Rosepoint Publishing: Five stars 
Book Blurb:
What evil lurks in Port Essex, Maine?
Clay Wolfe is a former Boston homicide detective who has left the police department to return home to Maine to care for his elderly grandfather and open a private detective agency. Haunted by being orphaned at an early age, and jaded by the corruption of the big city, Clay is happy to hit pause and investigate minor crimes.
“I want you to find the person who sold the drugs that killed my grandbaby.”
When he is hired to find out who sold the drugs that killed a six-month-old baby girl, he has no idea of the evil that he is going to uncover in the underbelly of his hometown.
Wolfe Trap is a thrilling ride set in a small Maine town with rich characters and shocking plot twists that will keep the reader rapt until the final pages.
His Review:
Could a quiet New England port be a conduit for drugs into the Eastern United States? Clay Wolfe, a former Boston detective, has formed his own company as a private detective in his home town of Port Essex, Maine. The main industry in the quiet fishing village is a large fleet of lobster boats.
Matt Cost has developed a very believable and vulnerable character in Clay Wolfe. Like most heroes in detective novels, he is neither diminutive nor timid. His office manager is also a very interesting character. Each of them is coming out of bad or abusive relationships and are a bit tentative about making long term commitments. Clay has a well-deserved tom cat reputation. His office manager, Bailee Baker had to resort to violence to escape a brutal marriage.
Attempting to get to the bottom of the source of drugs coming into New England, Clay is interviewing a local lobsterman. Suddenly three bullets end the life of the man who was not able to answer Clays’ questions quick enough. A very well-trained assassin had a tight grouping of projectiles in the man’s chest. Thus begins a quest for the killer.
The atmospheric descriptions of the story along with the well-developed characters kept me turning pages to get to the climax. It is a fast paced read; enjoy this page-turner. 5 stars – CE Williams
[Note: Not our first experience with this author, having read three in the Mainely Mystery series, including Mainely Power, Mainely Fear, and Mainely Money. This begins a new, very promising series. Currently on pre-order.]
We received a complimentary review copy of this book from the author and publisher through NetGalley that in no way influenced this review. These are his honest opinions.
Book Details:
Genre: Small Town & Rural Fiction, Private Investigator Mysteries, Suspense
Publisher: Encircle Publications LLC
- ISBN-10 : 1645991695
- ISBN-13 : 978-1645991694
ASIN: B08WRZ8RRV
Print Length: 263 pages
Publication Date: June 23, 2021
Source: Publisher and NetGalley
Title Link: Wolfe Trap [Amazon]
Barnes and Noble
The Author: Matt Cost was a history major at Trinity College. He owned a mystery bookstore, a video store, and a gym, before serving a ten-year sentence as a junior high school teacher. In 2014 he was released and began writing. And that’s what he does. He writes histories and mysteries.
“Love in a Time of Hate” is the third historical by Cost. “Joshua Chamberlain and the Civil War; At Every Hazard”, was published in 2015, in which Emmett Collins grows into manhood during the Civil War. “I am Cuba; Fidel Castro and the Cuban Revolution” was published in 2020. It was recently awarded the silver award for historical fiction from Kops-Fetherling.
Cost has also published the Mainely Mystery series including “Mainely Power” (the MHC Read ME fiction book of the year), “Mainely Fear”, and “Mainely Money”. The fourth book in the series, “Mainely Angst”, will be published in January of 2022.
He has begun the Clay Wolfe/Port Essex Trap series with “Wolfe Trap”. “Mind Trap” will be published in October of 2021 and “Mouse Trap” in the spring of 2022.
Cost now lives in Brunswick, Maine, with his wife, Harper. There are four grown children: Brittany, Pearson, Miranda, and Ryan. A chocolate Lab and a basset hound round out the mix. He now spends his days at the computer, writing.
©2021 CE Williams – V Williams 
Rosepoint Publishing 