Today is my turn to share my Feature Post and Book Review for NOBODY’S AGENT (Ronin Nash Thriller Book #1) by Stuart Field on Overview Media Nobody’s Agent Blog Tour.
Below you will find a book description, my book review and the author’s bio. Enjoy!
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Book Description
In the Small town of Finchley, upstate New York, three bodies are discovered in an old mine. Soon after, Sheriff Doug Harrison contacts the FBI for help.
Ronin Nash is an ex-FBI special agent who wanted nothing more than to finish restoring the old family lake house. Now, Nash’s old boss wants him back and on the Finchley case.
Nash takes the job and travels to Finchley expecting to solve the case quickly, but it turns out that things are not not as clear-cut as he thought. Someone in the small town has a secret, and they’re willing to go to any lengths to protect it.
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My Book Review
RATING: 5 out of 5 Stars
NOBODY’S AGENT (Ronin Nash Thrillers Book #1) by Stuart Field is an exciting and captivating start to a new thriller series featuring an unconventional ex-FBI agent. The main character and crime plot grabbed me from page one.
After a case ends badly, FBI agent Ronin Nash resigns and heads off to his family’s cabin on a lake in the woods, but after a year his former boss comes to ask him to return for one special case for the new IIB (Interagency Investigation Bureau). Reluctant, but with a mind that is always intrigued with mysteries, Ronin accepts.
Finchley is a small town in upstate New York. After the sheriff discovers three bodies in an old, abandoned mine, he notifies the FBI for their assistance. This is the case Ronin is to investigate. Hopefully, it will be one day there and then he can either dismiss it back to local law enforcement or discover reasons for the FBI to take the case. A local reporter is missing, and an unidentified dead body is discovered in the old clothing factory. Ronin is learning this small town is full of secrets that could end up getting him killed.
I loved Ronin. He is the type of main character I love to find in thrillers with his intelligence, unique personality, and style. He puts all the evidence together while others underestimate his abilities. The secondary characters were believable, and I especially enjoyed Ronin’s dad, Mac. The dialogue between the two made for some lighter moments. The plot moves at a fast pace throughout the story with many surprising twists along the way. Mr. Field has a writing style that allowed me to fall right into this story and not want to stop reading until the resolution. I am very glad this is a series, and I will be anxiously waiting for the next Ronin Nash thriller.
I highly recommend this new thriller!
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Author Bio
Stuart Field is a British Army veteran who now works in security after serving twenty-two years in the British Army. As well as working full time he writes in his spare time. Stuart was born and raised in the West Midlands in the UK. His love for travel has been an inspiration in some of his work with his John Steel and Ronin Nash thriller series. As well as future John Steel novels, Stuart is working on a new series and standalone novels.
New York Times bestselling author Lisa Black launches a pulse-pounding new series with a taut, compelling forensic thriller that introduces Dr. Ellie Carr and Dr. Rachael Davies, who must combine their expertise to solve deadly crimes . . .
When D.C. crime scene analyst Dr. Ellie Carr is called to investigate the heartrending case of a missing baby, she’s shocked to discover that the child’s mother is her own cousin. Close during their impoverished childhoods, Ellie and Rebecca eventually drifted apart. Rebecca is now half of a Washington power couple, and she and her wealthy lobbyist husband, Hunter, have been living a charmed life in an opulent mansion—until their infant son is taken.
“Every contact leaves a trace.” That’s the basic principle of forensic science followed by pathologist Dr. Rachael Davies. A reluctant Ellie is teamed with Rachael, employed by Hunter to help with the investigation. Rachael is assistant dean at the prestigious Locard Forensic Institute, named in honor of the French criminologist who inspired the profession. But in this case, discovering where those traces lead quickly becomes a dangerous journey through a web of greed and deadly ambition.
At first antagonists, then allies, Ellie and Rachael race to find the baby alive and bring the kidnappers to justice. What seemed like a simple ransom grab reveals links to a lobbying effort to loosen regulations on a billion-dollar gaming empire. Unless they can piece together the evidence before the Senate hearing, Rebecca’s son—and others like him—will face an unthinkable fate . . .
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Elise’s Thoughts
Red Flags by Lisa Black combines a clever mystery with a forensic thriller. This first in the series introduces Dr. Ellie Carr, part of the FBI’s evidence response team, with Dr. Rachel Davies, a pathologist at the private forensics’ lab, Locard Institute. Having a forensic background herself, the author Black weaves her own professional experience into the plot, making it a realistic story.
Dr. Ellie Carr is called to investigate the vanishing of 4-month-old Mason Carlisle, who disappeared without a trace. The baby’s dad, Hunter, owns a lobbying firm, while the mother, Rebecca is a policy adviser to the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. Ellie cannot believe it when she discovers that Rebecca is a cousin whom she was close with as a child but has not seen in more than fifteen years. Thinking that she should recuse herself, Ellie finds out that she is staying on the case. By leaving her in an official capacity she wonders if the FBI wants her to be a spy or a scapegoat since Rebecca and Hunter are suspects.
To make matters worse, Hunter decides to have Dr. Rachael Davies, a pathologist with the Locard Institute join in the investigation. At first, Rachael and Ellie were standoffish towards each other, but slowly a friendship develops as they begin to rely on each other. After the parents of Hunter’s co-workers also have their children kidnapped it becomes a race against time to bring back the children alive. It seems that the Carlisles’ professions and their involvement in a gaming industry become the clues from which Rachael and Ellie begin to unwind the investigation.
As the pages are turned the tension rises. The investigation is interesting and the detail about forensics is a bonus. The twists offer different red herrings to keep readers guessing.
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Author Interview
Elise Cooper: Is this the first in a new series?
Lisa Black: I planned this as a series. For my other series, I thought to write one book and then it grew into a series when the publisher wants more. This one I planned it so my characters would have a lot of background, direction, personal issues, and a set-up where they would not be tied up in one city since I love to travel. My past two series were set in Cleveland.
EC: What about the Locard Institute?
LB: A private institute that does training, research and private cases regarding forensic cases, anything from ballistics to DNA analysis. They can go to different places including internationally. They investigate extortion, kidnapping, and murder. I like to have different crimes occur. I am fascinated with white collar crime like extortion, con men, and fraud.
EC: How would you describe Ellie?
LB: She is a crime scene specialist. But in this case, she finds out that part of this very wealthy family includes her cousin with whom she lived for a time when she was young. They were as close as sisters. She is very much at loose ends. After her mother died, she lived with her grandmother, then an aunt/uncle with some cousins, and was moved to other aunts/uncles. She was always loved and well cared for, but a lot of moving around for a child, forcing her to act like a guest. Now she is recently divorced with her ex-husband as her boss. Ellie is detailed, does not like to make waves, and is not pushy. She tries to make herself invincible, not front and center.
EC: How would you describe Rachael, the assistant director of the Locard Institute?
LB: She is a lot more stable than Ellie. After her sister died, she and her mother are raising her 2-year-old nephew. Her life outside of her family is the Locard Institute. She is an observer, confidant, patient, tries to keep a neutral face, and smoother than Ellie in working with people.
EC: Did your professional experience help you to write these stories?
LB: As a forensic scientist at the Cuyahoga County Coroner’s Office, I have analyzed gunshot residue on hands and clothing, hairs, fibers, paint, glass, DNA, blood, and many other forms of trace evidence, as well as crime scenes. Now I am a latent print examiner and certified crime analyst for the Cape Coral Police Department in Florida, working mostly with fingerprints and crime scenes. Some organizations I belong to are the American Academy of Forensic Sciences, the International Association for Identification, and the International Association of Bloodstain Pattern Analysts. I know what happens at a crime scene, what realistically would happen. The police officer, the detective, the forensic personal, and the pathologist, each have a distinct skill. The FBI does cooperate with the local police, but there are jurisdictional issues.
EC: You explain the different emotions of victims?
LB: You are referring to this quote, “Victims could ping-pong back and forth between despair and seeming normality, sobbing with deep animal cries one minute and making a joke the next, transitioning through three extreme emotions in the span of one sentence.” There are all sorts of different responses of people in crime scenes. Sometimes they have a horrible scream. Two people in the same family in the same house can have different emotions. I went to a burglary once; the mother was sobbing like her heart was broken.
EC: On-line gaming plays a crucial role in this story? I thought of the Brad Paisley song, “online.”
LB: Yes. I thought how anyone can say anything on the Internet. A pedophile can be in a chat room pretending to be a fourteen-year-old. This is every mother’s worst nightmare. Now it is required for a parent to put all this personal information in so their child can play a game. I thought what is happening to all this information. Is it being data mined or is your child being targeted by advertising? Games are designed to keep children playing, literally addicting bordering on psychological manipulation. Children can buy accessories within this game like weapons or costumes. Actor Jack Black’s eight-year-old son ran up $7,000. The game itself is free, but it’s the in-app purchases that make the money. There are congressional hearings that try to come up with new regulations.
EC: Next book?
LB: The title is What Harms You, out next August. It is book two. The Locard Institute offers training for law enforcement personnel. The story has a serial killer going to this CSI School, the Locard Institute. The serial killer learns information so as not to get caught.
THANK YOU!!
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BIO: Elise Cooper has written book reviews and interviewed best-selling authors since 2009. Her reviews have covered several different genres, including thrillers, mysteries, women’s fiction, romance and cozy mysteries. An avid reader, she engages authors to discuss their works, and to focus on the descriptions of their characters and the plot. While not writing reviews, Elise loves to watch baseball and visit the ocean in Southern California, with her dog and husband.
Hostage rescue expert Jonathan Grave and his fellow special-ops veteran, Boxers, are hunting in Montana when shots ring out, and they realize they’ve become the prey for assassins. In the crosshairs of unseen shooters, cut off from all communication, with the wind at a blood-freezing chill, the nightmare is just beginning. Because Jonathan and Boxers aren’t the only ones under fire.
Back in Fisherman’s Cove, Virginia, Jonathan’s Security Solutions team is fighting for their lives too. A vicious onslaught is clearing the way for a much bigger game by eliminating anyone in the way. If Jonathan and Boxers can make it out of the wilderness alive, the real war will begin.
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Elise’s Thoughts
Lethal Game by John Gilstrap will remind readers of another thriller writer. Gilstrap has a lot in common with Vince Flynn besides a fantastic, formidable character named Irene. They both have great suspenseful plots with plenty of action, emotion, and gun fights, as well as very well-developed characters who make up the team. This is Part I and Part II will delve into the books that introduced the characters.
This plot turns the usual story on its head with the hunters becoming the hunted and the team needing to rescue themselves. The crew of Gail Bonneville, Venice Alexander, Jonathan Grave, Brian Van Muelebroecke (Boxers), and Irene Rivers, must find out who is sending assassins. Usually, the team of covert hostage rescuers finds the kidnapped victim with the bad guys having their demise. But in this case Jonathan and Boxers, while hunting in Montana, are the targets. That attack is coordinated with attacks home in Fisherman’s Cove, Virginia where Gail and Venice are also fired upon. The enemy is unknown but it’s clear they want revenge and will go to great lengths to destroy everyone on the team. The four, while investigating, know they must transition from defense to offense and take the fight right to the enemy. Readers are able to get into the minds of the characters, feeling as if they are being spoken to themselves.
In this series, readers should not expect innocents to escape the violence. Elderly characters and children are put in harm’s way and do not escape with their lives. The bad guys are cartel members and just as in real life Gilstrap shows the intensity of violence where they have feelings of anger, disgust, and contempt.
This plot is fast-paced, engrossing, and intriguing. If this book is someone’s first introduction into the series, they will realize what they have been missing and want to read the earlier novels. It is written as a stand-alone so no one will have any trouble keeping up.
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Author Interview
Elise Cooper: How did you get the idea for the series?
John Gilstrap: This is the 14th book in the series with the same characters, and it will not end anytime soon. The idea for the series came from a non-fiction book I wrote, Six Minutes to Freedom back in 2006. I had extraordinary access and did a lot of research about the Special Forces Delta Force group. I then decided to write a fictional book with a group that does the hostage rescue domestically. I stay in the Western Hemisphere for the team, with the cartels as the bad guys.
EC: Can you tell us a little something about the non-fiction book?
JG: Kurt Muse in the late 1980s did a clandestine radio campaign urging the people of Panama to rise for freedom. He was subsequently arrested, imprisoned, and rescued by the elite Delta Force. After the US invaded Panama, they rescued him from the prison where Manuel Noriega held him as a political prisoner.
EC: Did your professional experience help you to write the series?
JG: For fifteen years I was a firefighter and EMT. We had a very good sense of camaraderie and mission. We wanted to make sure the mission was accomplished quickly, efficiently, safely, with as many lives saved. This focus was built into me, which I gave my characters. I want to show in the books how violence is real and happens with blistering speed that has devastating consequences, which is why there are civilian collateral damage.
EC: Are you a hunter considering there are details about hunting?
JG: I am recently a hunter, having moved to West Virginia. I hunt deers and hogs. The look and feel for hunting is from personal experience.
EC: How did you get the idea for this story?
JQ: It occurred to me on a hunting trip. I was in a shed waiting for a hog to come by. I sat for a long time and just was thinking. I realized how vulnerable I was if someone wanted to hunt me while I was hunting an animal. This was the beginning of the plot where someone was hunting for Jonathan and the team, with the rest of the book solving the question, who and why were they hunting the group? In the previous book, Stealth Attack, I opened the door for why they were being hunted.
EC: How would you describe the team?
JG: Gail is the adult in the room. Boxer is the violent one. Jonathan is the thinker. Venice is the computer hacker with many skills. They share a very strong ethical and moral standard that centers around justice. Good and bad for them is not defined as legal and illegal. They have a passion for the mission. They are all gutsy, loyal, intelligent, feisty, adrenaline junkies, and risk-takers.
EC: You have a quote in the book which explains their thinking and mission. Please explain.
JG: You are referring to this one, “While Feebs and local Swat teams were consumed by cumbersome procedures designed to cover their asses and rights of the bad guys, Jonathan and his team did what had to be done and left with the hostages that they rescued.” I have many good friends that are on hostage rescue teams and Swat teams. In the US when someone is kidnapped their primary mission is not to rescue the hostage. Their mission is to make sure the bad guy does not legally get away. But of course, they want the hostages rescued. The regulations require that warrants are issued before they can crash a door or listen in. If they violate those rights, then the case gets thrown out in court. Jonathan and his team does not have that burden. I also put this quote in the book, which was told to me by a friend, “A hostage situation is a homicide in slow motion.”
EC: How would you describe Irene?
JG: When the team utilizes FBI Director Irene Rivers it must be off the record. They operate in the place of justice, not in the place of legality. Her name came from my mothers-in-law first name. She was first introduced in 1998 in my second book, At All Costs. She is a single mom and used to be a badass field agent. In the story, Soft Targets is where Jonathan meets Irene after her children were kidnapped. She is much more politically aware and savvy than the rest of the team.
EC: In your book world there are no term limits for the US President?
JG: President Tony Darmond is very corrupt without any moral standing. He has been President for fifteen years because I do not advance time. Irene must work behind the scenes to make sure nothing goes back to Darmond. Her and Jonathan’s team realize politicians do not want to solve problems. I think these books are very timely because of Fentanyl coming across the border plus how the Cartels are involved with the human trafficking trade.
EC: Why compare the team to Batman?
JG: My son who is now 36 has always been fascinated with everything Batman. I brought Batman in because it is an Easter Egg for me and the family. Every book has a reference to Batman. The team and Batman are similar in that they are the strangers who sets things straight, wants justice, and works outside the lines.
EC: Your next books?
JG: My next book is not a Grave book. It is titled White Smoke, the third book of a trilogy coming out next March. It features Victoria Emerson, a former Congresswoman. She is the leader of a society after a nuclear holocaust that is trying to put the world back together.
The book I am writing now, the next Grave book, will probably take place in Venezuela but will also bring in some Russian activity. It is called Harm’s Way where missionaries are kidnapped. It comes out in June of next year.
THANK YOU!!
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BIO: Elise Cooper has written book reviews and interviewed best-selling authors since 2009. Her reviews have covered several different genres, including thrillers, mysteries, women’s fiction, romance and cozy mysteries. An avid reader, she engages authors to discuss their works, and to focus on the descriptions of their characters and the plot. While not writing reviews, Elise loves to watch baseball and visit the ocean in Southern California, with her dog and husband.
THE SECRET WITNESS (Shepard & Gray Book #1) by Victor Methos is the exciting start to a new crime thriller series set in Utah and featuring a former prosecutor and the new female county sheriff. This book starts off with a bang and keeps the chills and twists coming.
After three vicious murders, Tooele County Sheriff Elizabeth Gray believes she is facing the same serial killer her father, the former sheriff was never able to catch. The Reaper was responsible for a string of vicious murders without leaving any evidence. Elizabeth calls on the friend and retired prosecutor her father trusted while working The Reaper case.
Former prosecutor Solomon Shepard knows about psychopathy. He wrote a preeminent reference book on the subject. He is retired from the Major Crimes prosecutor’s office after a courtroom attack and has become almost a hermit in his apartment. Elizabeth asks for help on the one case that has always haunted Solomon and is the only one with the ability to pull him back into his old life.
As Shepard and Gray investigate the body count grows and they are not sure if they are dealing with the return of the original serial killer or a copycat. They soon find themselves face-to-face with a killer neither expected.
I loved this thriller! The main characters were fully drawn with interesting backstories and a chemistry that worked as well as their partnership. I am very glad this is the start of a series because I really am invested in these characters and looking forward to following them in future books. The subplot with Solomon’s neighbor was heartbreaking and I hate to say realistic. The killer was a surprise, but believable even without the surprise twist at the end. I am always interested in the Nature vs. Nurture psychological arguments in serial crime books. The plot moves at an even and fast pace throughout with plenty of twists and surprises to keep the reader turning the page.
I highly recommend this new crime thriller and I am looking forward to more books in this series!
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About the Author
At the age of thirteen, when his best friend was interrogated by the police for over eight hours and confessed to a crime he didn’t commit, Victor Methos knew he would one day become a lawyer.
After graduating from law school at the University of Utah, Methos sharpened his teeth as a prosecutor for Salt Lake City before founding what would become the most successful criminal defense firm in Utah.
In ten years Methos conducted more than one hundred trials. One particular case stuck with him, and it eventually became the basis for his first major bestseller, The Neon Lawyer. Since that time, Methos has focused his work on legal thrillers and mysteries, earning a Harper Lee Prize for The Hallows and an Edgar nomination for Best Novel for his title A Gambler’s Jury. He currently splits his time between southern Utah and Las Vegas.
The discovery of an Amish bishop’s remains leads chief of police Kate Burkholder to unearth a chilling secret in The Hidden One, a new thriller from bestselling author Linda Castillo.
Over a decade ago, beloved Amish bishop Ananias Stoltzfus disappeared without a trace. When skeletal remains showing evidence of foul play are unearthed, his disappearance becomes even more sinister.
The town’s elders arrive in Painters Mill to ask chief of police Kate Burkholder for help, but she quickly realizes she has a personal connection to the crime. The handsome Amish man who stands accused of the murder, Jonas Bowman, was Kate’s first love. Forced to confront a painful episode from her past, Kate travels to Pennsylvania’s Kishacoquillas Valley, where the Amish culture differs dramatically from the traditions she knows. Though Bishop Stoltzfus was highly respected, she soon hears about a dark side to this complex man. What was he hiding that resulted in his own brutal death?
Someone doesn’t want Kate asking questions. But even after being accosted and threatened in the dead of night, she refuses to back down. Is she too close to the case―and to Jonas―to see clearly? There’s a killer in the Valley who will stop at nothing to keep the past buried. Will they get to Kate before she can expose the truth? Or will the bishop’s secrets remain hidden forever?
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Elise’s Thoughts
The Hidden One by Linda Castillo proves why she is one of the best mystery writers. She has done it again with a riveting plot and exceptional characters. In this novel, the main character, police chief Kate Burkholder, is taken out of her element and acting as a private investigator because she has no jurisdiction in the state where the murder took place.
This story allows readers to understand Kate’s earlier life, as she works out feelings from her past. Kate is approached by the Amish elders of Kish Valley Pennsylvania, asking her for assistance. They believe the local police have arrested the wrong person, Jonas Bowman, for murder. His old muzzleloader was found next to the body and worse, he confessed to it being his gun. With a lot of circumstantial evidence, including the fact that Jonas accosted the dead bishop, Ananias Stoltzfus, the police arrest him. Normally Kate would shrug it off, but she has a past relationship with Jonas. He was her childhood friend, someone she confided in, and her first love.
Hoping that being a Chief of Police will give her an in with local law enforcement, she finds just the opposite. The local police do not want her interfering, refuse to answer any questions, and want her to return to Painter’s Mill Ohio. But she knows Jonas and feels deep in her heart that he would never kill anyone. As the investigation progresses the persons of interest increase since the bishop had a very dark past and was cruel. Because there are also people who do not want her looking into the case, she is attacked multiple times. But the attacks make Kate even more determined to uncover the bishop’s secrets and the killer. As usual, the Kate Burkholder novels have compelling mysteries set in an Amish community. The story was engrossing and gripping with the bonus of finding out more of Kate’s childhood.
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Author Interview
Elise Cooper: How did you get the idea for the story?
Linda Castillo: I wanted readers to get to know more of Kate and her personality. To do this, I wrote the crime as a cold case. I did some dark research for this book regarding the backstory of the villain, Ananias Stalzfus. I loved the idea how Kate figured it out. Back in 2019 my good librarian friend, Denise, at the Dover library and I had lunch along with an Amish man named Mark. He told me about the Kishacoquillas (Kish) Valley in central Pennsylvania and how the Amish there were “weird.” I was very intrigued since what Amish dude says that about another Amish.
EC: What is so different about the Kish Valley Amish?
LC: It is an extremely diverse Amish population including the strict Swartzenruber Amish, with grey buggies. Another sect, the Byler Amish, had lemon yellow buggies. The other type of Amish there is the Nebraska Amish. I had a scene in the book where Kate sees a buggy in the driveway that was colorful.
EC: In your books you depict the Amish as having some traits as other people?
LC: I wrote in this book, “The Amish are decent, hard-working people. They are good neighbors and good friends. All of that said, the Amish are not perfect. They’re human and they suffer with all the same failings as the rest of us. They lose their temper. They make mistakes. They behave badly. They break the rules. Sometimes they break the law.” I wanted to show that a culture should not be lumped into a box and pigeon-holed.
EC: How did you get such detail about the action scenes where Kate is put through the ringer?
LC: I had her beaten up, a car rammed her off the road, she was thrown into a raging river, and had hay bales thrown on her. My husband and I have three horses. We load hay bales all the time. This is where I thought about the hay scene. I love writing action and danger scenes. This is where my imagination comes into play.
EC: How would you describe the bad bishop, Stalzfus?
LC: He was a very wily individual. I did a lot of research on the medal that Kate discovered. This was a big clue on how he was responsible for the deaths of many, many people. He enjoys the power of running people’s lives, and if they do not follow his orders he ruins them through the Bann, excommunication, and silencing them. He is very strict, has tunnel vision, and he is stubborn. Stalzfus enjoys being a bully, is vindictive, violent, and cruel. He also does not want attention drawn from the outside world. He was a totalitarian person with complete control.
EC: How would you describe Jonas?
LC: He is a very typical Amish man. He is charismatic, charming, persuasive, and a family man.
EC: The relationship between Kate and Jonas?
LC: They shared a teenage tragedy. They knew each other when she was twelve. As she became a teenager when she was fifteen, he was nineteen. He was an adult, and she was underage. He did not know about the trauma that happened to Kate when she was fourteen. Without the trauma she might have stayed and married him, living the Amish life, and having children. They had a sad nostalgia for each other, but they were not going to give in to any past attraction. When she looks at Jonas’ wife there is one point in the story where Kate thinks what might have been me. There was no jealousy and friction between Kate and Jonas’ wife.
EC: Jonas understood Kate?
LC: He always came to her defense. Even though he did not agree with her he knew she was going to walk a hard road because she stood up for herself and got into fights. Even though he is a pacifist, part of him admired her actions. He accepted who she was, knowing she was unlike most Amish girls who were described as meek. Kate was never meek. He treated her as an equal. He knew Kate was a force to be reckoned with. Kate sensed he understood her and that she was going to be true to herself. He accepted her even after she left the Amish.
EC: The disaster Kate went through molded her personality?
LC: She became a non-conformist and is not a pacifist. She was able to overcome any bitterness toward the Amish. She can move beyond it to where she has a healthy respect for the Amish now. This is where her head is. She is not a quitter, hard-headed, and a sore loser.
EC: Why have Kate play hockey and baseball as a young teenager?
LC: I love those scenes. I was a tomboy as a child. It is a great feeling to hit a homerun with an aluminum Louisville slugger bat. You hear that “tank” and say, “yeah a homerun.” By playing these sports I think there were some hints that Kate would not have stayed Amish even if she did not have the trauma at fourteen. I really enjoy writing the scene with Kate and the baseball diamond.
EC: Any movie or TV series?
LC: Entertainment One bought an option. They have two years to pursue making a feature film or a series.
EC: The next book?
LC: The likely title will be An Evil Heart, coming out this time next year. Kate is now back at Painter’s Mill in Ohio. There is an unusual murder and Kate is trying to figure out what happened. There are some good twists.
THANK YOU!!
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BIO: Elise Cooper has written book reviews and interviewed best-selling authors since 2009. Her reviews have covered several different genres, including thrillers, mysteries, women’s fiction, romance and cozy mysteries. An avid reader, she engages authors to discuss their works, and to focus on the descriptions of their characters and the plot. While not writing reviews, Elise loves to watch baseball and visit the ocean in Southern California, with her dog and husband.
Today I am sharing my Feature Post and Book Review for DEAD DROP (A Detective Nathan Parker Novel Book #1) by James L’Etoile 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 Rafflecopter giveaway. Enjoy!
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Book Description
Hundreds go missing each year making the dangerous crossing over the border. What if you were one of them?
While investigating the deaths of undocumented migrants in the Arizona desert, Detective Nathan Parker finds a connection to the unsolved murder of his partner on a human smuggling run. The new evidence lures Parker over the border in search of the truth, only to trap him in a strange and dangerous land. If he’s to survive, Parker must place his life in the hands of the very people he once pursued.
Border violence, border politics, and who is caught in between. The forces behind it might surprise you.
Genre: Thriller Published by: Level Best Books Publication Date: July 19, 2022 Number of Pages: 300 ISBN: 978-1-68512-114-3 Series: The Detective Nathan Parker Series, Book 1
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My Book Review
RATING: 5 out of 5 Stars
DEAD DROP (A Detective Nathan Parker Thriller Book #1) by James L’Etoile is a mash-up of fast-paced thriller, Federal and local police procedural, and southern border crime mystery. This is the first book in this new series and the first book I have read by this author.
Detective Nathan Parker is called by an eccentric local named Billie about four 55-gallon drums off the side of the highway she discovered while searching for scrap. She has opened one of the drums and found a body stuffed inside. This dead drop is not the first found and all contained illegal immigrant males. The coroner discovers they have all died from fentanyl poisoning.
When Parker gets to close to several cartel operations, he is carried across the border to meet the head of the cartel and faces a horrible death, but Billie has followed him. Billie is not what Parker first perceived and he soon learns to survive, he is going to have to put his life in the hands of the people he once pursued and looked down upon.
I thought I was getting a straightforward southern border drug cartel crime story, but this story with its many twists and surprises is so much more. Nathan Parker is a man who has been in law enforcement for some time and has preconceived notions. He is also carrying a lot of guilt over the death of his partner. As Parker progresses through the story, he has his eyes opened and is discovering an empathy he did not have previously. Billie is a big part in helping Parker see the other side of his prejudice against illegal immigrants and in helping him fight and survive the antagonists. I liked Nathan and his character’s growth, but I really loved Billie. This is the first book I have read written by this author, and I will be looking for others in his catalogue. Great characters, fast-paced, surprising and a realistic ending had me reading this book way past my bedtime.
I highly recommend this first thriller in this new series, and I cannot wait for more!
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Excerpt
Chapter 1
With one good score Billie Carson hoped she could begin to repair the damage from her past. But after three hours kicking rocks in the sweltering North Phoenix sun, all Billie had to show for the effort was a bag of beer cans and three Jeep lug nuts. She knew most folks wrote her off as a scavenger, but Billie fancied herself as a treasure-hunter. It was a romantic notion, in her mind—always looking for that one big find. She’d dug up wallets, rings, car parts, and good scrap metal out here. Not the crap you tripped over in the bottom of a desert wash, but leftover copper wire from building sites and steel tire rims left behind on the side of the asphalt. The recycling yards paid you good money for that shit, but money could never really make up for the broken lives she’d left behind. How could you repay the ghosts of men you’d led to their death?
Billie looked at the meager haul in her black garbage bag and calculated she wouldn’t be able to buy a cold beer at Paula’s Roadhouse on the way home, let alone help anyone else. Besides, the Roadhouse made her sit outside on the patio with her beer, on the days she could afford one. Paula told her once she made the regulars uncomfortable and wasn’t welcome inside. The beer was cold out on the patio and she figured she wouldn’t like the company inside anyway.
She knew there were treasures out here among the Saguaro cactus and creosote brush waiting to be discovered. Hell, she found her Maui Jim sunglasses out here, you could barely see the crack in the left lens after you got used to it. If she had the money, she’d buy one of them fancy electronic metal detectors that beeped and chirped when you found the good stuff. Paula would let her inside the Roadhouse then, for sure. Until Billie found her big score, she’d keep her head down and kick some more rocks.
Dry, spindly brush dotted the roadside. Thin branches cracked when you knocked up against them. The broken limbs were sharp and left red welts if you ventured too far off the beaten path. Motorists tossed, or lost, most of the good stuff she found a few feet off the road. Billie couldn’t imagine a world where you lost hard earned jewelry out your window and didn’t bother to stop and go find it. If tourists on their way to Cave Creek, or Sedona, were so well off they didn’t need their stuff–that was fine by her.
Billie spotted a set of tire tracks off the asphalt and her heart began to race. What if she found a broken refrigerator dumped in the brush? She could eat for a month on what she’d pull for scrapping a hulking appliance. She’d figure a way to drag it out of the desert before someone else grabbed it. The wide tracks bent behind a rock outcropping digging three inches into the sandy desert floor. Billie knew the vehicle was laden with treasure if it left tire tracks up to her ankles.
She slipped a dingy blue bandanna from her head and wiped the gritty sweat at the back of her neck. A makeshift canteen, fashioned from a Gatorade bottle and a length of drapery cord hung from Billie’s neck. She unscrewed the plastic cap and poured the last of her water on the bandanna. The soaked cloth cooled her head for the climb to the top of the hardscrabble rock outcropping.
The view from the small rise looked down into a deep, sandy wash where the memory of scant seasonal rainfall from the monsoons faded into chalky dust. Patches of tinder-dry brush lined the edges of the dry bed. The heavens hadn’t seen fit to nourish their shallow roots for months. A moonscape of tumbled rocks, sand, and broken branches, left behind by a distant flash flood, lined the bed. At the center of the sandy basin, the deep ruts ended. A second set of tire tracks painted a story of a stop before backing into the middle of the sand. At the end of the tracks no prize waited for her; no refrigerator, no mattress, not even a crumpled beer can. Whatever it was, Billie figured someone else got here first. She crawled down the rock ledge to the floor of the basin, kicking smaller rocks and watching for rattlesnakes along the way.
Down in the wash, the dry brush was taller than it seemed from the view up on the rise. Thin dried fingers of creosote bush towered over Billie’s five-seven height, and the vegetation screened off access to the dry bed. The brush lay crushed and broken at the edge of the parched earth where the vehicle punched through the barrier. Billie hiked the plowed path, where dry shattered twigs snapped under her boots releasing the acrid resin smell from the creosote bush.
Hidden from the road, Billie knew this was the perfect spot for a quick illegal dump. Yet, there was nothing here. Maybe it was a quickie dump of another sort, she thought, a make-out spot for a couple of hormone-engorged teenagers.
She turned and spotted a bright white patch in the brush at the bottom of the draw. A few steps closer and Billie made out four fifty-five gallon drums partially hidden under a layer of broken creosote branches. She wouldn’t have seen them if it weren’t for the blue and white stripes emblazoned on the sides of the containers.
“Well, shit. This don’t get any better.”
Billie swiveled around and tried to catch a glimpse of anyone who might be keeping an eye on the barrels. She knew she wasn’t the smartest woman, but what she did know was people who stashed things in the desert, generally don’t want them found. She also knew you dumped things out here to get rid of them fast.
Billie got on her knees next to one of the barrels, tossed off the layer of broken branches, and the hot metal surface burned her palm. She wrapped her bandanna around her fingers and forced the barrel upright. It was heavy, but she felt the contents shift as the barrel moved. She figured a land developer or machine shop owner needed a place to dump used oil, or chemicals they’d have to pay the county to take off their hands. Billie figured the empty drums would net her ten bucks a piece, easy. She’d dump the oil, or whatever was in the cylinder, back in the dusty wash. Her daddy always poured his motor oil out in the desert and Billie never even saw so much as a sick coyote.
She strained with the locking ring on the lid. It wouldn’t budge. Billie ran a finger across dark marks where tack welds burnt the paint away from the locking ring.
Something good was in this barrel, for sure. Why go through this effort for used motor oil? If it was old pesticide, maybe she could wrangle a reward from one of them cactus-lovin’ environmental places.
Billie grabbed a rock and hammered it against the welds. They chipped away after a few blows, and the bent locking ring fell at her feet. With the blade of a folding knife Billie kept on her belt, she pried under the lid. The lid popped and released a strong odor from within the sealed container. Billie grabbed her bandana and held it over her nose. The stench was unmistakable–decomposing flesh.
***
Author Bio
James L’Etoile uses his twenty-nine years behind bars as an influence in his novels, short stories, and screenplays. He is a former associate warden in a maximum-security prison, a hostage negotiator, facility captain, and director of California’s state parole system. He is a nationally recognized expert witness on prison and jail operations. He has been nominated for the Silver Falchion for Best Procedural Mystery, and The Bill Crider Award for short fiction. His published novels include: Black Label, At What Cost, Bury the Past, and Little River. Look for Dead Drop in the summer of 2022.
