LET JUSTICE DESCEND (A Gardiner and Renner Book #5) by Lisa Black is another exciting addition to this crime thriller series featuring a forensics expert and a detective who takes justice into his own hands. The crime plots in each book stand on their own, but I feel to understand the dynamics between the main characters, these books are best read in order.
With only three days before the contentious November election, Maggie and Jack are called to a unique crime scene. The current U.S. Senator Diane Cragin is dead on her own doorstep from electrocution. Cragin’s chief of staff is quick to blame the Senator’s Democratic contender, Joey Green Cleveland’s city development director.
With almost a million is cash found in the Senator’s home safe, Maggie and Jack must follow the money through the double-dealing politics of Cleveland and D.C. which only leads to more suspects. The investigation into the pending election exposes corruption at the highest levels and leads to more dead bodies as Maggie and Jack work to put the pieces together and catch a killer.
I love Maggie and Jack and the twist at the end of this book! The pace of the plot moves quickly with the election so close. Ms. Black does a good job of keeping the political players equally good and bad without favoring one side or another. The two political projects were good examples of how corrupt government officials and dark money work for the participants, but not the public and the government employee who was looking out for the public really had limited power. This story brings elements of political intrigue, police procedural and forensics all together into a thriller read.
I loved this addition to the series, the entire series and cannot wait for the next book to find out what Jack does next!
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About Lisa Black
Lisa Black’s books have reached the NYT bestsellers list, been translated into six languages and have been optioned for film. Perish was shortlisted for the inaugural Sue Grafton Memorial Award by Putnam and Mystery Writers of America. Lisa will be a Guest of Honor at 2021 Killer Nashville.
She is a certified crime scene analyst in Florida and a former forensic scientist for the Cleveland coroner’s office. She is a member of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences, the International Association for Identification, and the International Association of Bloodstain Pattern Analysts, and has testified in more than fifty homicide trials.
She still aspires to drive Nancy Drew’s convertible and marry Ellery Queen.
SUFFER THE CHILDREN (A Gardiner and Renner Novel Book #4) by Lisa Black is a gripping addition to the Gardiner and Renner series set in a juvenile facility with memorable characters. This police/forensic procedural can easily read as a standalone, but to understand the complex relationship between Gardiner and Renner this series is best read in order.
Firebird Juvenile Center is a prestigious Cleveland secure facility for damaged juvenile offenders who have committed minimal to serious offenses and cannot be remanded back to their homes, if they have one, without serious counseling and rehabilitation. Forensic expert Maggie Gardiner and homicide detective Jack Renner are called to the facility when fifteen-year-old Rachel Donahue is found dead at the bottom of a stairwell. The initial coroner’s findings lead to a judgement of misadventure.
As Jack and his partner Riley are finalizing their investigation, another young resident is found dead in the infirmary. Maggie and Jack are soon caught up in a secure facility with its residents ending up dead and a search for the killer among the many suspects.
Maggie and Jack also must worry about Maggie’s ex-husband discovering Jack’s secret life.
I really love this series and its main characters! I find Maggie’s forensic procedures and techniques always interesting and informative. With every book, the readers learn a little more of Jack’s back story and the lines he will or will not cross for justice. The attraction between these two continues to grow and is just fascinating because they started so far apart. Maggie’s ex-husband’s investigation into the Vigilante Killer is getting much to close to exposing Jack’s secret and Ms. Black’s twist to keep Jack safe for the moment is great. The crime/thriller plot is fast paced and almost reads like a locked room mystery since main the suspects are locked down in the Firebird Center. I found the information interspersed throughout the plot about juvenile justice and rehabilitation interesting and at the same time sad. It truly is a complex social problem which lends itself to interesting twists to this story.
I highly recommend this addition to the series and these main characters!
***
About Lisa Black
Lisa Black’s books have reached the NYT bestsellers list, been translated into six languages and have been optioned for film. Perish was shortlisted for the inaugural Sue Grafton Memorial Award by Putnam and Mystery Writers of America. Lisa will be a Guest of Honor at 2021 Killer Nashville.
She is a certified crime scene analyst in Florida and a former forensic scientist for the Cleveland coroner’s office. She is a member of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences, the International Association for Identification, and the International Association of Bloodstain Pattern Analysts, and has testified in more than fifty homicide trials.
She still aspires to drive Nancy Drew’s convertible and marry Ellery Queen.
Today I am sharing my Feature Post and Book Review for A FINAL CALL (A Stacy Tavitt Thriller) by Eliot Parker on this Black Coffee Book Tour.
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
Homicide Detective Stacy Tavitt has too much on her plate. Her delinquent brother is in deep trouble and now he’s gone missing. Is he in danger? Is he dead? And an old college friend has a missing son, Colton, and is counting on Tracy to track him down. But Stacy’s last investigation has left her physically sick and at risk of being invalided out. She has a lot to prove and time isn’t on her side. Nor, it would appear, are some of her colleagues.
At first, there is little reason to suspect foul play in Colton’s disappearance – until he becomes the primary suspect in the brutal murder of an ex-girlfriend.
There are dirty cops in the force and dirty business at every turn. It’s a race against the clock as Stacy searches for the truth about her brother, the location of her friend’s son, and the mystery of a killer who is targeting her friend’s family.
She needs answers, even if she has to break the rules to find them. This time it’s personal.
Trigger warnings: Graphic violence; sexual violence; homicide
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My Book Review
RATING: 4 out of 5 Stars
A FINAL CALL (A Stacy Tavitt Thriller Book #2) by Eliot Parker is an edge-of-your-seat thriller with a memorable female detective protagonist. This second book has a new crime and investigation plot, but characters and some plot points carry over from book one, Code for Murder, so I feel these books are best read in order.
Lieutenant Stacy Tavitt is a detective in the Cleveland PD Robbery /Homicide unit who is contacted by a former college classmate who seeks her help to find her missing son, Colton. While she agrees to help, she is reluctant to investigate until his girlfriend is found brutally murdered and he is the prime suspect. As Stacy and her partner work the case, people tied to Colton continue to end up dead.
At the same time, Stacy is still trying to find her missing brother and learning to live with thoracic outlet syndrome both tied to the last case she worked. When the dirty cop her brother was last seen with ends up dead in police custody, Stacy feels time is running out to find him alive.
I read this book all in one sitting. Stacy is such a compelling protagonist with her sense of duty which conflicts with her love of her brother and also having to work with a debilitating breathing condition. She is a character that pulls you in and is written believably with her messy life and relationships. I believe the author did a good job of bringing needed information forward from book one, but I do wish I had read it first. The plot is full of realistic action, violence, and big city crime with a consistently fast pace. The investigation led me on a twisted chase with a satisfying conclusion to both cases, but the surprise ending….not so much and that is the only reason I did not give this book a five star rating.
This is an exciting thriller and I really enjoyed it, but the surprise ending will be either loved or not by the reader. No spoilers here.
***
About the Author
Eliot Parker is the author of the short story collection SNAPSHOTS, which won the 2020 PenCraft Literary Award and the 2021 Feathered Quill Book Award for Short Story Anthology. His thriller novel, A Knife’s Edge, was an Amazon #1 bestseller and is currently being optioned as a television series by Voyage Media and Screenworks Entertainment. Eliot has received the West Virginia Literary Merit Award for his works and has also been a finalist for the Southern Book Prize in Thriller Writing in 2017 for his novel Fragile Brilliance. He hosts the podcast program, Now Appalachia, which profiles authors, editors, and publishers in the Appalachian region. A graduate of the Bluegrass Writers Studio at Eastern Kentucky University with his M.F.A. in Creative Writing and a graduate of Murray State University with his Doctorate in English, Eliot teaches writing that the University of Mississippi.
Today I am sharing my Feature Post and Book Review for SONG GIRL: A Mystery in Two Verses by Keith Hirshland on this Virtual Authors 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
Detective Marc Allen is ready to leave the Raleigh, North Carolina, Police Department. Two murders that happened on his watch have apparently been solved thanks to a suicide note confession written by a distraught father. But Allen isn’t buying it. He’s convinced that the man’s adopted daughter, Teri Hickox, is the one responsible for the heinous crimes. With his personal life a muddle and his professional career unsettled he decides the best thing for him is a change of scenery.
The detective, now in Colorado Springs, is working new cases and making new friends. One of those friends is Hannah Hunt who, after suffering a freak accident, finds herself only able to speak in song titles. Another is a mysterious drifter who lives out of an old Dodge van and goes by “the champ”. But as Allen builds a new future, events unfold showing him that he can’t escape his past.
SONG GIRL: A Mystery in Two Verses by Keith Hirshland is an engaging character driven mystery/police procedural. The main protagonist as well as a few other characters are carried over from the previous book, The Flower Girl Murder, but because this story isin a new location with a new crime mystery, it is easily read as a standalone novel.
Detective Marc Allen is ready for a change in his life. He decides to move from Raleigh, NC to Colorado Springs. CO. He is working with new colleagues on new cases in the police department and he is also making new friends in his personal life.
At the same time, an old case from Raleigh which was supposedly solved with a suicide note becomes active again. Marc was never happy with the case resolution, and he seems to be right. The man left notes for his adopted daughter, and they suggest she is the real killer and when the Raleigh police look for her, they find she has disappeared.
Marc finds building his new future may only be possible if he can resolve his past.
This story is written with wonderful characters that are fully developed and woven together throughout the story. The reader is continually surprised by how each character’s past and revelations fit into the story and effect the present. Marc is trying to build a new life with his new puppy and friends. He is an intelligent and diligent detective that I really like. The secondary characters are all unique and bring not only intrigue, but humor to the story. The plot moves slowly at first as all the players’ histories and pieces of the puzzle are intertwined, but as the plot moves forward the pace picks up. The book was impossible to put down and delivers a big twist at the end.
I highly recommend this fascinating mystery.
***
Excerpt
Hannah decided the best place to have that drink was the bar at the Rabbit Hole so that’s where she went. Dirk wasn’t working and a bartender she didn’t know was.
“Bartender,” she said sitting down.
“Customer,” the bartender said with a smile. “Day drinking?” she asked.
“Does anybody really know what time it is?” Hannah said. This is kinda fun she thought.
“Does anybody really care?” the bartender added.
“It’s five o’clock somewhere.”
“What can I get you?”
“One bourbon, one scotch, one beer.”
“You having a record year?”
“You have no idea.”
“I’ll get your drinks, George Thorogood. By the way you’re a riot.” Hannah’s phone rang; she saw it was Ramp.
“Hi there.” Rampart heard the background noise. “You in a bar?”
“You may be right. Everybody’s drinkin’.”
“Are you at the Rabbit Hole or in a Billy Joel song?” he asked.
“Both.”
“Go slow, we’ll meet you there soon.”
“I’m not going anywhere,” She said and hung up.
“What the heck was that?” Rampart said to his phone. Then he called Tracey back.
“We need to rally the troops,” he said after she had answered.
“Why? What’s up?”
“Hannah’s already at the Rabbit Hole,” he answered and hung up.
In short order Rampart and Tracey made it to the bar, greeted Hannah and ordered drinks. Allen arrived a few minutes after that.
“What’s your pleasure?” the bartender asked him as he sidled up next to Rampart.
“What’s everybody else having?”
“Beer,” she pointed at Ramp. “Ketel One Cosmo,” Tracey was next. “And song girl there is all over the map.” Allen looked at Hannah.
“Song girl?” he said. She just shrugged her shoulders so he turned back to the bartender. “I’ll have a Mad Hatter,” he indicated, asking for the establishment’s signature Manhattan.
“My fav,” she said, walking away. A minute later she was back and setting a glass in front of him. Allen picked it up.
“To Hannah,” he said, “glad you’re back among the living.”
“Salute,” Rampart said, lifting his beer.
“Kampai,” Tracey added.
“Let’s have a party!” called Hannah. They all clinked glasses. They shared some laughs and then some appetizers and about an hour in Hannah had had enough.
“I’m outta here,” she said, standing up.
“So soon?” Tracey asked.
“No time like the present.”
“I’ll give you a lift,” Rampart offered.
“Don’t be silly,” she declined, “I’m walkin’.”
“You sure?”
“I’m positive.”
“See ya Hannah,” Tracey said.
“Take it easy, young lady,” Allen added.
“I’ll call you later,” her brother told her as she started to walk away.
“I’ll be around,” Hannah sang as she headed up the stairs.
“Okay does anybody else think that was incredibly weird?” Rampart asked after Hannah had gone.
“What?” Tracey wondered.
“Hannah, that’s what. The way she talked, the way she acted, what she said. All of it. It was weird.”
“Well Ramp she did just come out of a coma,” Allen argued.
“I realize that and I said that to myself but something is going on.”
“Like what?” Tracey asked.
“You’re going to think I’m crazy butshe’s talking in song titles! Didn’t you notice?”
“I did,” it was the bartender.
“You two are imagining things,” Allen countered.
“Am I? Are we?” He pointed at the bartender. “She called her song girl. And when I spoke with Hannah on the phone earlier, she was here. She said, and I quote, ‘You may be right.’ And then she said—”
“End quote,” the bartender said.
“Excuse me?” Ramp asked.
“You didn’t say end quote after ‘right.’ You said ‘and I quote’ but you didn’t ever say end quote.”
“Seriously?”
“And you were right, she was here.” Tracey chimed in.
“Just stop!” Rampart raised his voice. “When she left she sang ‘I’ll be around.’ That’s an old Spinners song!”
“Ooh, I love that song,” Tracey smiled. “Joan Osborne sang it too.”
“So did Hall and Oates, I think,” the bartender added.
“You people are impossible!” Rampart threw up his hands.
“I’ll have one more Mad Hatter,” Allen told the woman behind the bar.
♪♫♪
***
About the Author
Keith Hirshland is an Emmy Award–winning sports television producer with more than three decades of experience producing live and pre-recorded programs that aired on ESPN and ESPN2. Among the first forty people to be hired by the Golf Channel in 1994, Hirshland was in the middle of the action when that network debuted in 1995. He provided his talents for Golf Channel, as its live tournament producer, for two decades.
Cover Me Boys, I’m Going In: Tales of the Tube from a Broadcast Brat is a memoir about his experiences in the television industry. Published by Beacon Publishing Group, Cover Me Boys was recognized as the Book Talk Radio Club Memoir of the Year. Hirshland’s second book, and first work of fiction, Big Flies, was published in 2016 and is the recipient of the New Apple Awards “Solo Medalist” in the True Crime Category. Hirshland followed that success with his third book, The Flower Girl Murder. In 2020 Beacon Publishing Group released Murphy Murphy and the Case of Serious Crisis, Hirshland’s third mystery novel. It was a Top Shelf Magazine First Place award winner and was named the Book Talk Radio Club Book of the Year for 2020.
Song Girl Hirshland’s fifth book is the sequel to The Flower Girl Murder and was released in January of 2022. All five books are available at www.keithhirshland.com, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and other bookstores.
Keith Hirshland lives in Colorado with his wife and their Pyredoodle Mac.
PERISH (A Gardiner and Renner Novel Book #3) by Lisa Black once again has me on the edge of my seat not only with the investigation of a twisted series of murders, but with the relationship between Gardiner and Renner. The crime investigation can be read as a standalone, but to understand Gardiner and Renner’s relationship you have to read the books in order.
Maggie Gardiner is a forensic investigation expert called to the scene of a gruesome murder in a barely lived in luxury mansion belonging to Joanna Moorehouse, the founder of Sterling Financial. Detective Jack Renner and his partner are assigned the case, and this is the first time in a month Maggie and Jack have been thrown together on a case. Their truce has held so far.
To solve this case Maggie and Jack must quickly learn about the cutthroat world of high finance mortgage refinancing. They have a company full of suspects who are all out to make a killing and a group of protestors all financially ruined by Sterling’s practices. When another woman is murdered in the same terrible way, Maggie and Jack are suddenly in a race to stop a killer who leaves almost no clues behind.
I love this series for many reasons. I am completely engrossed in Maggie and Jack’s relationship. The dance between these two is so unique, a straight sho0ting forensic expert and a vigilante serial killer detective. The forensics are expertly written with this author’s professional knowledge. The crime plots are well researched and realistic with plenty of red herrings and surprising twists. The information about the financial bailout and predatory lending was interesting, but also slowed the story down a bit in places. I always enjoy a book or series set in my hometown of Cleveland, Ohio.
I highly recommend this series for the unique relationship of the main characters and an always interesting crime/forensics thriller plot.
***
About Lisa Black
Lisa Black’s books have reached the NYT bestsellers list, been translated into six languages and have been optioned for film. Perish was shortlisted for the inaugural Sue Grafton Memorial Award by Putnam and Mystery Writers of America. Lisa will be a Guest of Honor at 2021 Killer Nashville.
She is a certified crime scene analyst in Florida and a former forensic scientist for the Cleveland coroner’s office. She is a member of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences, the International Association for Identification, and the International Association of Bloodstain Pattern Analysts, and has testified in more than fifty homicide trials.
She still aspires to drive Nancy Drew’s convertible and marry Ellery Queen.
Today is my turn on the Partners In Crime Virtual Book Tour and I will be sharing my Feature Post and Book Review for VICE & VIRTUE (Parker City Mystery Book #2) by Justin M. Kiska.
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
Parker City, 1984…
Three years after the Spring Strangler case rocked the historic Western Maryland city nestled at the foot of the beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains, life has returned to normal for Detective Ben Winters and his partner, Tommy Mason. With a new chief now leading the department and the city slowly crawling out of its economic distress, everything seems to be moving in the right direction.
Until one sweltering summer day, a killer begins targeting police officers. Ben and Tommy find themselves once again leading an investigation the likes of which Parker City has never seen. The detectives quickly come to realize that until the shooter is found, everyone wearing a badge is in danger. To complicate matters even further, when a recently unearthed skeleton mysteriously connects to the string of police homicides, Ben and Tommy begin to think their current case may be tied to events twenty years earlier.
But how could a skeleton buried two decades ago hold the key to solving their current case?
Genre: Mystery Published by: Level Best Books Publication Date: February 15, 2022 Number of Pages: 288 ISBN: 978-1-68512-069-6 Series: Parker City Mysteries, #2 || Each book is a stand alone novel.
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My Book Review
RATING: 5 out of 5 Stars
VICE & VIRTUE (A Parker City Mystery Book #2) by Justin M. Kiska is an engaging and gripping mystery/crime thriller/police procedural in the Parker City Mystery series. I am very surprised after reading the first book in this series, Now & Then that there is even a second book. (When and if you read the first book, which I highly recommend, you will understand my surprise.) This book is easily read as a standalone.
As Parker City begins to revitalize and rebuild, a skeleton is found under an old, condemned warehouse. Detective Sergeant Ben Winters and his partner Detective Tommy Mason are called to the scene.
Just as they begin to investigate the discovered skeleton, they are called to the murder scene of a fellow law enforcement officer. The old case goes on the back burner when a second and third officer are killed. As Parker City is just getting over the serial killer case from three years ago, Ben and Tommy now have a cop killer on the loose.
Ben and Tommy realize until they solve this case, all of their fellow officers are in danger But what they only come to realize as they work the current case is that the old skeleton from the warehouse may be tied to their present day murders.
I am as impressed with this second book as I was with the first. Mr. Kiska is very adept at plotting two timelines that intertwine with plenty of plot twists and are as equally important to the solution of the detectives’ current cases in the 1980’s as the older case from the 1950’s. Both main characters, Detective Sergeant Ben Winters and his partner, Detective Tommy Mason are fully fleshed, realistic, and likable. Their dialogue and banter is believable and enjoyable. A few of the secondary characters are a bit cliché, but not so much as to detract from my enjoyment of the story.
I highly recommend this mystery/crime thriller with two detectives I want to continue to follow in any decade in future books.
***
Excerpt
Tall and athletic, Tommy Mason always reminded Ben of Tom Selleck’s Magnum P.I. character from television. Tommy always had that whole ruggedly handsome thing going for him. Mixed with a little bit of a “bad boy” vibe and he drove the women wild.
Next to Ben’s clean-cut, buttoned-down appearance, their pairing caused many to do a doubletake. At first glance, they appeared to be complete opposites. But as one got to know them, they were very much alike. Each brought out the best in the other and at the end of the day, it was all about getting the job done. Sure, each had his own style, but that’s what made them such a formidable team.
Tommy’s apparent willingness to skirt the rules was always offset by Ben’s ability to find ways to use the rules to their benefit. Just as Ben’s refusal to play the internal politics game allowed Tommy to use his charm to keep too many feathers from getting ruffled amongst the powers-that-be. They each knew the other’s strengths and weaknesses and how to adapt them to their own, which is why they’d been so impressive in getting the PCPD’s Detective Squad off the ground.
“What are you doing here?” Ben asked, more than a little surprised to see his partner.
“Shirley from Dispatch called me. She thought I’d be interested,” Tommy explained. “And before you say anything about what I’m wearing, I just want to remind you, it is our day off, so I didn’t think I needed to get dressed up to come to a potential crime scene. Especially when we don’t actually know this is a crime scene yet.”
He was referring to the fact he had on a T-shirt and comfortable pair of jeans, as opposed to the full suit and tie Ben was wearing.
“Besides, now you don’t have to worry about getting your fancy suit muddy. I have no problems getting down there in the dirt,” Tommy smiled, pointing at the fresh mud stains on his knees. With that, he knelt back down to take another look at the exposed skeletal remains under the floorboards.
“So, tell me. What do we have?” Ben asked, crouching next to Tommy so he could get a better look.
“You can see there’s a pretty big cavity here under this part of the floor,” Tommy pointed out. “It’s got to be a good ten by ten area where the ground has been eaten away, even though it’s not too deep, less than a foot in some places. It’s definitely because of water…there’s a lot of mud down there. As the earth under the floor eroded, it uncovered the skeleton. Partway, at least. Of course, no one could see what was happening under here until our friend Mr. Haggarty had the unfortunate experience of stepping on a board that was rotted through and it snapped, sending him falling through the floor. You can see where he landed in the mud.
“And right there,” Tommy pointed, “you see the skull and top portion of the skeleton sticking out of the ground.”
“You came face-to-face with that thing, man?” Tommy looked over at the construction worker who was leaning against the wall. “Not a good way to start the day.”
“Yeah. You’re telling me,” Haggarty answered.
Turning back to the skeleton, Tommy said, “I’m no expert, but that hole in the skull right there…see it, it looks like it could be a GSW from a pretty heavy caliber gun.”
Leaning down and twisting his head so he could try and get a better look at the skull, Ben saw the hole and wondered if his partner was right. Finding a skeleton buried under the floor was one thing. Finding a skeleton buried under the floor with a bullet hole in its skull was something else. It took everything to a different level.
Standing and stretching their legs, Tommy said, “When Shirley first called me, I thought this was going to have been some kind of prank. Some kids snuck into the site on a dare and left a skeleton for the crew to find.”
“You thought kids somehow buried a skeleton under this building in the hopes someone would fall through the floor and find it?” Ben asked, raising an eyebrow. “Not to mention having to figure out how to bury the thing under the floor?”
“In my defense,” Tommy started, raising a finger and shaking it at his partner, “I didn’t know the skeleton was buried under the warehouse. I just knew they’d found a skeleton at the warehouse.”
The first thing that needed to happen was to get the skeleton out of the ground. That would be up to the crime scene techs. Even though he could easily reach in and pull the skull out to get a better look, Ben didn’t want to disturb anything more than it already had been when Lance Haggarty crashed through the floor. Thankfully, he hadn’t actually landed on the skull itself.
“So much for our day off,” Ben said, looking at his watch, wondering where the crime scene guys were.
***
Author Bio
When not sitting in his library devising new and clever ways to kill people (for his mysteries), Justin can usually be found at The Way Off Broadway Dinner Theatre, outside of Washington, DC, where he is one of the owners and producers. In addition to writing the Parker City Mysteries Series, he is also the mastermind behind Marquee Mysteries, a series of interactive mystery events he has been writing and producing for over fifteen years. Justin and his wife, Jessica, live along Lake Linganore outside of Frederick, Maryland.
