tania Kong take on the case of Sam Langford, framed for a murder committed by a crime boss at the height of his powers.
But a decade later, Boston has changed. The old ethnic tribes have weakened. As the PIs range across the city, witnesses remember the past in dangerous ways. The gangsters know that, in the new Boston, vulnerable witnesses they manipulated years ago are shaky. Old bones will not stay buried forever.
As the gang sabotages the investigation, will Ray and Tania solve the case in time to save an innocent man?
Genre: Mystery, Crime Noir Published by: Weathertop Media Co. Publication Date: December 5, 2021 Number of Pages: 290 ISBN: 978-1-7376876-0-3 Series: PI Ray Infantino Series, #2
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My Book Review
RATING: 5out of 5 Stars
THE BURDEN OF INNOCENCE (The Infantino Files Book #2) by John Nardizzi is a P.I. crime mystery/thriller set in South Boston with a hard-boiled, truth and justice seeking P.I. named Ray Infantino. While this is the second book in the series, it is very easily read as a standalone.
P.I. Ray Infantino is hired by the attorney of Sam Langford, who has declared his innocence from the day he was sentenced for murder fifteen years previously.
The gritty South Boston of fifteen years ago has changed as well as alliances. As Ray investigates Sam’s case, he is finding a vicious Southie gangster and a corrupt police officer are still working to manipulate the witnesses’ whose false testimonies sent an innocent man to prison.
Can Ray discover the truth from the past and help free an innocent man?
I love an old case investigation with a white knight trying to prove a miscarriage of justice. Ray is no innocent, but he cannot tolerate injustice in the law and corrupt officials who are supposed to uphold that law. This story has chapters that flashback to the original crime and witnesses interspersed as the present-day case unfolds and even with the timeline jumps, I was never confused or lost. The characters are fully fleshed and believable. The investigation is character driven rather than technology being the focus which was a joy to read for a change in pace. This is a realistic investigative page turner.
I can highly recommend this P.I. crime mystery/thriller!
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Excerpt
A SYSTEM OF JUSTICE
Boston Massachusetts
Chapter 1
Two burly guards from the sheriff’s department walked Sam Langford to the van. He noticed a newspaper wedged in a railing—his name jumped off the page in bold print: Jury to Decide Langford’s Fate In Waterfront Slaying. The presumption of innocence was a joke. You took the guilt shower no matter what the jury decided. He thought of his mother then, and the old ladies like her, reading the headline as they sipped their morning coffee across the city. He was innocent. But they would hate him forever.
A guard shoved Langford’s head below the roofline. He sat down in the cargo section, the only prisoner today. The guard secured him to a bar that ran the length of the floor, the chain rattling an icy tune. The van squealed off.
Langford’s head felt so light it could drift right off his shoulders. The van lurched, and he slid on the cold metal bench. The driver bumped the van into some potholes. Langford dug his heels into the floor. This was a guard-approved amusement ride, bouncing felon maggots off good ‘ol American steel. Sam had observed this man that morning. Something about his face was troubling. Sheriffs, guards, cops—most of them were okay. They didn’t bother him because he didn’t bother them. But cop work attracted certain men who hid their true selves. Men with a vicious streak that could turn an average day into a private torture chamber. These men were cancers to be avoided. Average days were what he wanted in jail. No violent breaks in the tedium.
The van careened on and stopped at a loading dock of the hulking courthouse, which jutted in the sky like a pale granite finger accusing the heavens. The last day of trial. Outside, Langford saw TV news vans and raised satellite dishes, the reporters being primped and padded for the live shot. The rear doors opened and the guard’s shaved skull appeared in silhouette. He tensed as the guard grabbed his arm and pulled him out. The guard wore a thin smile. “We’ll take the smooth road back. Just for you,” he muttered.
A clutch of photographers hovered behind a wall above the dock. Langford looked up at the blue sky, as he always did, focusing on breathing deeply. He would never assist, not for a minute, in his own degradation. He was innocent. He would not cooperate. Let them run their little circus, the cameras, the shouted questions, boom microphones drooped over his head to pick up a stray utterance. He leveled his jaw and looked past them. He knew he had no chance with them.
The guards walked him inside the courthouse and to an elevator. The chains clanked as they swung with his movement. They took the elevator to the eight floor where a court officer escorted the group into a hallway. Langford pulled his body erect toward the ceiling, as high as he could get. He intended to walk in the courtroom like some ancient Indian chieftain, unbowed. He was innocent and that sheer fact gave him some steel, yes it did.
The door opened and he stepped inside the courtroom. The gallery looked packed full, as usual. Cameras clicked. Low voices in the crowd hissed venom. “Death sentence is too good for you, asshole,” whispered one. He whispered a bit too loudly. A court officer wasted no time, hustling over and guiding the man to the exit.
Langford walked ahead, keeping his dark eyes focused. His family might watch this someday. Some ragged old news clip showing their son’s dark history. He struggled to keep the light burning behind his eyes. Something true, something eternal might show through. At least he hoped so. He had told his lawyer there would be no last-minute plea deal; he was innocent, and that was it.
As he walked, he felt the eyes of the crowd pick over him, watching for some involuntary tic that would betray his thoughts. But fear roiled his belly. He was afraid, no doubt. He knew the old saying that convicted murderers sat at the head table in the twisted hierarchy of a prison. But the fact remained—every prisoner walked next to a specter of sudden violence. He desperately wanted to avoid prison.
Keys rattled in the high-ceilinged courtroom as the officers unchained him. He rubbed his wrists and then sat down at the defense table. His defense lawyer, George Sterling, took the seat next to him. He was dressed in a dark blue suit with a bright orange-yellow tie. The color seemed garish for the occasion.
“How you doing, Sam?”
“Hopeful. But ready for the worst.”
Sterling grabbed his hand and shook it firmly. But his eyes betrayed him. Langford got a sense even his lawyer felt a catastrophe was coming.
The mother of the dead woman sat one row away from his own mother. Even here, mothers bore the greatest pain. Both women stared at him. Langford nodded to his mother as she mouthed the words, “I love you”. He smiled briefly. He glanced at the mother of the dead girl but looked away. Her eyes blazed with hatred and pain. He wanted to say something. But the odds were impossible. The reporters would misconstrue any gesture; the court officers might claim he threatened her. He saw no way out. Even a basic act of human kindness became muddled in a courtroom.
A court officer yelled, “All rise.” The whispers died down, and the gallery rose. The judge came in from chambers in a black-robed flurry. The lawyers went to sidebar, that curious phenomenon where they gather and whisper at the judge’s bench like kids in detention. Then the judge signaled the sidebar was over and told the court officer to bring in the jury. The jurors walked to the jury box, every one of them fixed with a blank look on their faces. None of them met his eyes. One juror eventually looked over at him. He tried to gauge his fate in her flat eyes, the set of her face. But there was nothing to see.
As the judge and lawyers spoke, the lightheadedness left him. Everything came into focus. Langford watched the foreperson hand a slip of paper to a court officer. She took a few steps and handed the paper to the judge. The judge pushed gray hairs off her forehead, examined the paper and placed it on her desk. A silence descended. Shuffles of feet, small muted coughs. People waited for a meteor to hit the earth. The clerk read the docket number into the record and the judge looked over to the foreperson, a woman with long dark hair and glasses. “On indictment 2001183 charging the defendant Samuel Langford with murder, what say you madame foreperson, is the defendant not guilty or guilty of murder in the first degree?”
“We find the defendant guilty of murder in the first degree.”
To Langford, the words seemed unreal, from a world away. A mist slid over his eyes. Gasps of joy, cries of surprise. A few spectators began clapping. The judge banged the gavel. Someone sobbed behind him, and this sound he knew; his mother was crying now openly. His body petrified. He couldn’t turn around.
Sterling put one hand on his shoulder, which snapped him back. The gesture irritated him. He didn’t want to be touched. Sterling’s junior assistant cupped his hand over his mouth. Sterling said something about the evidence, they would file an appeal. Langford stared at him. The reality of his new life began to emerge.
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Author Bio
John Nardizzi is writer and investigator. His work on innocence cases led to the exoneration Gary Cifizzari and James Watson, as well as million dollar settlements for clients Dennis Maher and the estate of Kenneth Waters, whose story was featured in the film Conviction. His crime novels won praise for crackling dialogue and pithy observations of detective work. He speaks and writes about investigations in numerous settings, including World Association of Detectives, Lawyers Weekly, Pursuit Magazine and PI Magazine. Prior to his PI career, he failed to hold any restaurant job for longer than a week. He lives near Boston, Massachusetts.
