This book will be available at Taste of the Arts in Visalia on Oct. 14, 2017
Thursday, September 28, 2017
Murder in Visalia
One October morning in 1979, a stamp and coin dealer
was gunned down in his Visalia shop. There were no witnesses. Persistent police
efforts connected it to another death two months earlier when the body of a
Fresno coin dealer was found locked in the trunk of his car. This true crime
story, recounted by Ronn M. Couillard, Assistant District Attorney at the time,
and now, retired judge, lays out the twists and turns of the investigation, the
court proceedings, and a conclusion that almost didn’t happen.
This book will be available at Taste of the Arts in Visalia on Oct. 14, 2017
This book will be available at Taste of the Arts in Visalia on Oct. 14, 2017
Tuesday, September 19, 2017
A PI Caper Worth Reading
When Mystery Readers of Visalia picked
the theme of foreign intrigue for the month of September, I went to my book
shelf thinking I must have a book that would fit the category. We could pick a
story that had taken place in a foreign country or written was by an author
from another country. Sure enough, I found Dying
Day by James Mitchell. Written in 1988, it’s one of his older mysteries. This
author wrote some 36 other mystery/suspense novels under several pseudonyms,
including James Munro.
The main character in Dying Day is Ron Hoggart, a London based private investigator who specialized in finding things for people. In this case he was hired to find a lost airplane, one that had been lost 40 years earlier, a daunting task. But with the help of his friend and sidekick, Dave, he digs into finding information about the plane and the former RAF pilots involved.
As he pursues a trail that leads all the way back to World War II and the Berlin Airlift, it’s evident that something very valuable was on the lost plane, and someone is willing to kill to keep Hoggart from finding it. Within a few weeks, the bodies pile up. Each time he interviews someone with information he needs, they end up dead. Before long, he finds himself a target.
At the center of the puzzle is the pilot, Bill Day. The question that surfaces is whether or not this Royal Air Force hero had turned smuggler and thief before landing at the bottom of the ocean off Scotland. Hoggart stalks the ghosts of wartime England from Italy, Scotland and southern France to uncover the reason behind the murders, a fortune in gold.
I enjoyed this book. It’s a fast-paced caper designed to keep the reader turning pages. I liked the puzzle, the action, and the humor. The first-person style was fresh and lively. I’ll put James Mitchell on my list of writers I want to read again.
The main character in Dying Day is Ron Hoggart, a London based private investigator who specialized in finding things for people. In this case he was hired to find a lost airplane, one that had been lost 40 years earlier, a daunting task. But with the help of his friend and sidekick, Dave, he digs into finding information about the plane and the former RAF pilots involved.
As he pursues a trail that leads all the way back to World War II and the Berlin Airlift, it’s evident that something very valuable was on the lost plane, and someone is willing to kill to keep Hoggart from finding it. Within a few weeks, the bodies pile up. Each time he interviews someone with information he needs, they end up dead. Before long, he finds himself a target.
At the center of the puzzle is the pilot, Bill Day. The question that surfaces is whether or not this Royal Air Force hero had turned smuggler and thief before landing at the bottom of the ocean off Scotland. Hoggart stalks the ghosts of wartime England from Italy, Scotland and southern France to uncover the reason behind the murders, a fortune in gold.
I enjoyed this book. It’s a fast-paced caper designed to keep the reader turning pages. I liked the puzzle, the action, and the humor. The first-person style was fresh and lively. I’ll put James Mitchell on my list of writers I want to read again.
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