Blood Mud by K. C. Constantine

Blood Mud by K. C. Constantine

Synopsis

Like the city he's served loyally for years, Mario Balzic (retired) isn't about to slip in to the twilight unnoticed. He's traded in his uniform for the shirt and tie of a private cop. But even in white-collar land, crime is prevalent. There's been a burglary at the local gun shop; a corrupt married politico is cheating with a stripper; a police chief a couple of towns over is hungry for power, a deli owner who mixes racketeering with the cold cuts; and a gangster's hapless nephew framed for selling pore and drugs. Balzic hasn't stepped into a cushy retirement gig - not by a long shot!

⇒ Via: BN.com

Faded ex-chief of police in a small town takes up as insurance investigator. Battling personal health issues and ridicule from his ex-colleagues, he stumbles upon a plot with local don, ambitious police chief and a clueless councilman as central characters. The narrative is not that engaging in the beginning but picks up after midpoint. At times funny, story ends sadly.

Good People by Marcus Sakey

Good People by Marcus Sakey

Synopsis

The spectacular Dutton debut of a thriller writer whose ecstatically acclaimed work draws comparisons to luminaries such as Elmore Leonard, George Pelecanos, and Dennis Lehane

A family, and the security to enjoy it: that's all Tom and Anna Reed ever wanted. But years of infertility treatments, including four failed attempts at in-vitro fertilization, have left them with neither. The emotional and financial costs are straining their marriage and endangering their dreams. So when their downstairs tenant—a recluse whose promptly delivered cashier's checks were barely keeping them afloat—dies in his sleep, the $400,000 they find stashed in his kitchen seems like fate. More than fate: a chance for everything they've dreamed of for so long. A fairy-tale ending.

But Tom and Anna soon realize that fairy tales never come cheap. Because their tenant wasn't a hermit who squirreled away his pennies. He was a criminal who double-crossed some of the most dangerous men in Chicago. Men who won't stop until they get revenge, no matter where they find it.

⇒ Via: BN.com

Greed overcomes a young yuppie couple with disastrous outcome when their tenant dies of an overdose leaving a large amount of money under mysterious circumstances.
first letter in this paragraph is big. Engaging edge pf the seat thriller.

A Darker Side by Shirley Wells

A Darker Side by Shirley Wells

Synopsis

Forensic psychologist Jill Kennedy has given up police work for a quiet life in the Lancashire village of Kelton Bridge. But when Martin Hayden, a seventeen-year-old schoolboy, is murdered, DCI Max Trentham, Jill's ex-colleague, wants her back at work. As they hunt Martin's killer, they discover that nothing is as it seems.

When the killer strikes again, Jill and Max find themselves in a desperate

⇒ Via: BN.com

Small village is shocked by the murder of a popular boy. The investigation unravels long hidden skeletons in a dysfunctinal family with tragic consequences. Well written suspense right till the end.

The Man in the Blizzard by Bart Schneider

The Man in the Blizzard by Bart Schneider

Synopsis

If Marlowe lived in Minnesota . . .
If Spade spouted poetry . . .
If the Big Lebowski were a small-time private eye . . .
Meet Augie Boyer, private detective

“Once upon a time, Sam Spade, Miles Roby, and Bill Maher all went to Bart ­Schneider’s laboratory. There was an accident—a spill, a flash of lightning—and only one character came out. Schneider named him Augie Boyer. You’ll love the big lug.”
—Sean Doolittle, author of The Cleanup

Private eye Augie Boyer is out of sorts. He’s been smoking too much Pontchartrain Pootie, his favorite varietal herb, and scarfing down an excess of fried food. He can’t stop thinking of his ­therapist wife, who left him for another therapist, and despite his new girlfriend’s best efforts, Augie’s testosterone levels have sunk lower than the winter temperatures of Minneapolis.

On the eve of the Republican National Convention, a beautiful, blond violinist with multiple personalities walks into Augie’s office. She draws him into a complex case that involves neo-Nazi violin collectors, mind-control specialists, and thousands of antiabortion activists who’ve come to the Twin Cities for a rally that will bring new meaning to Labor Day. But when Augie uncovers an assassination plot, he must scramble to prevent a deranged act of political violence that strikes dangerously close to home.

With wit, compassion, and plenty of laugh-out-loud moments, Bart Schneider creates a lovable yet flawed character and delivers a thrilling contemporary tale.

⇒ Via: BN.com

Flea bitten PI gets a case where he is embroiled in conspiracy involving Nazi collectors, Violin prodigy and his daughter. Funny and witty prose though at times the poetry is overdone.

Evil That Men Do by Dave White

Evil That Men Do by Dave White

Synopsis

Even generations later, you can't escape. . .the evil that men do.

Stripped of his private investigator’s license and slumming it as a night security guard at a Jersey storage facility, Jackson Donne thinks he’s finally hit rock bottom. Then the bottom really falls out: The sister he hasn’t seen in years shows up, needing help.

Turns out Donne’s Alzheimer’s-stricken mother has begun hinting at long-buried family secrets from her hospital bed, suggesting a sinister–even murderous–past. Meanwhile, Donne’s relatives are suddenly being greeted by blackmail, car bombs, and bullets to the back of the skull.

All Donne wants is to disappear–preferably into a nice frosty pint glass–but he soon realizes that his only chance at saving his family, and himself, is by solving a mystery more than sixty years old. Now he needs to figure out how a hit man, crooked cops, corrupt politics, a kidnapping, and the city of Bayonne all fit together. He’ll discover that old family secrets still have the power to kill in this razor-sharp PI story that makes classic noir new again.

⇒ Via: BN.com

Dispirited ex-cop and ex-PI is approached by his estranged family to help his ailing mother who harbors an old secret that is brought out into the open. Old sleeping skeletons are exposed with murder and mayhem in its wake.

Blood Hollow

Blood Hollow by William Kent Krueger

Synopsis

A brilliant new installment in the prize-winning Cork O'Connor series -- from the acclaimed author of Boundary Waters and Purgatory Ridge.

When the corpse of a beautiful high school student is discovered on a hillside four months after her disappearance on New Year's Eve, all evidence points to her boyfriend, local bad boy Solemn Winter Moon. Despite Solemn's self-incriminating decision to go into hiding, Cork O'Connor, Aurora, Minnesota's former sheriff, isn't about to hang the crime on a kid he's convinced is innocent. In an uphill battle to clear Solemn's name, Cork encounters no shortage of adversity. Some -- like bigotry and bureaucracy -- he knows all too well. What Cork isn't prepared for is the emergence of a long-held resentment from his own childhood. And when Solemn reappears, claiming to have seen a vision of Jesus Christ in Blood Hollow, the mystery becomes thornier than Cork could ever have anticipated. And that's when the miracles start happening....

⇒ Via: BN.com

TMissing girls body sparks an investigation against a rebellious Indian boy who sees Jesus while on lam. The culprit turns out to be a police officer who over zealously protects his mentor.