Lesa's Book Critiques: Kevin’s Corner Annex – Bitter Fall by Bruce Robert Coffin

 Lesa's Book Critiques: Kevin’s Corner Annex – Bitter Fall by Bruce Robert Coffin

Review: Bitter Fall: A Detective Justice Novel by Bruce Robert Coffin

 

Comes out next Tuesday...

It is October as Bitter Fall: A Detective Justice Novel by Bruce Robert Coffin begins. It is just after midnight on a desolate stretch of Maine roadway. Red and blue strobe lights from various emergency vehicles as well as portable floodlights keep the darkness at bay. For Maine State Police Detectives Brock Justice and Chloe Wright, what was already along day is about to get way longer.

 

A woman is dead in the roadway. Nearby, a dark SUV is on its crumpled roof with the front end of the vehicle smashed up against a huge pine tree. While the scene looks like the typical car versus pedestrian type situation, it isn’t. Homicide Detectives from the Major Crimes Unit North out of the Troop E barracks in Bangor are not called out to investigate fatal motor vehicle accidents.

 

They were told to make the ninety-minute drive, one way, not simply because Summer Randall is dead in the road. There is no doubt that the vehicle hit her. She is dressed in running clothes and may have come off of any number of nearby trails before being struck in the roadway. But the drunk driver, Jonathan Watters, probably did not kill her.

 

What killed her, in all likelihood, was a stab wound into her stomach. Dr. Ginny Waite from the medical examiner’s office believes she was stabbed some time shortly before she was hit by the car. That she was bleeding heavily internally and her body was failing her before she made it out on the roadway to be hit by the impaired driver. The discovery of a blood trail in the nearby woods means the medical examiner was right.

 

Meanwhile, Greenville, Maine, has a population of approximately 1400 people. That means the victim is well known among the locals. So too is her ex-boyfriend. He could be their prime suspect, but at the same time, other people also had reason to kill.

 

What follows is a complicated case full of twists, turns, and dead ends. It isn’t the only case Detective Justice is working either as he is continuing to pursue his suspicions about his exonerated former partner.

 

Building on the events of Crimson Thaw, Bitter Fall powers along at a steady pace that tightly holds the attention of the reader. Character building continues here at a slower pace as the main focus is investigating and solving cases.

 

A main aspect also seems to be aimed squarely at making the reader hungry for massive sized cinnamon buns.

 

A mighty good read in what is a very good series. The third book in the series, Dark Harbor, is currently scheduled to be released in August. One hopes that might be moved to a sooner date.

 

Amazon Associate Purchase Link:  https://amzn.to/4j71YvJ

 

Published by Severn River Publishing, my digital ARC came direct from the author with no expectation of a review.

 

 

Kevin R. Tipple ©2026

Jim Nesbitt Reviews: The Iceman Cometh

 Jim Nesbitt Reviews:  The Iceman Cometh 

Publication Day Review: Crimson Thaw: A Detective Justice Novel by Bruce Robert Coffin

I have long been a fan of police procedurals by Bruce Robert Coffin. His latest, Crimson Thaw: A Detective Justice Novel, takes readers to Maine where Detective Justice is going through some things because he stood up for what was right. 

Maine State Police Detective Brock Justice, and his partner, Evan Mathers, should have waited for backup to take down Terrance “Terry” Kirke. But, backup was delayed so they went in on their own. Things went horribly wrong and both are dealing with the repercussions of that event. 

Detective Brock Justice has transferred to a new station far to the north of where he had been working before now. He’s in Bangor, Maine, newly divorced, and a pariah to most of his fellow state troopers. His new boss, Lieutenant Penelope Cumberland, is less than thrilled to have him in her command and makes that fact clear from their very first meeting.

Warned to toe the line and do things by the book, she sends him out on his first case. He will partner with a detective who has investigator experience, but not working homicides, Chloe Wright. The scene is about an hour away at a body of water known as “Second Pond” located near the town of Blue Hill. 

He arrives in time to see a snowmobile float to the surface with considerable assistance by the dive team. A dive team that includes his new partner, Chloe Wright. It isn’t uncommon to find bodies in or near various vehicles as lakes and ponds thaw in the spring. Usually, liquor is involved, and people got intoxicated and stupid, and died as a result. It can take awhile and consistent warmer weather to recover the bodies. 

This one is very different form the normal death by drunken misadventure as the body is handcuffed to the snowmobile. Along with teaching Chloe various tricks of being a homicide detective as this is her first homicide case, it becomes clear they have a literal cold case on their hands in more ways than one. Not in terms of years, but in terms of the body having been submerged since sometime in the winter as well as the identity of the victim. Their first clue is the fact that the snowmobile is incredibly expensive. 

What follows is a complex police procedural as the author sets the foundation stone for a new series while providing a case full of twists and turns. The tentacles of the past reach deep into the present and weave a complex tapestry of crime and deceit as a back drop to the murder. 

Simply put, Crimson Thaw: A Detective Justice Novel is a mighty good read and very much worth your time. Strongly recommended. 

Amazon Associate Purchase Link: https://amzn.to/4gYywGZ 

My reading copy came from the author with no expectation of a review. 

Kevin R. Tipple ©2025