Showing posts with label Patricia Smiley. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Patricia Smiley. Show all posts
Tuesday, April 23, 2019
Bookblog of the Bristol Library: Pacific Homicide by Patricia Smiley
Bookblog of the Bristol Library: Pacific Homicide by Patricia Smiley: Once again, we welcome back Kevin Tipple with a review. Catch up with more reviews, book news, and interesting links at his blog, Kev...
Tuesday, April 02, 2019
Review: The Second Goodbye: A Pacific Homicide Novel by Patricia Smiley
Early May and California is burning in The Second Goodbye: A Pacific
Homicide Novel by Patricia Smiley. Whether the wildfires are why there
have not been any homicides in the last two weeks or something else is at work,
Homicide Detective Davie Richards does not know though the lack of new murder
cases is making her a bit nervous. She still has plenty to do. Her boss, Frank
Giordano, has assigned each of detective two cold cases that have the highest
potential to be solved.
One of her cases is the two year old murder case regarding Javi
Hernandez. The gangbanger was stabbed fifteen times and left to die on a
mattress at his Palms apartment. Since he allegedly sold drugs for the gang,
C-Street, the focus of the prior investigation was the belief that the killing was
in in some way over drug sales. Within days, the main suspect at the time was killed
in a drive by shooting. One thing led to another and the case went cold.
There
isn’t much to work with here at this point and her other cold case has even
less. Because of all that, Giordano gives her a third case that never sat right
with him. Technically it was classified a suicide, but Giordano always had his
suspicions. The death of Sara Montaine, aged 34, is one of those cases that a
detective knows isn’t what it appears and yet has nothing to point to as proof
that it isn’t as it appears. It does not take Detective Richards’ long to
realize that a lot more is going on than simple suicide.
The third book in the series, The Second Goodbye: A Pacific Homicide Novel
is another strong read by Patricia Smiley. The author uses the ever increasing
number of wildfires as well as the constant threat of a new murder case to
drive the clock of solving the cases from the past. Those past cases are
intriguing in their own ways as is Detective Richards tenuous relationship with
Detective Striker. The result is a complex police procedural read full of
nuance and depth that builds steadily along to a satisfying finish.
In short, The Second Goodbye: A Pacific Homicide Novel
is good and well worth your time.
This
is also another book and a series I would not have read if not for Lesa
Holstine. Because of her review
last December of this book, I put all three books on hold and started at the
beginning with Pacific Homicide. While at the review, there is also a link to
an interesting interview Lesa did with the author for the Poisoned Pen blog. Also
well worth your time.
The Second Goodbye: A Pacific Homicide Novel
Patricia Smiley
Midnight Ink
November 2018
ISBN# 978-0-7387-5236-5
Paperback (also available
in eBook format)
$15.99
288 Pages
Material supplied by the good people of Dallas Public Library
System.
Kevin R. Tipple ©2019
Tuesday, March 26, 2019
Review: Outside the Wire: A Pacific Homicide Novel by Patricia Smiley
Pacific
Homicide Detective Davie Richards is battling PTSD and for good reason. That is
not nearly all as she also has a new case in Outside the Wire: A Pacific
Homicide Novel. It is early one very warm morning when she and her
partner, Detective Jason Vaughn, are called out to the second floor of a
parking garage at LAX.
Members
of airport police have already contaminated their crime scene of a car and the
surrounding area. A dead man is lying next to the trunk of an Audi A6. The
deceased appears to be in his early sixties and is very physically fit. No
reason for the man to be dead other than the obvious bullet hole in the right
side of his skull and the accompanying pool of blood. Based on that fact that a
smaller hole is at the back of his head, she believes he was shot from the
front at close range.
He is
also wearing a single dog tag that is wrapped loosely in black electrical tape.
There should have a second tag with the first with both wrapped in tape to mask
the sounds they would make bumping against each other as the wearer moved.
Somebody took one dog tag and that might be the killer. Thanks to information
provided by one of the airport police officers who knows what the left behind
dog tag means, she learns that the deceased person served in the army and that most
likely he served in Vietnam. According to the remaining tag he is Zeke C.
Woodrow.
In all
likelihood, he was forced into retirement some time ago when he turned sixty. Why
he was wearing his old tags now, why he was in the parking garage early that
morning, and who killed him are just three of the many questions Detective
Richard and her partner Detective Jason Vaught have to answer to solve the
case.
A
first case of several because the killer is not done. Not by a long shot. The
killer has an agenda and a target list and Richard and Vaughn have a real mess
on their hands.
Building
off events in Pacific
Homicide, this second novel by Patricia Smiley is an intense page
turning read from start to finish. Some story arcs from the first book continue
here in Outside the Wire: A Pacific Homicide Novel and serve as
background to the rapidly increasing chaos of the new cases. Like the first
book, this one as well is part mystery and part police procedural with plenty
of the personal sprinkled throughout the read. The result is a good book in a
good series and another read well worth your time.
Outside the Wire: A Pacific Homicide Novel
Patricia Smiley
Midnight Ink
November 2017
ISBN# 978-0-7387-5235-8
Paperback (also available
in eBook format)
$15.99
288 Pages
Material supplied by the good people of Dallas Public Library
System.
Kevin R. Tipple ©2019
Tuesday, March 05, 2019
Review: Pacific Homicide: A Mystery by Patricia Smiley
Detective
Davie Richards has a nasty case to deal with as Pacific Homicide: A Mystery
by Patricia Smiley begins. A women’s body has caused a shutdown at the Hyperion
Sewage Treatment Plant. Naked and with no jewelry, Detective Davie Richards and
her partner, Jason Vaughn, have to figure out who she was and how she got into
the Los Angles sewer system to be caught in the workings of a rotating grinder.
She could have gone into the system almost anywhere in the vast service area.
With no clothing or any distinguishing features, other than the spider web
tattoo on one arm which might mean something or it could be nothing, it seems
almost impossible to identify her.
After
some work, Detective Davie Richards learns that the woman’s name is Anya Nosova.
She’s from Ukraine and her short life has ended before she will see twenty or
go home again. What happened to her and why is just part of what Detective
Richards needs to figure out. That is assuming
she is going to be allowed to continue to work on the more and more complicated
case. Her ability to do her job, let alone be free and not locked up in prison,
depends on if the ongoing use of force investigation into her recent shooting
situation ever ends. Not only does Detective Richards know that everything she
has done from the night of the shooting to now is again being scrutinized, her
actions on this murder investigation which is her first as lead detective, mean
the brass and others are watching more than ever.
Pacific
Homicide: A Mystery is a fast paced read that is part mystery and part police
procedural. Readers follow the point of view of Detective Richards and numerous
others as things in the two cases escalate. Of course, crime does not happen in
a vacuum so there are other police situations that interplay with the two
primary storylines as does the personal. Some of that is a bit clichéd, though
it does work well and fits into the overall tale seamlessly. Quite a bit is
going on in Pacific Homicide: A Mystery” by Patricia Smiley and it is a
very good ride.
Pacific Homicide: A Mystery
Patricia Smiley
Midnight Ink
November 2016
ISBN# 978-0-7387-5021-7
Paperback (also available in
eBook format)
$15.99
312 Pages
Material supplied by the good people of Dallas Public Library
System.
Kevin R. Tipple ©2019
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