A Murder in Passing: A Sam Blackman Mystery by Mark de Castrique

Going on a mushroom hunt can't be dangerous, can it?  It isn't really, but Sam still manages to find a dead body hidden in a fallen tree...

Poisoned Pen Press and Net Galley allowed me to download an ebook of this story and read it for review (thank you).  It has now been published, so check with your local bookstore for a copy.

Blackman & Robertson Detective Agency hasn't been busy so Sam agrees to go on the mushroom hunt.  Finding the dead body is intriguing, but not a case.  At least, not until a middle-aged black woman walks through the door with a case of burglary she wants solved.  The fact that it happened 40 years ago doesn't seem to bother her, but it makes Sam suspicious.  Why bring this up now and can this be related to the death?

This is a convoluted story about two families and their children.  It's also about race, the Jim Crow laws, and people's attitudes towards the blacks and the whites.  This is a tangled web with almost equal love and hate involved.  It's an interesting story with only one flaw in my eyes.  I wanted to know the fate of the wounded soldier who had been shot and he was left in a coma at the end of the book.  I imagine he'll be part of the next book in this series.

This author writes an authentic story that makes you shake your head and ask why as you keep reading.  Because that is how life is, that's why.

Happy reading.

The 13th Target by Mark de Castrique

Rusty Mullins has left intelligence work and now works for a security agency.  He's a bodyguard to a very important man.  He also knows this man would not have committed suicide, no matter how it looked.

Poisoned Pen Press and Net Galley allowed me to read an ebook of this story for review (thank you).  It will be published July 3rd, so you can grab a copy at your local bookstore next week.

Rusty didn't want to do intelligence work anymore.  His wife had died from cancer and his daughter and grandson need him and he needs them.  Security work is safer.  Or at least it was supposed to be.

This story mirrors the economic conditions we have in our country currently.  It references the collapses in Greece and Italy.  The elephant in the room is the Federal Reserve.  Not everyone is happy with the money flow, the issue of transparency, and the idea of full disclosure.  This results in a complex plot with a lot of players.

When Rusty is allowed to pursue the murder, he doesn't realize that is to keep him busy and out of the way of the bigger operation.  He's smart, though, he begins to see things aren't what they seem.

As a reader, I was wary of all the characters, too.  Someone was feeding the other side information.  Someone was making things happen on this side.  And there were lots of choices on who that might be.

I don't usually enjoy this type of story but this one drew me in.  I found myself rooting for Rusty and worrying about how many more would die before the story ended.  Rusty didn't disappoint me.  I'm sure he won't disappoint you either.

Happy reading.