Rebel Island by Rick Riordan

Rebel Island by Rick Riordan

Synopsis

Triple-crown winner of mystery’s most coveted awards—the Edgar, the Anthony, and the Shamus—Rick Riordan and his Texas-style take on the crime novel have never been bigger or darker than in this latest Tres Navarre thriller. This time Navarre faces a killer as unstoppable as a force of nature.

Tres Navarre had given up private investigation—and with it a violent past that had buried too many friends. Newly married, with a baby on the way, it was time to find a safer line of work. He and Maia had come to Rebel Island to celebrate their honeymoon and a new future. But no sooner had they arrived than a reminder of the past showed up in the form of a corpse shot dead in room 12.

Just like that Tres finds himself flashing back on the memory of a grim childhood summer spent on the island—a summer that changed everything in his life. A summer he could never forget but never entirely remember either. And when a second corpse turns up, it’s clear to Tres that the past is not dead and buried after all, but is stalking Rebel Island with unfinished business of its own.

What really happened that long-ago summer, what dark secrets were kept, and who has come back to avenge them…these are the questions Tres, his brother Garrett, and the very pregnant Maia must answer—and time is running out. For a monster hurricane is about to hit Rebel Island, cutting them off from the mainland and leaving them trapped on a flooding island with the hotel’s remaining guests brutally dying one by one. Tres knows better than anyone that the bloodlines of South Texas are as twisted as barbed wire. This time they’re guarding a revelationthat can turn his dreams of happily ever after into the ultimate nightmare.

⇒ Via: BN.com

TA boiler plate whodunit where a bunch of people are stranded on an island with no way off and a killer in their midst. Can be skipped.

Sucker Bet by James Swain

Sucker Bet by James Swain

Synopsis

A hardened ex-cop with great instincts, a sharp eye, and a short fuse, Tony Valentine still catches crooks, but a very special breed of them. He nabs hustlers who rob casinos, and finds the fatal flaw that allowed the place to get ripped off in the first place.

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Ex-cop turned PI gets involved in a mob boss's scheme to swindle a gullible rock star out of his fortune.

Hard as Nails by Dan Simmons

Hard as Nails by Dan Simmons

Synopsis

Ex-PI Joe Kurtz's survival is on the line when an ambush leaves him badly wounded and his parole officer Peg O'Toole barely clinging to life. Their respective professions have ensured that neither suffers from a shortage of enemies so discovering which of them was the intended target isn't easy. But Kurtz knows who's at the head of his list: Angelina Farino Ferrara, the lethal beauty who leads the Farino crime family, as well as her mob rival, ice cold Toma Gonzaga, who has his own dark history with Kurtz.

The odd thing is, each wants to hire Joe Kurtz to find out who's been waging war beneath the cold gray skies of western New York. Until now, the casualties have been heroin junkies and their dealers. But now, the shootings of Kurtz and O'Toole have drawn the notice of both the newspapers and Buffalo PD Detective Rigby King, who shared Kurtz's tough childhood in a Buffalo orphanage, and who wants to put Kurtz back in prison-or back in her bed. Even Kurtz's jaded past cannot prepare him for what he's about to learn as he finds himself caught in an ever-tightening vise between the wounded and warring mob families and the cops, unaware that a maniac is waiting for his chance to strike...

⇒ Via: BN.com

Noir detective triller involving hard up PI, ruthless female don and crooked cops.

Nobody Runs Forever by Richard Stark

Nobody Runs Forever by Richard Stark

Synopsis

"Seven men came to a meeting in Cincinnati. One wore a wire, and another didn't hesitate to kill him - fast and hard. Now Parker has left that meeting and the murder behind, and gotten involved in a scheme that is stuffed with money and trouble." "In the rural northwestern corner of Massachusetts, Parker and a pal plan to steal an armored car. But the human element gets in the way. From a nervous ex-con and his well-intentioned sister to a bank manager's two-timing wife and a beautiful, relentless cop, too many people have their hands too close to Parker's pie. Then a bounty hunter, who just happens to be hunting the man who never left the Cincinnati meeting, joins the fray." Parker can see this job turning bad, yet he can't let go of the score. And when guns go off and the heist goes down, the perfect plan will explode with a sound and fury all its own. For Parker, there's always the choice of turning from fight to flight - even if there's nowhere to run.

⇒ Via: BN.com

Thrilling yarn about a gang of heisters about to score with help of some amateurs that they run into. The well-planned heist is in danger of being derailed due to antics of amateurs.

Southtown by Rick Riordan

Southtown by Rick Riordan

Synopsis

For Tres Navarre, English professor turned private investigator, business has lately taken a drastic turn south. But if chasing down bail jumpers, adulterous spouses, and workmen’s comp cases seemed like the dregs of the PI game, it was at least a living. Not as much could be said for tracking down a man like Will “the Ghost” Stirman.

The stone-cold killer has just staged a bloody escape from the Floresville State Penitentiary with a gang of violent cons as spooked by Stirman as those on the outside who helped put him behind bars. And no one seems more worried than Navarre’s boss and mentor, Erainya Manos. It was her husband along with rival PI Sam Barrera who built the case that sent Stirman away. But Erainya’s husband is dead and she’s certain Stirman won’t let that stand in the way of his taking revenge against her and her adopted son.

All of Navarre’s instincts are screaming that there’s more to this case than meets the eye. But Erainya won’t tell him—and Sam Barrera seems to be escaping into a strange twilight from a truth too terrible to remember. That leaves Tres to dig into a twisted mystery of greed, vigilantism, and murder, where lives are bought and sold and the line between guilt and innocence is razor-thin. Meanwhile, Stirman and his gang are coming, leaving behind them a trail of brutal, unforgiving violence that will end in an area of San Antonio known as Southtown—but that may soon just as well be called hell on earth.

⇒ Via: BN.com

Tres Navvarre, professor turned PI gets on track of escaped killer who is on track to get revenge on those responsible for his incarceration.

Wicked Break by Jeff Shelby

Wicked Break by Jeff Shelby

From Publishers Weekly
San Diego PI Noah Braddock interrupts his surfing for a missing persons case in Shelby's action-packed follow-up to Killer Swell (2005). Noah isn't eager to take on new clients, but he's moved by Peter Pluto's pleas to find younger brother Linc, a college student, whose apartment turns out to contain a stash of guns. The tension escalates when Linc's neighbor is shot after being questioned by Noah. Soon after, Noah's untimely arrival at Peter's ransacked house in a quiet cul-de-sac irritates a couple of vicious skinheads. Noah awakes in a ravine, left for dead, and a bit too cozy with Peter Pluto's corpse. Later, accompanied by his pal Carter, conveniently six-foot-nine, Noah boldly wades into plenty of life-and-limb"threatening situations, including verboten gang territory and a secluded skinhead gathering. Strong characterization and wonderfully biting humor compensate for a straightforward plot that's overly generous with tough guy posturing. (July)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

⇒ Via: BN.com

Surfer PI is hired by a professor to find his lost brother. Drugs, Guns, and white supremacy punks liven up this mystery.

Bone Key by Les Standiford

Bone Key by Les Standiford

Synopsis

A hustler is beaten by a cop. Two days later he's found slain. The cops claim ignorance. All John Deal has to go on are the rumors of the man's connection to a 70-year-old tale of piracy, murder, and greed.

⇒ Via: BN.com

Florida crime caper involving priceless wine contraband and piracy. John Deal is hooking up with his father's friend who is proposing a lucrative construction job for John but things turn awry when John gets involved in a spat with a corrupt cop who is harassing a small time crook.

Field of Fire by James O. Born

Field of Fire by James O. Born

Synopsis

With Walking Money, James O. Born was hailed as "the real thing" by Elmore Leonard; Shock Wave was called "a constant blitz of action" (The Miami Herald); and with Escape Clause, Born was celebrated as "the best thing to happen to Florida crime writing since Elmore Leonard hit the Sunshine State" (Chicago Sun-Times). Now Born takes it to the next level with a remarkable novel of corruption, fraud, and the messy business of murder by explosives.

Since returning from Bosnia, ATF agent Alex "Rocket" Duarte has been slowly reacclimating to life in South Florida. But when a gunrunner's car explodes, Duarte's life kicks into high gear in a high-profile hunt for what appears to be a serial bomber. Teamed up with a lawyer from the Department of Justice who herself is looking into possibly related bombings in Virginia and Seattle, Duarte crisscrosses the country, following the bomber and hoping to anticipate his next move, but as he peels away the layers of deception, the lines between friends and enemies begin to blur-and the results are explosive.

⇒ Via: BN.com

ATF agent Duarte is after a felon wanted for gun rap, but gets pulled into an investigation of mysterious explosions across the country. Slow narrative, does not keep your interest. Lackluster character devleopment of the main character.

The Devil's Bones by Jefferson Bass

The Devil's Bones by Jefferson Bass

Synopsis

In two previous New York Times bestselling novels, Jefferson Bass enthralled readers with ripped-from-the-headlines forensic cases, memorable characters, and plots that "rival Kathy Reichs and Patricia Cornwell" (Seattle Post-Intelligencer). Drawing on research at the Body Farm—three acres of land in the backwoods of Tennessee, where bodies are left to the elements to illuminate human decomposition—Bass has moved fiction to a fascinating new realm, with forensics expertise drawn from his five decades of work as the world's leading forensic anthropologist. But this latest novel cements Jefferson Bass as one of the finest writers of suspense working today, and in a work of drama, cunning, and heartbreak, thrills the reader with fiction that feels all too real.

A woman's charred body has been found inside a burned car perched atop a hill in Knoxville. Is it accidental death, or murder followed by arson? Forensic anthropologist Bill Brockton's quest for answers prompts an experiment straight from Dante's Inferno: In the dark of night, he puts bodies to the torch, researching how fire consumes flesh and bone.

In the meantime, Brockton is sent a mysterious package—a set of cremated remains that looks entirely unreal. With the help of a local crematorium, he investigates and discovers a truth too horrifying to believe: A facility in another state has not been disposing of bodies properly, instead scattering them all around the grounds.

Little does Brockton know that his research is about to collide with reality—with the force of a lit match meeting spilled gasoline. En route to trial, his nemesis, medicalexaminer Garland Hamilton, has escaped from custody. What follows is a deadly game of cat and mouse, played for the ultimate stakes: Brockton's own life. With help from his loyal graduate assistant, Miranda, and ace criminalist Art Bohanan, Brockton eventually tracks Hamilton, but when the police arrive, they find only a smoldering ruin. Sifting through the ashes, Brockton finds the incinerated remains of Hamilton . . . or does he? The answer—along with Brockton's ultimate test—comes in a searing moment of truth.

⇒ Via: BN.com

Lackluster tale about Bill Brockton, anthropologist and forensic scientist. The narrative reads more like his diary rather than a novel with a compelling story line. There is no evidence of a story even half way through the book.

Truth or Bare by Richard Cahill

Truth or Bare by Richard Cahill

Synopsis

Ted McKeon, ironically known as “Speed” because he was the slowest member of his high school track team, is a perfectly affable, unlikely idealist, but his recent divorce, sexual proclivities, and dire financial straits lead him to dingy bars and fantasy parlors, where he cultivates a rather unsavory clientele. A lawyer who hates most other lawyers, he is reluctant to return to the legal big leagues but is persuaded to take the case of a lesbian exotic dancer who admits to killing her sometime lover. Defending his client, Speed discovers that corruption knows no boundaries, and he must navigate the slippery floors of seedy bars and posh corporate boardrooms with equal caution and skill. A gallery of unforgettable characters inhabit this darkly amusing, diabolically plotted crime story.

⇒ Via: BN.com

Struggling lawyer down on his luck, finds himself stuck with a murder case. As he stumbles through the investigation, he uncovers a twisted plot involving strippers and a land developer who murders to get a kidney. Witty and funny with engaging story telling.