Review: Go Find Daddy: An Ed Runyon Mystery by Steve Goble

Go Find Daddy by Steve Goble is the third book in the Ed Runyon Mystery Series that began with the July 2021 release, City Problems. It has been more than a year since the events of the last book and private investigator Ed Runyon does not want this new case at all. Yet, Amy Blackmon is begging for help.

Her husband, Donny Blackmon, is on the run with nearly everyone in the area and beyond believing her cop hating husband is a killer. Officer Brandon Gullick was found dead at a barn on their farm. He had been shot twice in the head and executed. Blackmon’s gun was found at the scene and it had his thumbprint on it. The gun was used on the deceased officer and is the murder weapon. Her husband is anti-cop, anti-government, does not believe anything reported in the media, and is very much a proponent of the second amendment. Then there is the social media frenzy about the case and that has brought out the extremes we all see too often these days.

Angie Blackmon goes to church with Tammy Zachman who knows a thing or two trying to get a loved one back home safe. Mr. Runyon found her son, Jimmy, a year plus ago and brought him home safely (Wayward Son). Besides, as Angie explains, she absolutely does not want Mr. Runyon to bring him home.

Instead, she wants Mr. Runyon to find her husband and pass along an important message. Their nine-year-old daughter, Cassie, has subsequently been diagnosed with cancer in the weeks that have past since her dad went on the run. The situation is bad as her only hope, at this point, is some sort of experimental treatment that is hideously expensive. The family cannot afford it. Some friends and the church will help, but things are bad.  Mrs. Blackman wants Mr. Runyon to get a message about Cassie to her off the grid husband so that he can figure out a way of seeing his daughter one more time before the worst thing ever happens.

Obviously, dad needs to know what is happening to his only child. Finding him, before the cops or some vigilante does, is going to be damn near impossible. But, how do you tell a dying child you will not find her daddy?

Before long, he is working the case and trying to find her dad. As he searches and pokes around, it slowly becomes a distinct possibility that while Donny Blackmon pretty much stands in opposition to everything that Ed Runyon has ever believed, he is no killer.

Another highly entertaining read in this Ohio based mystery series, Go Find Daddy by Steve Goble is, at its simplest core, a hunt to find a family member as another family member is most likely not long for this world. That is a tale we have all read many times and some of us have experienced.

But, this book is far more complicated than that as it explores the ramifications of the second amendment as interpreted by some these days, the power of social media, the way society is fractured into many polarizing and often violent groups, and much more. All of the bigger issue stuff does not get lost in the core mystery as author Steve Goble weaves a complex tale. A tale that begins simply enough with asking where is Donny Blackman before asking the deeper question of what really happened at his farm.

While one is always better served by reading a series in order, one could start here with Go Find Daddy. References to previous events are limited, and, for the most part brief, making it possible to read out of order. But, why would you when each book is so very good in its own right.

Regardless of what you choose to do, know that Go Find Daddy by Steve Goble is a good book. Also know that this is a series is one definitely well worth reading. Three books in and there has not been a weak one in the bunch.

 

My reading copy came by way of a NetGalley ARC.

 

Kevin R. Tipple ©2023