Shamus Dust by Janet Roger

These are old style fedora detective stories.  An American detective in London not long after World War II is a traditional gumshoe.   Looking for a murderer becomes looking for murderers.  

Newman seems to get hit on the head with great frequency.   The book is written in the style of the days when a private detective pulled his hat low and had a cigarette hanging from his lip.   The prose is florid and expansive.   The author is so detailed I got a chill from sitting in a winter alley with a hooker.  

I think fans of Raymond Chandler will love the book.   

This book may have been received free of charge from a publisher or a publicist. That will NEVER have a bearing on my recommendations.

Firewall by Eugenia Lovett West

This was a mystery that was loosely focused on cybercrime.   The plot moved from location to location while leaving a body each time.   It read like a series of somewhat disjointed short stories.

I have mixed feelings about this book.   I anticipated more technology and a clearer focus on cybercrime.   Cybercrime is alluded to but the focus was really on Emma Streat and her foibles.

Emma appears to be conflicted in her emotions.   She also seems to connect to men who have one foot on a banana peel and the other in a grave.

I liked the strength shown by Emma, that was one of the more redeeming characteristics of the book.

This book may have been received free of charge from a publisher or a publicist. That will NEVER have a bearing on my recommendations.

Educated by Tara Westover

Once again, I am unimpressed by the overwhelming praise for a best-selling book.  The memoir of an abused woman who achieved success through intellectual achievement in spite of never attending school should be inspiring.   Instead this book left me angry and depressed that anyone had to suffer to the extent the author suffered.

It is clear that our society suffers the existence of pockets of oppression and insular behavior that has no recognition of mental depravity.

It is dismaying, in my opinion, that it took as long as it did for the author to recognize she was abused by a browbeaten subservient mother and a father and brother who obviously labored under undiagnosed mental illness.

I didn’t like the book and I can’t recommend it. 

This book may have been received free of charge from a publisher or a publicist. That will NEVER have a bearing on my recommendations.

Spotlight on Lost Tomorrows by Matt Coyle

Latest installment of award-winning Rick Cahill series explores revenge and tragedy in electrifying thriller

SAN DIEGO – Weaving the tragedies of the past into the realities of the present, Anthony-award winning author Matt Coyle’s gripping new mystery “Lost Tomorrows” (Dec. 3, 2019, Oceanview) — the latest installment of the beloved Rick Cahill series — carries revenge, redemption, and the hopes of new love in all one action-packed thriller.

When Rick Cahill receives an unexpected call that his former police partner, Krista Landingham, has been found dead, he realizes he can’t avoid his past any longer. Hired by her sister to investigate Krista’s death, Rick follows clues toward the terrible truth that his former partner’s death wasn’t an accident but rather a murder. Along the way, Rick unearths secrets long-hidden about the tragic death of his wife.

With his past colliding with his present, Rick must make a decision: Will he embrace the terrible actions necessary for revenge and redemption, or is he a different kind of man?

MATT COYLE is the author of the Rick Cahill mysteries. His books have won the Anthony Award, Ben Franklin Silver Award, Foreword Reviews Book of the Year Silver Award, and San Diego Book Award, and have been nominated for multiple Anthony Awards, Macavity Awards, Shamus Awards, Lefty Awards, and San Diego Book Awards. Matt has a degree in English from the University of California at Santa Barbara. He is a member of Mystery Writers of America, Sisters in Crime, Private Eye Writers of America, and the International Association of Crime Writers. Aside from writing novels, Matt hosts the Crime Corner podcast on the Authors on the Air Global Radio Network and lives in San Diego with his yellow Lab, Angus.

Early praise for Lost Tomorrows:

“Sharp, suspenseful, and poignant, LOST TOMORROWS hits like a breaking wave and pulls readers into its relentless undertow. Matt Coyle is at the top of his game.”

— Meg Gardiner, Edgar Award-winning author of the Unsub series

"Private investigator Rick Cahill returns in Matt Coyle's new book, LOST TOMORROWS.  Cahill has been run out of town, wrongly accused of killing his wife. He's depressed, drinking and emotionally wrung out. A new murder investigation draws him back to the town that hates him, and he's forced to partner up with his primary accuser. Like the entire Cahill series, the story is suspenseful, tightly written, full of curveballs and memorable characters and very, very smart.  Welcome back, Rick. We're really glad to see you."

— Joe Ide, author of the award-winning IQ series

“. . . For those who admire old-school PI style, there's plenty to savor here.”

— Booklist

  

An Interview with

Matt Coyle

 “Lost Tomorrows” is the sixth installment of the Rick Cahill mysteries. What compels you to continue to explore Rick’s story?

Since the death of his wife 14 years ago, Rick’s whole life has been a quest for redemption. Each case he takes, each story I write, is a chance for him to get closer to completing his quest. Sadly for Rick, he rarely feels close to achieving redemption.

Where did the idea for your protagonist, Rick Cahill, come from?

I knew I wanted a disgraced ex-cop with something dark and unresolved in his past. However, it wasn’t until a sentence came to me for the ether (my subconscious) while I was revising the first draft of the first book that I really began to get a sense of who Rick Cahill was. The sentence, which became the first sentence in “Yesterday’s Echo”: The first time I saw her she made me remember and she made me forget. With that line, I realized Rick’s past was much darker than I originally anticipated. Something truly awful had happened to him that changed his life irrevocably.

Last December, you quit your job to become a full-time writer. How has this decision shaped your life and work?

It’s given me much needed time to tackle all facets of a writer’s life. Not just the writing but the marketing necessary to build a career.

You have quite the resume when it comes to the genres of mystery and crime fiction. Why do you love mysteries so much?

I love mysteries/crime fiction because it allows you to explore character, solve a puzzle, and seek justice all in one story. Justice may not be achievable, or if it is, it may not be the criminal justice system’s version of it. I write P.I. fiction because I like the idea of one man or woman fighting powerful forces to find their own justice.

In “Lost Tomorrows,” you dive into some ways that the past interacts with the present. Why did you choose to explore this idea, and have you seen it play out in your own life?

I don’t think it started as a conscious decision, but the more I wrote Rick Cahill the more I realized that every action he took was an effort to get square him with the past. Beyond that, I realized that every bad decision he’s made in his past has to have repercussions that affect his present. I didn’t realize it at the time, but the title of the first book, “Yesterday’s Echo,” is really the arc of Rick’s life. The echos are always chasing him.

Sadly, an aspect of this played out in my own life. No details, but a knee jerk action I took in a dispute when I was young had lasting consequences for me and my family. Nothing violent, tragic or illegal, just something I wish I hadn’t done.

This book may have been received free of charge from a publisher or a publicist. That will NEVER have a bearing on my recommendations.

Beware of #FREE media on Sketchy Web Sites

WARNING!!
Be Skeptical! Google

notified me one of my books was being advertised on a free eBook site. Since the only place my eBooks are ever free is on Amazon or directly from me, I checked it out. The original link led to a 2nd URL that led to a third URL which Norton identified as a malware site. Looking at the headers, it appears to be in the UK but the link leads to Russia. The site offers "free" music, books and movies which you may get but along with the "free" media expect your computer to be corrupted. I am disturbed that one of my titles may entice someone to corrupt their computer. There is no recourse on my part. My advice is to be aware than many of the "free" offerings have destructive strings attached.

This book may have been received free of charge from a publisher or a publicist. That will NEVER have a bearing on my recommendations.