FREE Book--- "Hell Up In Houston" by Garnett Elliott

Start your Saturday with Hell Up In Houston by Garnett Elliott. This is the second book of his The Drifter Detective series and a mighty good one. My review is here on a book well worth your time.


Amazon Synopsis:

"Houston has been called "a sprawling city of astronauts and cowboys, in the middle of a swamp." And now Jack Laramie, rural-wandering PI, is headed up that way after his faithless Desoto blows its radiator. Jack's got a bit of a past with the city, in the form of a Cajun PI named Lameaux--a guy who mixes his "investigations" with organized vice. So Jack decides to lay low, holing up in a swanky downtown hotel called the Fulton. It's a splurge after sleeping in an old horse trailer night after night, but Jack figures he deserves a break. Until the Fulton's grizzled house detective shows up with a proposition ...

Jack's way out of his league this time around, and when he discovers a blackmailing scheme involving a famous industrialist, he finds himself bumping gun-barrels with the Federal Government. Survival's going to require throwing the PI code out the window. And some quick thinking.

Join Cash Laramie's hardluck grandson in this second installment of The Drifter Detective series, "Hell Up in Houston." At around 15K words, it won't take too long--just remember to bring your Colt."

Review: "The Girls of Bunker Pines: The Drifter Detective Series" by Garnett Elliott

It began with The Drifter Detective and continued on with Hell Up In Houston and now traveling private investigator Jack Laramie is back in The Girls of Bunker Pines. It is 1956 in Kilgore, Texas as a hail storm pulls Jack Laramie from an intense dream of his B-17 being shot down over Germany during the war. While he is back home and has pretty much adjusted to civilian life by wandering across Texas in his Desoto hitched to a horse trailer while working as a private investigator, the nightmares of war persist from time to time. His normal solution of downing a couple of shots won’t work this night as he is on a surveillance job outside a traveling church revival led by pastor Dalton Byrnes.

He may have fallen asleep, but it is clear that nothing much is going on.  The pastor may be a lot of things, but he isn’t having sex with his client’s wife. Though she does seem very interested even if the attention is not reciprocated. While one case seems to be drawing to a close, Jack’s being there has led him to meeting Joe Crewes. One look at Joe and Jack knows he sees a fellow veteran with his own demons.  Joe Crewes served in Korea and has a very complicated case for Jack Laramie if he is interested.

What follows is a complicated tale set in 1956 interspersed with Jack’s memories of flying in a B-17, being shot down over Germany, and the aftermath. Those flashback sections are intense and are skillfully woven into the main storyline of a client who may or may not be helped by Jack. The Girls of Bunker Pines: The Drifter Detective Series is another solidly good read that works on all levels all the way to the end. While it would obviously be best to read the series in order, one could read this as a standalone before going back and picking up the other installments of so desired. Author Garnett Elliott puts you in the moment with Jack and does not let go till the very end.

The Girls of Bunker Pines: The Drifter Detective Series

Garnett Elliott

Beat To A Pulp

http://www.beattoapulp.com/

ISBN#  978-0991203949

February 2014

E-Book (also available in print)

104 pages

$1.19

Material supplied by the publisher in exchange for my objective review.

Kevin R. Tipple ©2014

Rough Edges: The Girls of Bunker Pines - Garnett Elliott

 Read this last week while at the hospital with Sandi and have not yet written my review. Suffice it to say for now that it is a good one. So is the review....

Rough Edges: The Girls of Bunker Pines - Garnett Elliott: THE GIRLS OF BUNKER PINES is the third adventure of Jack Laramie, the Drifter Detective, in what has become one of my favorite current pr...

Review: "Hell Up In Houston: A Jack Laramie Beat" by Garnett Elliott

Private Detective, Jack Laramie, is back in another gritty fast moving tale that is also very good. First seen in The Drifter Detective Jack makes his money by drifting from city to city across Texas doing work as a private detective while living out of the horse trailer he tows with his Desoto. Having wrapped up the current case after discovering the real truth of the matter the grandson of legendary US Marshal Cash Laramie is headed to Galveston to deal with a client as Hell Up in Houston opens. That mission is temporarily stopped thanks to mechanical problems with the old Desoto requiring him to stay for at least a few nights at “The Fulton” in Houston.

Jack had no desire to be back in Houston as the last time he was in Houston things did not go well. He also didn’t want to stay at “The Fulton” either. However, it is clear the Desoto is going to be at the garage awhile, the horse trailer is miles back on the side of the road awaiting its own tow truck pickup, and he really has no choice. “The Fulton” has a bit of a less than stellar reputation as well, but Jack doesn't care as the place has air conditioning. In 1946 Houston, Texas as now air conditioning is all that truly matters.

He also soon learns the place also has a house detective by the name of Frank Grogan. Frank wants him to do some work for him and will pay him a decent amount of money for a few days of work. Considering the repair bill for the Desoto, Jack doesn't really have a choice. Besides, Frank said the work should be easy. If Jack keeps his head down and goes about his business quietly with no one wiser that he is in town everything should be easy.

Frank lied.

This latest installment in the series is another good one. Reminiscent of the hard boiled pulp of yesteryear, Jack Laramie is a man's man who gets his hands and boots dirty which fighting the good fight. As in the preceding book, the read here has plenty of action, deceitful characters, and a twisting storyline to keep readers very entertained. You certainly don't have to read the very good The Drifter Detective before reading Hell Up in Houston but, I recommend doing so. You won’t regret it.

Hell Up In Houston: A Jack Laramie Beat

Garnett Elliott

Beat To A Pulp

http://www.beattoapulp.com

September 2013

ASIN: B00F565UP4

Kindle E-Book

Approximately 57 Pages (includes author bio and ads for other books)

$1.09

Material supplied by David Cranmer in exchange for my objective review.

If you have not read my review of The Drifter Detective you can read it here.

Kevin R Tipple ©2013

Barry's Reviews: "The Drifter Detective" (2013) by Garnett Elliott

Awhile back I read this book and really enjoyed it. After I posted my review, I asked publisher David Cranmer if I could forward my copy on to Barry  so that he could read and review it if he so desired. David graciously said yes and that led to the review below.....

"The Drifter Detective" (2013) by Garnett Elliott

Reviewed by Barry Ergang

In Texas just after World War II, investigative jobs in cities like Dallas and Houston are hard to come by for one-man operations because big firms like the Pinkertons and others tend to get them, so ex-G.I.-turned-P.I. Jack Laramie tools around rural areas in search of business, hoping to eventually amass enough money to open an office in San Antonio or Austin. Towing a horse trailer, which he sleeps in, behind his DeSoto coupe, he's on his way to Abilene where there is a "hint of a job" when the car begins to act up. He manages to get it to the small town of Clyde and to a service garage. The proprietor assures him that because it's late afternoon, the car's problem won't be diagnosed until the next day at the earliest.

The man gives Laramie directions to the local saloon, and tells him the widow Talbot runs a boarding house where he might get a room for the night. (Laramie figures it wouldn't be a good idea to sneak back to the garage to sleep in the horse trailer.) Soon after he meets Sheriff Gideon Hawes, who says he can throw some work Laramie's way. The job, he learns the next morning, entails keeping an eye on the estate of a prominent local citizen, Thomas McFaull, who might be engaged in some illicit activities. Laramie agrees to do it, and quickly finds himself entangled with McFaull's promiscuous wife, a surly sheriff's deputy, a railroad worker, and the flirtatious widow Talbot. It isn't long before matters turn dangerous, and Laramie finds himself wondering if things are really as they seem and whether he'll survive so he can get back on the road to Abilene again. 

A neatly-paced, action-packed long short story, "The Drifter Detective" is written in a colorful but not overwrought style and populated with characters the author imparts life to. For fans of hardboiled fiction with pulpy flavor and texture, this one is well worth Amazon's 99¢ asking price.

*****

Barry Ergang ©2013

Derringer Award-winning author Barry Ergang's fiction, poetry and non-fiction have appeared in numerous publications, print and electronic--see http://www.writetrack.yolasite.com/. He has been selling some of the many books he's accumulated over many years, and will contribute 20% of the price of the books to our fund--see http://www.barryergangbooksforsale.yolasite.com/. You can find some of his work in e-book editions at Amazon and Smashwords.

Review: "The Drifter Detective: A Jack Laramie Beat" by Garnett Elliot

The Drifter Detective: A Jack Laramie Beat by Garnett Elliott is the latest release from Beat To A Pulp and is a very good one. The striking and well done cover only hints at the powerful tale inside as the read takes readers to West Texas and the world of private investigator Jack Laramie. After a clash with a local ranch hand as he closes a case, Jack is happy to get back in his Desoto and head out of Cross Plains, Texas. He doesn’t make it very far down the road before mechanical issues cause him to have to find a garage. His quest for a place to drink and a bed for the night in Clyde, Texas will create new problems in unexpected ways.

Grandson of the legendary US Marshall, Cash Laramie, Jack is a tough WWII vet who has seen the worst the world has to offer. These days he lives out of an empty horse trailer attached to his old Desoto and does the best he can to survive. This novelette of approximately 9k words is a hard hitting read that is excellent and very much well worth your time.

The Drifter Detective: A Jack Laramie Beat

Garnett Elliot

Beat To A Pulp

http://www.beattoapulp.com

March 2013

ASIN: B00BVRQWMQ

Kindle E-Book

Approximately 37 Pages (includes author bio and ads for other books)

$0.99

Material supplied by David Cranmer in exchange for my objective review.

Kevin R Tipple ©2013