#policeproceduralmysteries – Rosepoint Publishing

Blackout: A Thriller by David Rosenfelt #AudiobookReview #ThrowbackThursday

Doug Brock #1

Book Blurb:

New Jersey state police officer Doug Brock has been after infamous criminal Nicholas Bennett for years. When Bennett kills someone close to Doug, Doug’s investigation – and his life – start spiraling out of control. He’s placed on indefinite suspension from the police force and breaks things off with his fiancée, but he can’t let the case go, and he continues an off-the-books investigation on his own.

When Doug’s former partner on the force, Nate Alvarez, receives a call from Doug saying he’s discovered something big, something terrifying, something they need to call in the FBI to handle, Nate is furious that Doug has still been working the case. But when the call ends abruptly, and shortly afterward Doug is found in a hotel room, shot and in critical condition, Nate’s anger turns to fear.

When Doug finally awakens from his coma, however, he has no memory of the case or even the last several years of his life. But the pull of what he might have discovered is too strong, and he finds himself immersed in a desperate search for truth once again, regardless of the danger.

My Review:

I discovered the Andy Carpenter books just around installment 14 (2016) and have read or listened to most every succeeding book since. When The K Team splintered off of the Carpenter books, I started reading all those. So, yes, I’m a die-hard fan of David Rosenfelt, but it was surely the dogs in the Carpenter books that caught my attention.

Of course, if I found another series that Rosenfelt wrote, I dived into those. And, I hate to admit it, but his narrator for the Carpenter books, Grover Gardner, has in no small part cemented my love of the series, ergo, the author.

Still, although there is a sense of the signature wit and snark of Rosenfelt in his other series, it’s the Carpenter books that keep me coming back.

This particular time, I found Book 1 of the Doug Brock series (2016) (not sure there was ever a Doug Brock #4), and listened to it. Yes, I’d previously listened to both Books 2 and 3 back in 2020. Hey—they’re good. Short, well-paced, intelligent. A detective with a life-changing injury is left with amnesia but can’t help working on a case that was plaguing him before he got hurt.

The thing about Rosenfelt’s characters is that while they may not be wholly sympathetic, they are engaging. His plots look simple on the surface then submerge to layers of twists, turns, and red herrings and the chemistry between main character and support characters is electric with natural dialogue that conveys their emotional connection.

I enjoyed this book but I’ve been spoiled by Andy Carpenter. The narrator just slightly misses the mark for me as well. Okay, I’m just spoiled all around by the lawyer, his dogs, his support characters, and the narrator.

Apparently, you can’t beat that combination.

I downloaded a copy of this audiobook from my local well-stocked library. These are my honest thoughts.

Rosepoint Publishing: Four Stars

Book Details:

Genre: Police Procedural Mysteries, Crime Thrillers
Publisher: Listen & Live Audio, Inc.
ASIN: B01D083OCO
Listening Length: 7 hrs 21 mins
Narrator: Jeff Steitzer
Publication Date: March 15, 2016
Source: Local Library (Audiobook Selections)
Title Links: Amazon-US

The Author: David Rosenfelt, a native of Paterson, New Jersey, is a graduate of NYU. He was the former marketing president for Tri-Star Pictures before becoming a writer of novels and screenplays. “Open And Shut” was his first novel; “First Degree,” his second novel, was named a best book of 2003 by Publishers Weekly. He currently lives in Southern California with his wife and 35 dogs.

The Stranger Diaries Book 1 of Harbinder Kaur by Elly Griffiths #AudiobookReview #GothicHorrorFiction

Editors’ pick Best Mystery, Thriller & Suspense

Book Blurb:

Clare Cassidy is no stranger to murder. A high school English teacher specializing in the Gothic writer R. M. Holland, she teaches a course on it every year. But when one of Clare’s colleagues and closest friends is found dead, with a line from R. M. Holland’s most famous story, “The Stranger”, left by her body, Clare is horrified to see her life collide with the story lines of her favorite literature.

My Review:

Having ventured into a Ruth Galloway book, I thought I’d try another first in the series. This series, however, leads the reader into a totally different experience and, actually, as a girl, I loved gothic stories.

Not so much this one.

I don’t have a problem with multiple POVs, usually enjoy them. In this case, it changed the vibe of the book for me. Stopped what might have been an interesting flow to begin another and one not so engaging.

This novel begins a slow burn for me perhaps because I always found English classes dry and lacking connection. While we aren’t exactly talking classics here, I struggled with the academia side of the narrative, found most characters haughty and arrogant, and a couple I actively disliked. The plot centers around Clare and her teenage daughter, Georgia (Yet another snotty teen?) Clare’s best friend is murdered. Enter DS Kaur, I thought a bit too intense and forceful. My favorite character is the little dog, of course.

The author R M Holland lived in the particular old school building where he wrote his best known works. He is surrounded by myth and the story of the death of his wife. He left an extract that becomes a mantra throughout the book, and as it was an audiobook, became a bit much.

“Hell is empty, all the devils are up here.”

At first the passage jolted me as it sounded much like something my grandfather once said. But then it was repeated, over and over.

The plot becomes quite complex. The atmospheric gothic quality of the campus descriptions of the area lends a strong character quality to the Victorian storyline, building tension and adding to the “creep” factor. Lots of threads pulled up in the denouement. Sometimes though the motive for a murder feels a bit weak, but okay, everything buttons up in the end.

I downloaded a copy of this audiobook from my local well-stocked library. These are my honest thoughts. Did you read this one?

Rosepoint Publishing: Three point Five Stars

Book Details:

Genre: Gothic Horror Fiction, Police Procedural Fiction, Gothic Fiction
Publisher: Recorded Books
ASIN: B07MKZFRQT
Listening Length: 10 hrs 32 mins
Narrators: Andrew Wincott, Esther Wane, Sarah Feathers, Anjana Vasan
Publication Date: March 5, 2019
Source: Local Library (Audiobook Selections)

Title Links:

Amazon-US
Amazon-UK
Barnes & Noble
Kobo

Elly Griffiths - author — Elly Griffiths – author

The Author: Thank you for visiting my Amazon author page! I’m the author of the Dr Ruth Galloway books, the Brighton Mysteries and four standalone titles featuring DI Harbinder Kaur. I’ve also written a middle grade mystery series, A Girl Called Justice. My new series, about time-travelling detective Ali Dawson, started in 2025 with The Frozen People.

I was born in London but moved to Brighton when I was five. I always wanted to be an author and wrote my first detective story, The Hair of the Dog, when I was 11. I studied English at King’s College London and worked in a library before joining HarperCollins as a publicity assistant, eventually becoming editorial director for children’s fiction. I wrote my first published novel, The Italian Quarter, whilst on maternity leave expecting my twins. Three other books followed, all written under my real name, Domenica de Rosa. When I wrote my first crime novel, The Crossing Places, I was advised to get a ‘crime name’. I chose Elly Griffiths, after my grandmother, and have now published 32 books under that name..

I live near Brighton with my husband, Andy. We have two grown-up children and a cat.

Have a happy Easter! — AI generated graphic compliments of Dream Lab, Canva.

The Neon Rain by James Lee Burke #AudiobookReview #ThrowbackThursday

A Dave Robicheaux Novel Book 1

Book Blurb:

New York Times best-selling author James Lee Burke’s Dave Robicheaux novels began with this first hard-hitting entry in the series.

In The Neon Rain, Detective Robicheaux fishes a prostitute’s corpse from a New Orleans bayou and finds that no one, not even the law, cares about a dead hooker.

My Review:

My first go-round with this author and I gotta admit checked most of the boxes for me. I could identify with the time period, if not “Nalans” and, indeed, New Orleans is a whole character unto itself.

It’s good I was listening to the audiobook as the author did a beautiful job of the accents (French), dialects of the locals (Cajun), as well as the protagonist’s name, Robicheaux (pronounced Row-be-show).

Even better when I start a healthy (24 installments in the series??) with Book 1. Yes, the first book is usually an introduction to the main character, the location, and the setting, in this case, the police department. Back then we had a lot of veterans, some still fresh from ‘Nam. Dave Robicheaux has apparently been back long enough to have achieved detective level with the local police department.

I loved how the description of the area rolled off the tongue of the narrator, making it almost sensual. I got a feeling pretty quickly about gritty Robicheaux, hardened from battle, brass, baddies, and loss. He’s no one to mess with.

When he discovers a young prostitute’s body, it hits him hard, and he throws all effort at finding the perp. Unfortunately, it also begins to uncover a lot more than he bargained for, and he reverts to drinking again and is placed on leave.

No problem.

He goes rogue.

In the meantime, the reader is treated to the prose created by the beauty of the bayou, the music, the mood, the food, the heat, the French Quarter, and the rain. In our experience, the latter happened every afternoon about 4 p.m. Ever notice that moss hanging from those iconic trees? Did you wonder why?

Graphic details, descriptions, and language paint a noir picture through the storyline and solid support characters. It is well-paced, suspenseful, gritty, and within a hard-boiled mystery. Armchair tourist? This might well be one trip you’ll enjoy.

I downloaded a copy of this audiobook from my local well-stocked library. These are my honest thoughts.

Rosepoint Publishing: Four Stars

Book Details:

Genre: Police Procedural Mysteries, Crime Fiction, Suspense
Publisher: Recorded Books
ASIN: B0028TY1GU
Listening Length: 8 hrs 22 mins
Narrator: Will Patton
Publication Date: May 5, 2009
Source: Local Library (Audiobook Selections)

Title Links:

Amazon-US
Amazon-UK

The Author: James Lee Burke is a New York Times bestselling author, three-time winner of the Edgar Award as well as the Grand Master Award from Mystery Writers of America, winner of the CWA Diamond Dagger and Gold Dagger and the Grand Prix de Littérature Policière, and the recipient of the Guggenheim Fellowship for Creative Arts in Fiction.

#ThrowbackThursday

Open Season: An Alex Delaware Novel by Jonathan Kellerman #AudiobookReview #PoliceProceduralMysteries

Book Blurb:

The most beloved and enduring duo in American crime fiction is back.

People come to Los Angeles to chase their dreams. Sometimes they find themselves cast into a nightmare. And sometimes, the most ardent dreamers turn out to be the most vicious monsters.

The body of an aspiring actress is found dumped near a hospital emergency room. She’s been drugged and murdered and the motive for the callous crime remains maddeningly out of reach. Until, a prime suspect materializes. Another Hollywood hopeful. Only to be shot dead by a sniper using a weapon that turns out to have been catalogued in a previous murder. And another, before that. It’s not long before more bodies begin piling up.

What makes the murderous spree baffling is the apparent lack of connection among the victims. Is this the work of a random thrill killer, the toughest of all cases to unravel?

But as Alex and Milo dig deeper they’re faced with an even knottier scenario: a highly complex killer with deep-seated motivation that will require all of their highly honed skills to decipher.

The latest thriller from #1 New York Times bestseller Jonathan Kellerman, is a tale of psychological complexity, dark suspense, and shocking surprises. A wild ride through L.A.’s surreal underbelly climaxed by an edge-of-the chair conclusion.

My Review:

It’s been a couple years since my last Alex Delaware book, The Ghost Orchid, as my last two reads by this author have included his son Jesse as co-author in the Clay Edison series. I was a little disappointed in the last Clay Edison, A Measure of Darkness, while I loved my last Alex Delaware book.

The Alex Delaware series always has three main characters: Alex, Milo, and the City of Los Angeles. Goodness, if anyone can make LA sound exciting, adventurous, and exotic, Kellerman can. His descriptions of the people and environs are atmospheric and always create a setting full of anticipation.

In this installment, they are involved in the murder and dumping of a young, aspiring actress. But of course that would only be the tip of the iceberg and soon there will be more bodies, both victim and perp.

Alex, as a main character, has been grandfathered in as a “volunteer” in the department (the series is that old), a partner to Milo, an official LA detective.

I don’t know if it was the narrator or the writing, but there has always been the sense that Alex is the intelligent one, though then the question would be how Milo made it this far. But he did seem more a ding-a-ling this time. Still, he is the one with the resources of the department while Alex provides cerebral input. Together, they are effective.

I’m still not sure where it went wrong for me this time. Yes, an audiobook; yes, I’m multi-tasking while listening; yes, there’s been another 90-degree flip in the storyline and now where am I? New characters, new case. Related? I guess so. Somehow, it became a bit of a blur for me, and there were short spaces of time I tuned out. Not good for an audiobook!

So, yeah, a little disappointed in Book 40 but looking forward to Book 41.

I downloaded a copy of this audiobook from my local well-stocked library. These are my honest thoughts.

Rosepoint Publishing: Four Stars

Book Details:

Genre: Police Procedural Mysteries, Crime Thrillers
Publisher: Random House Audio
ASIN: B0D5Z2L5B6
Listening Length: 9 hrs 10 mins
Narrator: John Rubinstein
Publication Date: February 4, 2025
Source: Local Library (Audiobook Selections)

Title Links:

Amazon-US

Amazon-UK

Barnes & Noble

Kobo

The Author: Jonathan Kellerman is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of more than three dozen bestselling crime novels, including the Alex Delaware series, The Butcher’s Theater, Billy Straight, The Conspiracy Club, Twisted, True Detectives, and The Murderer’s Daughter. With his wife, bestselling novelist Faye Kellerman, he co-authored Double Homicide and Capital Crimes. With his son, bestselling novelist Jesse Kellerman, he co-authored The Golem of Hollywood and The Golem of Paris. He is also the author of two children’s books and numerous nonfiction works, including Savage Spawn: Reflections on Violent Children and With Strings Attached: The Art and Beauty of Vintage Guitars. He has won the Goldwyn, Edgar, and Anthony awards and has been nominated for a Shamus Award. Jonathan and Faye Kellerman live in California, New Mexico, and New York.

Graphic - It's so hard to choose!

A Measure of Darkness by Jonathan Kellerman and Jesse Kellerman #AudiobookReview #PoliceProceduralMysteries

Book Blurb:

Former star basketball player Clay Edison is busy. He’s solved a decades-old crime and redeemed an innocent man, earning himself a suspension in the process. Things are getting serious with his girlfriend. Plus his brother’s fresh out of prison, bringing with him a whole new set of complications.

Then the phone rings in the dead of night.

A wild party in a gentrifying East Bay neighborhood. A heated argument that spills into the street. Gunshots. Chaos.

For Clay and his fellow coroners, it’s the start of a long night and the first of many to come. The victims keep piling up. What begins as a community tragedy soon becomes lurid fodder for social media.

Then the smoke clears and the real mystery emerges – one victim’s death doesn’t match the others. Brutalized and abandoned, stripped of ID, and left to die: She is Jane Doe, a human question mark. And it falls to Clay to give her a name and a voice.

Haunted by the cruelty of her death, he embarks upon a journey into the bizarre, entering a hidden world where innocence and perversity meet and mingle. There, his relentless pursuit of the truth opens the gateway to a dark and baffling past – and brings him right into the line of fire.

My Review:

The second in the series with protagonist Clay Edison, a former college basketball glory boy, though that is still well ingrained in his psyche. In this installment, his brother shows up, pretty much the opposite of Clay. A feature of this series, matching his personal life to his professional which makes him a real human, flesh and bone being with all the foibles as well as triumphs.

The line blurs often, however, with his professional life as a county coroner. While his duty is to check a body, possibly determine one of the five causes of death, and notify next of kin, he often steps outside those boundaries. It makes for an interesting story while stretching credulity.

It’s character driven plot has Clay out to identify a victim that makes it a bit difficult. There was a party that got out of hand and ended with more than one death. This one, however, was found just outside the main scene and was atypical of the others—strangled—not shot.

A Measure of Darkness by Jonathan and Jesse Kellerman — A Measure of Darkness – UK cover

In order to notify the next of kin, Clay would first have to sort out who he/she was. The storyline meanders a bit with kicky dialogue between Clay and his sweetie, his co-workers, and his erstwhile brother. I’ve still not warmed up to Amy (his love life), but love Clay’s character. There is a LOT going on, splitting the main plot point, the conclusion drawing most together in explanation.

Interesting, but probably not my favorite of the series and this completes all five. I was just really getting into the series by Book 4, but then the whole scenario changed with Book 5. I last read Half Moon Bay, Book 3, which was good. Crime Scene starts the series, which I also enjoyed and led me to listen to the others.

I like the writing style for the most part. It’s smart, clipped, believable. And, I’m happy to be introduced to the narrator who does an excellent job of making these pages come alive.

I downloaded a copy of this audiobook from my local well-stocked library. These are my honest thoughts.

Rosepoint Publishing: Three point Five Stars

Book Details:

Genre: Police Procedural Mysteries, Crime Thrillers, Contemporary Fantasy
Publisher: Random House Audio
ASIN: B07BB11JLB
Listening Length: 8 hrs 3 mins
Narrator: Dennis Boutsikaris
Publication Date: July 31, 2018
Source: Local Library (Audiobook Selections)
Title Link: A Measure of Darkness – Amazon-US
Amazon-UK
Barnes & Noble
Kobo

The Authors:

Jonathan Kellerman

Jonathan Kellerman is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of more than three dozen bestselling crime novels, including the Alex Delaware series, The Butcher’s Theater, Billy Straight, The Conspiracy Club, Twisted, True Detectives, and The Murderer’s Daughter. With his wife, bestselling novelist Faye Kellerman, he co-authored Double Homicide and Capital Crimes. With his son, bestselling novelist Jesse Kellerman, he co-authored The Golem of Hollywood and The Golem of Paris. He is also the author of two children’s books and numerous nonfiction works, including Savage Spawn: Reflections on Violent Children and With Strings Attached: The Art and Beauty of Vintage Guitars. He has won the Goldwyn, Edgar, and Anthony awards and has been nominated for a Shamus Award. Jonathan and Faye Kellerman live in California, New Mexico, and New York.

Read more at:
http://www.jonathankellerman.com/

Jesse Kellerman

Jesse Kellerman has written dozens of plays and published seven novels, two of them cowritten with his father, Jonathan Kellerman. He has won numerous awards, including the Princess Grace Award for Playwriting (“Things Beyond Our Control”) and the Grand Prix des Lectrices de Elle (“The Genius”/”Les Visages”). His novel “Potboiler” was nominated for the Edgar Award for Best Novel. An essay, “Let My People Go to the Buffet,” was included in Penguin’s Best American Spiritual Writing (2011). His next book, Crime Scene, was also cowritten with Jonathan Kellerman and will be published in fall 2017. He lives in Berkeley, California, with his wife and children.

The Narrator:

Dennis Boutsikaris

Dennis Boutsikaris was born December 21, 1952 in Newark, New Jersey, to a Greek American father and Jewish mother,^[1] and grew up in Berkeley Heights, New Jersey.^[2] He took up acting while a student at Governor Livingston High School, because he felt he was too small to succeed in athletics.^[3] A graduate of Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts, Boutsikaris toured the country with John Houseman’s The Acting Company doing classical theatre. Boutsikaris was married to actress Deborah Hedwall; they divorced in 2002.

He can be heard in over 160 audiobooks and has received eight Audie Awards and two Best Voices of the Year Awards from AudioFile Magazine.^[14] He was voted Best Narrator of the Year by Amazon for The Gene.

Find him at:
http://www.dennisboutsikaris.com *

*Thanks to Wikipedia for this info.

Graphic courtesy Freepik.com

The Grey Wolf: A Novel by Louise Penny #AudiobookReview #InternationalMystery&Crime

Chief Inspector Gamache Novel, Book 19

Book Blurb:

“Brassard’s accents—whether French Canadian, Italian, or continental French—create indelible characters. His performance lets us feel Reine Marie’s warmth and Armand’s affectionate nature, and he adds an additional layer to surly Ruth and her potty-mouthed duck. Exciting and entertaining.”—AudioFile (Earphones Award winner)

The 19th mystery in the #1 New York Times-bestselling Armand Gamache series.

Relentless phone calls interrupt the peace of a warm August morning in Three Pines. Though the tiny Québec village is impossible to find on any map, someone has managed to track down Armand Gamache, head of homicide at the Sûreté, as he sits with his wife in their back garden. Reine-Marie watches with increasing unease as her husband refuses to pick up, though he clearly knows who is on the other end. When he finally answers, his rage shatters the calm of their quiet Sunday morning.

That’s only the first in a sequence of strange events that begin THE GREY WOLF, the nineteenth novel in Louise Penny’s #1 New York Times-bestselling series. A missing coat, an intruder alarm, a note for Gamache reading “this might interest you”, a puzzling scrap of paper with a mysterious list—and then a murder. All propel Chief Inspector Gamache and his team toward a terrible realization. Something much more sinister than any one murder or any one case is fast approaching.

Armand Gamache, Jean-Guy Beauvoir, his son-in-law and second in command, and Inspector Isabelle Lacoste can only trust each other, as old friends begin to act like enemies, and long-time enemies appear to be friends. Determined to track down the threat before it becomes a reality, their pursuit takes them across Québec and across borders. Their hunt grows increasingly desperate, even frantic, as the enormity of the creature they’re chasing becomes clear. If they fail the devastating consequences would reach into the largest of cities and the smallest of villages.

Including Three Pines.

A Macmillan Audio production from Minotaur Books.

My Review:

At installment nineteen, I’ve obviously missed a tremendous upheaval in an earlier successful and beloved series that heavily included the people of Three Pines. Alas, that is no more and what I’ve come into now is a long story that begins simply enough then multiplies and divides into an overly complex and far-fetched scenario.

If a dramatic shift in plot mining is not enough, so apparently is the replacement of a much-loved narrator with another, approved by the author, but sure to add to the upheaval in a series that’s lost steam apparently owing to the loss of the writer’s husband. (Did the man co-write?) It appears evident that the radical shift in the loss of prose, the familiar inhabitants of Three Pines, and the lengthy mind-numbing storylines may have lost a few diehard fans.

I did have the occasion to catch Book 16, All the Devils Are Here and found it as conflicted and confusing as this one. I did enjoy Robert Bathurst as narrator in that episode but thought Brassard delivered a credible reading as well.

The main characters? Gamache becomes a hero of epic proportions, saving Canada—nay—possibly the US as well. Gamache and his cronies become globe-trotting officers to chase down…who? Monks? And then do they find the evidence they need?

While I enjoyed the beauty of the language, the pace was agonizing, lots of new characters, and the laudable effort to save the day pushed disbelief.

The conclusion didn’t pull it together and instead left it open in a cliffhanger. Ugh! I thought I was being heroic finishing the audiobook and now I have to wait for full revelation? My patience gets shorter with each birthday.

I downloaded a copy of this audiobook from my local well-stocked library. These are my honest thoughts.

Rosepoint Publishing: Three Stars

Book Details:

Genre: International Mystery & Crime, Movie, TV & Video Game Tie-In Fiction, Police Procedural Mysteries
Publisher: Macmillan Audio
ASIN: B0CRHYCSQM
Listening Length: 14 hrs 19 mins
Narrator: Jean Brassard
Publication Date: October 29, 2024
Source: Local Library (Audiobook Selections)
Title Links: The Grey Wolf – Amazon-US
Amazon-UK
Barnes & Noble
Kobo

The Author: LOUISE PENNY is the #1 New York Times and Globe and Mail bestselling author of the Chief Inspector Armand Gamache novels. She has won numerous awards, including a CWA Dagger and the Agatha Award (five times) and was a finalist for the Edgar Award for Best Novel. She lives in a small village south of Montréal.

The Narrator: A son of Quebec, Canada, Brassard is an actor, composer, and narrator and can be seen in a number of popular TV show series. He was born on November 6, 1958.

“Great news…

I will have the honor and pleasure to bring Louise Penny’s new Gamache investigation in her famous Three Pines village to her numerous fans’ ears with The Gray Wolf, which will be available October 29.

Pre-order your copy, or rather recording, here now!”

Happy Thursday!

The Wrong Side of Goodbye by Michael Connelly – #AudiobookReview – #ReadingIrelandMonth24

Harry Bosch Book 19

Book Blurb:

Harry Bosch is California’s newest private investigator. He doesn’t advertise, he doesn’t have an office, and he’s picky about who he works for, but it doesn’t matter. His chops from 30 years with the LAPD speak for themselves.

Soon one of Southern California’s biggest moguls comes calling. The reclusive billionaire has less than six months to live and a lifetime of regrets. He hires Bosch to find out whether he has an heir. Using all of his cold-case skills, Bosch pieces together a 65-year-old mystery and finds out that the case is not as simple – or as cold – as he thought.

My Review:

Harry Bosch is working as a volunteer reserve officer (working free) to keep himself in the system somewhere investigating a cold case for the San Fernando PD. He’s also moonlighting as a PI. In that capacity, he was hired by a billionaire to find an heir he may have produced when he was a college student and still very much under the thumb of family. Now he is very ill and believes he doesn’t have much time and, of course, his company would prefer no heirs be found.

The cold case may be just as tough, that of a serial rapist. Fortunately, with his hand still legimately capable of research within the department—some according to the book—some a serious no-no, he has resources and the time he can tap that will get him info not readily available at the time.

Both cases run concurrently and are simultaneously immersive.

I love the way the author manages to bring in a little backstory to explain the history of the persons in the foreground. The support characters are always lively and well developed, but it’s that voice of Bosch that provides that rich storytelling experience we’ve come to expect in a Connelly crime thriller.

This installment also includes Bosch’s half-brother Mickey Haller, the Lincoln Lawyer, a legal thriller spin-off made even more popular as a series on Netflix. It’s fun to dip into the legal side of his case and the necessary police procedures it will take to get the case to court.

I also appreciate his references to the freeway system allowing cross-town travel at snail speeds and the history of the different neighborhoods. It makes the city come alive in the imagination.

The double plot is done very well providing lots of twists and turns and both manage to converge successfully to conclusion.

I always think, “Alright, that has to be his best.” Then I read another and think the same. This one is engaging, provides tension and suspense with both stories having you root for a satisfying outcome. I don’t know how he manages it, but it always does.

Enjoying a couple of his other series as well, also listening to both Renée Ballard and The Lincoln Lawyer.

I downloaded a copy of this audiobook from my local well-stocked library. These are my honest thoughts.

Rosepoint Publishing: Four point Five Stars

Book Details:

Genre: Police Procedural Mysteries, Crime Fiction, Police Procedurals
Publisher: Hachette Audio
ASIN: B01K3EKBXS
Listening Length: 10 hrs 21 mins
Narrator: Titus Welliver
Publication Date: November 1, 2016
Source: Local Library (Audiobook Selections)
Title Link: The Wrong Side of Goodbye [Amazon]

The Author: Michael Connelly is the bestselling author of more than thirty novels and one work of nonfiction. With over eighty million copies of his books sold worldwide and translated into forty-five foreign languages, he is one of the most successful writers working today. A former newspaper reporter who worked the crime beat at the Los Angeles Times and the Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel, Connelly has won numerous awards for his journalism and his fiction. His very first novel, The Black Echo, won the prestigious Mystery Writers of America Edgar Award for Best First Novel in 1992. In 2002, Clint Eastwood directed and starred in the movie adaptation of Connelly’s 1998 novel, Blood Work. In March 2011, the movie adaptation of his #1 bestselling novel, The Lincoln Lawyer, hit theaters worldwide starring Matthew McConaughey as Mickey Haller. His most recent New York Times bestsellers include Desert Star (2022), The Dark Hours (2021), The Law Of Innocence (2020), Fair Warning (2020), and The Night Fire (2019). Michael is the executive producer of Bosch and Bosch: Legacy, Amazon Studios original drama series based on his bestselling character Harry Bosch, starring Titus Welliver and streaming on Amazon Prime/Amazon Freevee. He is the executive producer of The Lincoln Lawyer, streaming on Netflix, starring Manuel Garcia-Rulfo. He is also the executive producer of the documentary films, “Sound Of Redemption: The Frank Morgan Story’ and ‘Tales Of the American.’ He spends his time in California and Florida.

Titus Welliver - actor, narrator — Titus Welliver–Compliments of Wikipedia–thank you!

The Narrator: Titus B. Welliver is an American actor. He is best known for his portrayals of the Man in Black in Lost, Silas Adams in Deadwood, Jimmy O’Phelan in Sons of Anarchy, and the title role in the television series Bosch. Wikipedia Born: March 12, 1962, New Haven, CT.

Cheers

Danger in Numbers by Heather Graham – #Audiobook Review – #TBT

Book Blurb:

On the edge of the Everglades, an eerie crime scene sets off an investigation that sends two agents deep into a world of corrupted faith, greed and deadly secrets.

A ritualistic murder on the side of a remote road brings in the Florida state police. Special Agent Amy Larson has never seen worse, and there are indications that this killing could be just the beginning. The crime draws the attention of the FBI in the form of Special Agent Hunter Forrest, a man with insider knowledge of how violent cults operate, and a man who might never be able to escape his own past.

The rural community is devastated by the death in their midst, but people know more than they are saying. As Amy and Hunter join forces, every lead takes them further into the twisted beliefs of a dangerous group that will stop at nothing to see their will done.

Doomsday preppers and small-town secrets collide in this sultry, twisty pause-resisting thriller.

My Review:

Sometimes an audiobook is better because of the narrator’s talent and sometimes it just makes it a bit tougher to multi-task and follow along when it switches POV or timelines. In the case of this novel, the latter.

Two special agents are thrown together in the investigation of the savage way in which the deaths of two women harken back to the possible comeback of a cult experienced years before. Amy Larson of FDLE is teamed with experienced Hunter Forrest of the FBI to find and hopefully stop the start of the gruesome killing before it really gets a foothold in the Florida Everglades.

Apparently a religious, white supremacist cult, it is led by a charismatic and dynamic individual who holds his followers in a tight-fisted setting. Bids to escape or deny his bidding are dealt with swiftly and deadly.

Of course, there is a growing romantic interest between Amy and Hunter as they gradually gain insight into the members and location; secrets held quietly by the local community. Arguments are made regarding the brain-washing of members and their unwavering allegiance to the leader, as well as references to well-known recent tragic similar factions.

Okay, as this was my third (unintentional) book with the same plot and similar devices, arguments, and characters, my attention waned until I became aware of the switch in POVs and played catch-up a few times. It was a matter of déjà vu and a strong idea where it was going, the romance unnecessary to the familiar plot.

Some graphic descriptions are stomach turning and I couldn’t get engaged with either main character. It is well-plotted and paced, but been there, done that…and was left a little cold.

I downloaded a copy of this audiobook from my local well-stocked library. These are my honest thoughts.

Book Details:

Genre: Romantic Suspense, Police Procedural Mysteries, Suspense
Publisher: Harlequin Audio
ASIN: B08HSQB45S
Listening Length: 8 hrs 37 mins
Narrator: Eva Kaminsky
Publication Date: March 23, 2021
Source: Local Library (Audiobook Selections)
Title Link: Danger in Numbers [Amazon]

Rosepoint Publishing: Three point Five Stars

The Author: New York Times and USA Today bestselling author, Heather Graham, majored in theater arts at the University of South Florida. After a stint of several years in dinner theater, back-up vocals, and bartending, she stayed home after the birth of her third child and began to write. Her first book was with Dell, and since then, she has written over two hundred novels and novellas including category, suspense, historical romance, vampire fiction, time travel, occult and Christmas family fare.

She is pleased to have been published in approximately twenty-five languages. She has written over 200 novels and has 60 million books in print. She has been honored with awards from booksellers and writers’ organizations for excellence in her work, and she is also proud to be a recipient of the Silver Bullet from Thriller Writers and was also awarded the prestigious Thriller Master in 2016. She is also a recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award from RWA. Heather has had books selected for the Doubleday Book Club and the Literary Guild, and has been quoted, interviewed, or featured in such publications as The Nation, Redbook, Mystery Book Club, People and USA Today and appeared on many newscasts including Today, Entertainment Tonight and local television.

Heather loves travel and anything that has to do with the water, and is a certified scuba diver. She also loves ballroom dancing. Each year she hosts the Vampire Ball and Dinner theater at the RT convention raising money for the Pediatric Aids Society and in 2006 she hosted the first Writers for New Orleans Workshop to benefit the stricken Gulf Region. She is also the founder of “The Slush Pile Players,” presenting something that’s “almost like entertainment” for various conferences and benefits. Married since high school graduation and the mother of five, her greatest love in life remains her family, but she also believes her career has been an incredible gift, and she is grateful every day to be doing something that she loves so very much for a living.

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