The Leipfold Files by Dane Cobain – book review and giveaway

Disclosure.  This post is a review of an ebook I was sent for free.  All opinions are my own.

I have received a free e-copy of the book The Leipfold Files by Dane Cobain to review. You may find out more about the author on his website.

Here is the book blurb.

Join a young James Leipfold as he discovers his knack for uncovering the truth and takes the early steps towards forming his detective agency, Leipfold Investigations…

Leipfold’s journey will take him from the deserts of Kuwait to the inside of Reading Jail and have him investigating everything from missing gnomes to drunken Santas and crooked optometrists. Along the way, he befriends a rookie cop named Jack Cholmondeley, helps a widowed army wife find closure, and falls in love with a motorbike he calls Camilla.

This collection brings together 24 James Leipfold short stories, including three shorts that take place between Driven and The Tower Hill Terror. It’s a must for all fans of the Leipfold series and any serious reader of quirky detective novels and cozy mysteries.

This is the third book in the Leipfold Mysteries series but unlike the previous two titles, this time it is a collection of short stories. You don’t need to have read the earlier books, but for me, I found it particularly good how it helps put additional context round the main characters who I already know and love.

The tales are sequential and we start way back, long before James Leipfold became a private investigator, when he was aged 14 and this is when he first meets Jack Cholmondeley, a young police constable well before he advanced up the ranks to inspector. Cholmondeley is already trying in vain to encourage Leipfold to a career in the police, something that had been touched upon in the earlier books.

The second story is from his time in the army, when he served in Kuwait and again it helps give depth to his character. The short stories also cleverly inter-relate as the third one pulls on minor characters from both the first two tales and this is the start of a pattern as the same thing happens again on plenty of further occasions too.

Several of the stories are set during a spell he spent in prison. Another continuing theme of some tales help to flesh out the aspects of his back-story which lead to him giving up alcohol. And of course we get to the point of when he set up as a private investigator. Plus how he got his motor-bike Camilla.

The last three stories take place between the first and second titles in the series, Driven and The Tower Hill Terror.

The Leipfold Files is available on Amazon in paperback, hardback and kindle formats. A great book, particularly to develop the back story between Leipfold and Cholmondeley.

And I’m hosting a rafflecopter competition to giveaway a paperback copy of The Leipfold Files to one lucky winner.

a Rafflecopter giveaway – Please click on the link to enter.

I’d love to hear about your favourite read.

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The Tower Hill Terror by Dane Cobain – book review and giveaway

Disclosure.  This post is a review of an ebook I was sent for free.  All opinions are my own.

I have received a free e-copy of the book The Tower Hill Terror by Dane Cobain to review. You may find out more about the author on his website.

Here is the book blurb.

Unorthodox PI James Leipfold and his technophile assistant Maile O’Hara are back with a brand new case…
The Tower Hill Terror is on the loose, a serial killer with a grisly M.O., and Maile and Leipfold must work fast to take him down before another body is found. But while the duo are chasing clues on social networking sites and the police are waiting for forensics, the Terror sends a message to the journalists at the Tribune. A message written in blood.
Can Leipfold, Maile and Cholmondeley catch the killer before it’s too late? Or will the Tower Hill Terror claim one final, familiar victim?

This is the second book in the Leipfold Mysteries series and I was looking forward to reading it, having eventually got hooked into book one Driven. You may see my review of that title here.

The story begins with Private Investigator James Leipfold and assistant Maile O’Hara following up on a suspect Jayne Lipton from the previous book, but too late, she has been mutilated and killed.

James has already taken on some new cases, but he soon gets embroiled into investigating Jayne’s death following a request from his old friend Detective Inspector Jack Cholmondeley.

The police get sent an anonymous grisly package. And then Maile discovers another similar killing via social media, Abu Adewali, before the police are even aware. Is there a link between the two murders? Is it a serial killer? Another grisly parcel, this time to the press, with a message hinting at yet another victim. How many more? Suspects! Alibis! Missing Persons! Links in the Chain!

James’s old school methods along with Maile’s technical wizardry make for a great combination. Plus the comparison between their techniques and those of the police.

However I did feel it was a bit of a loose end to have a suspect from the previous book murdered by an unrelated killer. That just seemed to muddy the water in wondering if the two cases were linked.

The Tower Hill Terror is available on Amazon in paperback and kindle formats. A great twist on the murder mystery genre.

And I’m hosting a rafflecopter competition to giveaway a paperback copy of The Tower Hill Terror to one lucky winner. Open worldwide.

a Rafflecopter giveaway – Please click on the link to enter.

I’d love to hear about your favourite read.

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Driven by Dane Cobain – book review and giveaway

Disclosure.  This post is a review of an ebook I was sent for free.  All opinions are my own.

I have received a free e-copy of the book Driven by Dane Cobain to review. You may find out more about the author on his website.

Here is the book blurb.

Meet private detective James Leipfold, computer whizzkid Maile O’Hara and good-natured cop Jack Cholmondeley in the first book of the Leipfold series. A car strikes in the middle of the night and a young actress lies dead in the road. The police force thinks it’s an accident, but Maile and Leipfold aren’t so sure. Putting their differences aside, and brought together by a shared love of crosswords and busting bad guys, Maile and Leipfold investigate. But not all is as it seems, as they soon find out to their peril…

The story starts by introducing us to Donna Thompson but by the end of chapter 1, she is dead, killed in a hit and run. Then chapter 2 feels slow with random snapshots as we meet private investigator James Leipfold, play director Tom Townsend and computer whizz Maile O’Hara. Chapter 3 was equally slow, this time meeting Detective Inspector Jack Cholmondeley, Sergeant Gary Mogford, Constable Groves and informing Donna’s next of kin, her mother Eleanor, who hasn’t seen Donna in years.

Then with the highlight of chapter 4 initially seeming to be skint Leipfold advertising for an intern and reading the newspaper, which mentions the hit and run, I was about ready to give up on this book. It was just way too slow, however I persevered. Leipfold decides to visit the scene where he bumps into Cholmondely who he knows from way back. From his investigative methods, I started to get the feeling that Leipfold may be the one who can find the mystery driver rather than the police, as he quickly finds a house nearby with CCTV. And by the end of the chapter, we have linked in another of the main characters, Maile is waiting outside Leipfold’s office. She wants to be his intern.

As things start to hot up, I’m glad I kept going with this book, but I would suggest to the author that he needs to hook the reader in sooner. The CCTV appears to indicate that the car has no driver. How can this be? Is the driver hiding out of view? Is the vehicle being controlled remotely? Could it be pre-meditated murder rather than an accidental hit and run?

So in true whodunnit style, potential suspects start to stack up for the crime. And so do alibis.

I loved the way Leipfold shares little clues to the police, then relying on them to do the necessary graft.

Driven is available on Amazon in paperback, audiobook and kindle formats. A modern detective mystery to get you thinking whodunnit. It is the first book in a series, so I’m looking forward to reading more and hoping that now we have been introduced to the sleuths, that the next title will unfold faster.

And I’m hosting a rafflecopter competition to giveaway a paperback copy of Driven to one lucky winner.

a Rafflecopter giveaway – Please click on the link to enter.

I’d love to hear about your favourite read.

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Past Deeds by Carolyn Arnold – book review

Disclosure.  This post is a review of an e-book I was sent for free.  All opinions are my own.

I have received a free e-copy of the book Past Deeds by bestselling author Carolyn Arnold to review. I’ve now read a number of Carolyn’s books, so I was very much looking forward to reading this one, particularly as it stars FBI Agent Brandon Fisher just like the first of her books I read. To find out more about the author you may visit her website.

Here is the book blurb.

The sun was just coming up, and the sniper’s hands were sweaty as she looked through the rifle’s scope to the streets eight stories below and point eight miles away. In mere minutes, the target would be dead.

A prosecuting attorney is murdered in a sniping that takes place in Arlington, Virginia, less than fifteen minutes from Washington. FBI Agent Brandon Fisher and his team with the Behavioral Analysis Unit are called in to investigate the threat level and to determine if the lawyer was targeted. The FBI hadn’t anticipated previous victims stretching from coast to coast.

The team splits up across the country, but more than jet lag is getting to Brandon. As their profile on the shooter takes shape, their one theory on motive strikes too close to home and has him battling with regret over a past decision. He comes to discover some choices not only haunt us but can have long- and far-reaching repercussions we couldn’t even begin to imagine. Will Brandon be able to set aside his personal issues for long enough to stop a serial killing spree before there’s another victim?

Past Deeds is a gripping psychological crime thriller that will have you flipping the pages as you try to put the clues together faster than the FBI. To stand a chance, you’ll need to unravel the psyche of a killer. This mystery will also make you think and reflect—and you just might wonder if any past decisions you’ve made are stalking you, ready to strike.

Become addicted to an international bestselling series that will take you into the minds of the most heinous and disturbing serial killers the world could ever imagine.

This is book 8 in the series featuring FBI agent Brandon Fisher, but works fine as a stand alone read. The dynamics of the team have changed as Zach left at the end of book 7, replaced by Kelly. And now Jack is mentoring Kelly, so Brandon has been reassigned to partner with Paige. This is somewhat awkward as they have history. However I haven’t read whichever book they had a relationship in, and didn’t find this detracted from the overall read.

The story starts in Arlington, Virginia with a skilled sniper killing her target, a lawyer, Darrell Reid across town from 8 miles away. What an opening to lure you in. I can’t even begin to imagine a shooting like that. Chapter 2 moves forward just over an hour to the start of the FBI investigation, as we follow the ideas of different team members in turn, with intermittent chapters focussing on the sniper, so the reader always knows a bit more than the FBI, although of course not the whole picture.

About a quarter of the way into the book, the investigation widens across the country once similarities are matched to earlier victims. We have a serial killer, across a chain of different towns. Will they find the killer before there is a other victim? How come the earlier killings weren’t linked up before?

This book had me on the edge of my seat, turning the pages, as they follow the trail of breadcrumbs.

But one small point. I did grumble about this in book 7, but the author is still using acronyms like BAU – Behavioural Analysis Unit. But maybe these are more widely known in the US than over here.

Past Deeds published today, is available on Amazon, currently priced at £13.99 in paperback or £5.55 in Kindle format. Once again, Carolyn keeps us on the edge of our seat with this gripping story. A real page turner.

Here are the links to my reviews of other books by Carolyn Arnold.
Remnants
Power Struggle
The Secret of the Lost Pharaoh
On the Count of Three
Shades of Justice
Exercise is Murder

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Miscreants, Murderers, & Thieves by Samuel W Reed

Disclosure.  This post is a review of an e-book I was sent for free.  All opinions are my own.

I have received a free e-copy of the book Miscreants, Murderers, & Thieves edited by Samuel W Reed to review. You may find out more about Samuel on his website.

Here is the book blurb.

Take a tour through the minds of thirteen of today’s most talented independent authors in a crime anthology like no other. Miscreants, Murderers, and Thieves hosts a cross-section of indie writers from all across America in a unique compilation of diverse stories set to take you on a journey beyond your wildest imagination. From aging detectives trapped in a magic house of hell, to a doctor with a fascination for the macabre, to New Century City, where superheroes and super villains battle it out for supremacy, this is a genre-bending short story collection guaranteed to thrill you in ways you never thought possible.

This is a book of 13 short stories all by different independent authors, including one written by Samuel W Reed, the editor who has put together this collection. The common theme linking all the stories is devious behaviour, although not necessarily criminal in all cases.

Biographies and links have been included for each author at the end of their story so that the reader can easily look up their other work if they so desire.

I have to say that not all of them were to my taste, but that can often be the case with an anthology. But there certainly should be plenty to suit most readers. Luckily the first story “The Temperature at which Love Freezes” hit the spot for me, so that got me hooked ready to read the rest. And even with those that I was not so keen on, as they were short, I did read them in their entirety.

Miscreants, Murderers, & Thieves is newly published today and is available to download in Kindle format for FREE for a limited time only on Amazon and is also available in paperback. An interesting collection of short stories. Also I understand that this is the first book in a longer series.

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About the author / editor

Samuel W Reed is a screenwriter, film director, producer, and novelist, best known for his work on the decade-long production of the groundbreaking disability-rights documentary CinemAbility: The Art of Inclusion (Jamie Foxx, Marlee Matlin, Ben Affleck). He also wrote narration for the SXSW Audience Award winning film Take Me To The River (Terrance Howard, Snoop Dogg) and has ghostwritten projects distributed by Sony Pictures Entertainment. His first novel, The Fabulist, was released in 2017, and the follow-up, Foolhardy, is slated for late-summer 2020.

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The Me Too Girl by Lance & James Morcan plus giveaway

Disclosure.  This post is a review of an e-book I was sent for free.  All opinions are my own.

I have received a free e-copy of the book The Me Too Girl by Lance & James Morcan to review. You may find out more about the authors on their website.

Here is the book blurb.

Young Los Angeles public relations exec Suzie Fox is being blackmailed for sex by a bad cop, a senior officer of the LAPD no less. Suzie fights back the only way she knows how, and, in the process, unwittingly becomes a beacon, a shining light, for America’s Me Too movement and for abused women everywhere. But will justice be served?

The story starts by introducing Suzie who has recently turned her life around, reflecting back over the past week from hell. We then flashback over the course of that week to discover that a face from her past has caught up with. This is Heck Williams, Deputy Chief of Police in LA, but he was and still is a bad cop.

In the past, he had sexually abused Suzie and now having found where she lives, he is trying to blackmail her for sex again. He threatens to pull her in for heroin possession, using a packet of heroin from his own pocket and to tell lies to her employer, accusing her of being a hooker and a junkie.

When a junior officer appears with a message for Heck, she uses the interruption to negotiate a week’s grace to give him an answer. But what can she do in a week to avoid her world being turned upside down?

This clever short story then follows the course of that week and beyond.

The Me Too Girl is available on Amazon. Another nice short story from father and son duo, and certainly a switch from their previous book The Heathrow Affair. Very versatile authors as quite a different genre to their brilliant full-length Silent Fear novel that I absolutely loved, plus they also write non-fiction.

And I’m hosting a rafflecopter competition to giveaway a kindle copy of The Me Too Girl to one lucky winner. Open worldwide.
Plus you don’t even need to own a kindle to read this, as you can download the kindle app free to your phone or tablet.

a Rafflecopter giveaway – Please click on the link to enter.

And you may see my other giveaways here.

I’d love to hear about your favourite book.

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The Side Job by Don Lubov

I have received a free e-copy of the book The Side Job by Don Lubov to review. To find out more about the author you may visit his website.

Here is the book blurb.

This is the story of Maggie Gomez — an unwed, unskilled mother of a sickly daughter. She lives a hardscrabble life on the underside of Las Vegas. As her daughter’s health deteriorates, Maggie’s need for money for an operation skyrockets. Maggie was vulnerable and defeated early in life. Her long-suppressed strength blossoms and Maggie becomes “La Femme Nikita”. As Maggie gets more involved with her loan shark boss and his crew, her world begins to spiral out of control. Her simultaneous involvement with a gangster and the detective investigating him turns her life into a soap opera of emotions. She must figure out how to escape her underworld life, protect her daughter, and live happily ever after.

This book is set in Las Vegas. It starts with Maggie and Ben going to their high school prom together. But Maggie gets pregnant whilst Ben hightails it out of town. With baby April, she struggles to make ends meet on a succession of minimum wage jobs. Nothing seems to go right in her life and she needs over $12,000 in order for April to have an operation for her worsening asthma.

In desperation she takes on a side job as a hit-woman to earn $15,000 for killing someone. Easy money. More hit jobs follow. But as life starts to improves for her and April, things get more complicated.

The plot line of this book was great, but sadly the way it was written, just didn’t flesh out the characters and left me feeling let down.

The Side Job by Don Lubov is available on Amazon, currently priced at 99p in Kindle format and is also available in paperback. An ok short read.

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Disclosure.  This post is a review of an e-book I was sent for free.  All opinions are my own.

Dark Inheritance by P B Lawson – book review and giveaway

I have received a free e-copy of the book Dark Inheritance by P B Lawson to review. You may find out more about the author on his website.

Here is the book blurb.

A serial killer is on the loose and a prominent doctor discovers she is not the person she grew up believing herself to be. These seemingly unrelated characters find themselves drawn together by an ancient lineage.

Detective Doug McKenna is baffled by a series of bizarre killings that have shocked the city of Toronto. All the victims have had their throats brutally slashed, yet there is little blood at any of the crime scenes.

Dark Inheritance questions the concept of good and evil and looks at how an ancient predisposition for evil might be genetically passed from generation to generation.

This story, mainly set in Toronto starts with a few short chapters introducing the mysterious killer and detective Doug McKenna. The killer has murdered a prostitute on a path between 2 houses in a residential area. We are then introduced to journalist Jodie Sommers, who is after a scoop, and the residents, who are now suspects.

We then seem to go off at a tangent, as we meet Doctor Stephanie Salkind who has just discovered via paperwork in an old suitcase that she is adopted. From this point onwards, I realised there were several stories entwining with more main characters yet to be introduced. Plus it includes narrative from the fourteenth century, which blends in surprisingly well.

Lots more twists and turns to come in this tale including further deaths.

Dark Inheritance is available on Amazon, currently priced at £7.93 in paperback and is also available in Kindle format. A gripping thrilling plot.

Plus I’m hosting a rafflecopter competition to giveaway a paperback copy of this book to 1 lucky winner.

a Rafflecopter giveaway – Please click on the link to enter

And you may see my other giveaways here.

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Disclosure.  This post is a review of an e-book I was sent for free.  All opinions are my own.

Quick Fix by J. Gregory Smith

I have received a free e-copy of the book Quick Fix by J. Gregory Smith to review. You may find out more about the author on his Amazon page.

Here is the book blurb.

Military contractor Kyle Logan’s luck has gone from bad to worse ever since he returned home to Philadelphia following an injury by an IED in Iraq. First, his marriage crumbles, then his career after he’s pushed to the brink and assaults his wife’s lover, who is also her divorce attorney. When Kyle’s shady best friend turns up and offers him a “once in a lifetime” chance to regain his job and his life, all for just a couple night’s work, Kyle figures he’s got nothing to lose. The police, Philly Irish Mob and a couple of drug cartels all think otherwise. Now forced to fight for his life, and those around him, Kyle must turn to allies from his old neighborhood in a desperate effort to stay alive and out of prison. Quick Fix is one man’s fall into a world of unintended consequences that seeks to tread the razor-thin lines between right and wrong, loyalty and treachery.

This story starts in Fishtown, Philadelphia with Kyle being served his divorce papers in the bar. He sees red and punches Fenster, his ex-wife Beth’s lawyer boyfriend, but with an assault charge against him, he then loses his job too.

A week later, Kyle’s shifty best friend Ryan turns up with a proposal to rob three statues from a police station and replace them with fakes. Ryan wants Kyle to be the driver for a $50k cut plus the promise of pulling strings to get the assault charge dropped. Then part two of the plan will be to sell the statues for a cool $2m.

What could go wrong? Plenty! And lots more characters still to be introduced.

However I do find jargon somewhat off-putting. What with IED in the blurb and then KOed and POed in chapter 1, I was in two minds whether I wished to carry on reading. But certainly glad I did.

Quick Fix is available on Amazon, currently priced at £10.57 in paperback and is also available in Kindle format. A great crime read.

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Disclosure.  This post is a review of an e-book I was sent for free.  All opinions are my own.

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Taking Care of Business by J. D. De Roeck

I have received a free e-copy of the book Taking Care of Business by J. D. De Roeck to review.

Here is the book blurb.

When Paul Smith travels to the south of France for a sales conference, events conspire to drag him into a world of kidnappings, blackmail and murder. Following a violent incident, Paul instinctively offers refuge to a girl he believes to be a vulnerable lost soul in a desperate situation, only to find that all is not as it appears. Unwittingly, he finds himself caught between competing international crime syndicates as they go to war, and two powerful Russian families as they fight for control of a vast Russian conglomerate. What begins as a routine business trip to Nice, turns into a journey of self-discovery that takes him to some of the most glamorous locations on the Cote d’Azur. Paul is compelled to confront each new escalating threat in turn, while his neatly ordered world spirals relentlessly out of control. As events unfold, he is forced to challenge everything he thought he knew about himself, before finally embracing the danger and brutal violence he encounters along the way. Can Paul get to the truth, and does he have what it takes to keep those he cares about safe, and himself alive?

This book is mainly set in 2014, but it starts 3 years previously in St Petersburg to give some background to the story. The initial chapters swap back and forth between interesting background material and what feels quite dull introducing Paul, an average guy and his associates Gary and Doug who are all attending a sales conference in Nice. As a reader I was left thinking, come on there must be more to this story.

And there is, but it isn’t until chapter 11 that things start to heat up. Paul wakes in the night, hearing someone being attacked in the next hotel room. He rescues a terrified girl Anna, when she is thrown into the corridor naked by a huge brutal man, hiding her in his own room.

Starting with little things like going out to buy Anna something to wear, Paul gradually gets pulled from his everyday sales world, hardly attending any of the conference. Not all is as it seems with Anna and Paul finds himself immersed in a very different violent world of kidnapping.

The story develops into a real page turner, and Paul becomes such a different character as he faces dangerous challenges. Wow what a thrilling read. And how many people can you squeeze into one hotel room, as we get introduced to other good characters in the story. Of course we meet plenty of baddies too.

This book is available on Amazon currently priced at £11.99 in paperback and is also available in Kindle format. It is a long book, but a gripping read once it gets going. Highly recommended. Plus the ending allows for a possible follow-up.

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Disclosure.  This post is a review of an e-book I was sent for free.  All opinions are my own.