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If you got the chance to look into your dead husband’s cold case, would you? Would you really want to know who killed him? Why? Detective Rogers does. Detective Rogers, a retired detective from Reno, had joined a group of cold case solving retired detectives. Finally after 22 years, she wants to know who killed her husband and why. As she and the gang of cold case solving detectives begin to unravel his life and his secrets, she finds herself more and more angry that she didn’t know that much about that man she had married and had a child with. As the story goes on, secrets and lies that he had hidden from her and others close to him begin to shape him into an unpleasant way that makes it hard to swallow for Detective Rogers. With all his secrets and lies, it becomes unreal when they realize it wasn’t his body with his wallet attached to it and who all was behind such a crime.
Kill Game: A Cold Poker Gang Mystery by Dean Wesley Smith was a fabulous book. As you follow the retired detectives and try to piece together all the evidence and clues they obtain to solve this case, you can’t help but begin to wonder what the whole story behind the dead ex-husband is. Who was he really and what could cause him to find trouble that would get him killed. In this mystery you get to sink your teeth in such a mystery that you try to figure it out yourself as you read, hoping to beat the detectives to their own results. With the twists and realizations of uncovered secrets and lies, you can’t help to find yourself in the shoes of Detective Rogers as she learns about her dead husband’s life and all this secrets.
Wesley had written the book extremely well with only one minor issue that may go undetected to someone reading it without doing a double take. On page 134 instead of using Detective Julia Rogers name, Detective Lott’s daughter name was used. At first I almost missed it, but as I continued reading the page I realized Annie wasn’t on the phone of even with them at that particular point. This wasn’t a huge flaw, but one I kind of wished was caught before publishing as I had to read the page eight times before realizing it had to be a typo. I totally understand typos happen, but it was just a slight irritation. Wesley was able to write such beautiful if no graphic at time scenes, that it was easy to get lost in the story rather quickly. Adding humor and romance to underlying tones makes it hard not to admire how he could capture the essence some detectives have after many years in service. It was truly amazing to read. I found the mystery truly astounding and enjoyed getting to know the characters and seeing how different eyes can bring knew things to light as well as new questions to be asked.
I really enjoyed how Wesley was able to bring in the interesting things detectives working on cold cases would do or ask and how having links to help gather information and to get to different places can help a cold case make it easier to find clues and solve a case that has little to no information. I have always had an interest in cold cases and found that being walked through how the team of retired detectives solves this case brought so much excitement and interesting things that makes you wonder if you could solve cold cases yourself if you had the money and resources that these detectives have. As you try to figure it out with them you can’t help to make mental notes and develop your own theories and questions that you may wish to have answered or worked through. Wesley easily makes you feel like you could be a detective.
Kill Game: A Cold Poker Gang Mystery is the first book in its series and definitely leaves you craving the next one. With all the aspects in view that makes a mystery good, as well as the depth of the characters, you will find yourself wanting to take notes alongside the detectives. This makes it harder to put the book down while you're craving a new cold case to solve. I absolutely loved this book. I rate it 3 stars out of 4 because of the minor error in the text. Other than that, I definitely recommend this book to anyone who is looking to sink their teeth in a murder mystery that had become a cold case and solved 22 years later.
Kill Game: A Cold Poker Gang Mystery by Dean Wesley Smith was a fabulous book. As you follow the retired detectives and try to piece together all the evidence and clues they obtain to solve this case, you can’t help but begin to wonder what the whole story behind the dead ex-husband is. Who was he really and what could cause him to find trouble that would get him killed. In this mystery you get to sink your teeth in such a mystery that you try to figure it out yourself as you read, hoping to beat the detectives to their own results. With the twists and realizations of uncovered secrets and lies, you can’t help to find yourself in the shoes of Detective Rogers as she learns about her dead husband’s life and all this secrets.
Wesley had written the book extremely well with only one minor issue that may go undetected to someone reading it without doing a double take. On page 134 instead of using Detective Julia Rogers name, Detective Lott’s daughter name was used. At first I almost missed it, but as I continued reading the page I realized Annie wasn’t on the phone of even with them at that particular point. This wasn’t a huge flaw, but one I kind of wished was caught before publishing as I had to read the page eight times before realizing it had to be a typo. I totally understand typos happen, but it was just a slight irritation. Wesley was able to write such beautiful if no graphic at time scenes, that it was easy to get lost in the story rather quickly. Adding humor and romance to underlying tones makes it hard not to admire how he could capture the essence some detectives have after many years in service. It was truly amazing to read. I found the mystery truly astounding and enjoyed getting to know the characters and seeing how different eyes can bring knew things to light as well as new questions to be asked.
I really enjoyed how Wesley was able to bring in the interesting things detectives working on cold cases would do or ask and how having links to help gather information and to get to different places can help a cold case make it easier to find clues and solve a case that has little to no information. I have always had an interest in cold cases and found that being walked through how the team of retired detectives solves this case brought so much excitement and interesting things that makes you wonder if you could solve cold cases yourself if you had the money and resources that these detectives have. As you try to figure it out with them you can’t help to make mental notes and develop your own theories and questions that you may wish to have answered or worked through. Wesley easily makes you feel like you could be a detective.
Kill Game: A Cold Poker Gang Mystery is the first book in its series and definitely leaves you craving the next one. With all the aspects in view that makes a mystery good, as well as the depth of the characters, you will find yourself wanting to take notes alongside the detectives. This makes it harder to put the book down while you're craving a new cold case to solve. I absolutely loved this book. I rate it 3 stars out of 4 because of the minor error in the text. Other than that, I definitely recommend this book to anyone who is looking to sink their teeth in a murder mystery that had become a cold case and solved 22 years later.
Darren (1599 KP) rated Edge of Darkness (2010) in Movies
Jul 25, 2019
Story: Edge of Darkness starts when Craven (Gibson) get to spend his daughter Emma (Novakovic) only for an unknown gunman killing her on his doorstep, Craven being a homicide detective isn’t allowed to investigate the case for legal reasons, so he decides to go against the law in his search for the murderer.
The early signs make it looks like Craven himself was the target, but it soon comes to light that it might be Emma’s work for a government company run by Jack Bennett (Huston) that might have made her the target and the deeper he digs the more he learns about his daughter.
Thoughts on Edge of Darkness
Characters – Craven is a respect homicide detective, everyone in the force knows just how capable of solving a murder he can be, but when his own daughter is murdered, he starts to go against the law to figure out who and why she was murdered. He will not stop at anything to locate the truth and take out the people that murdered his daughter. Jedburgh is an English man that will help Craven fill in the gaps, while trying to keep him away from the answers, he has been hired to make sure the investment stays safe, without building up a body count. Jack Bennett runs the company that Emma works for, he knows how to answer questions to keep the press happy, while keeping the shady operations under wraps. Emma is the daughter that Craven is delighted to spend time with once again, only she gets murdered and it is her life before this meeting that we get to see her in.
Performances – Mel Gibson might well have had his problems in Hollywood, but when it comes to crime thrillers, he is in his element always shining in these roles without ever looking out of place, and demanding the screen whenever he steps on screen. Ray Winstone is great in his role, which only seems to be around for the calmer or criminal sides of the film. Danny Huston is an actor that can play a villain in his sleep and this is no different, he brings the smug figure to life here. Bojana Novakovic is great in her smaller role which doesn’t need to get much more screen time to add to the story.
Story – The story here follows a homicide detective that starts to investigate the murder of his daughter only to find himself in the middle of a much bigger conspiracy that puts his own life in danger. This story starts off looking like it is going to be a revenge like movie because of how the first murder happens only to become a big conspiracy movie that offers up plenty of miss-direction as we lead to the truth. Any story that can keep you guessing and let try to figure out the ending yourself is an entertaining watch, with the outcome not even needing to be spoon fed to us either. This might well be a remake of a television show, but it plays into the modern ideas and works with how the conspiracy could be relevant for today’s climate.
Crime/Mystery – The crime side of the film starts by just looking like a murder, it soon dives into cover ups, conspiracy and secret groups which shows how the government might go about trying to cover up a secret. The mystery in the film comes from just how the conspiracy keeps managing to unfold to expose more truth about what Emma was involved in.
Settings – The film uses the Boston setting to show how many crimes have been committed in this stricter state which does show us just how big of a conspiracy needs covering up.
Scene of the Movie – Riverside meeting.
That Moment That Annoyed Me – It would have been nice to see more of Jedburgh.
Final Thoughts – This is a wonderfully intense crime thriller that does keep you guessing throughout the film, we get strong performance throughout and a story that has been modernized without looking out of place.
Overall: Hugely entertaining crime thriller.
The early signs make it looks like Craven himself was the target, but it soon comes to light that it might be Emma’s work for a government company run by Jack Bennett (Huston) that might have made her the target and the deeper he digs the more he learns about his daughter.
Thoughts on Edge of Darkness
Characters – Craven is a respect homicide detective, everyone in the force knows just how capable of solving a murder he can be, but when his own daughter is murdered, he starts to go against the law to figure out who and why she was murdered. He will not stop at anything to locate the truth and take out the people that murdered his daughter. Jedburgh is an English man that will help Craven fill in the gaps, while trying to keep him away from the answers, he has been hired to make sure the investment stays safe, without building up a body count. Jack Bennett runs the company that Emma works for, he knows how to answer questions to keep the press happy, while keeping the shady operations under wraps. Emma is the daughter that Craven is delighted to spend time with once again, only she gets murdered and it is her life before this meeting that we get to see her in.
Performances – Mel Gibson might well have had his problems in Hollywood, but when it comes to crime thrillers, he is in his element always shining in these roles without ever looking out of place, and demanding the screen whenever he steps on screen. Ray Winstone is great in his role, which only seems to be around for the calmer or criminal sides of the film. Danny Huston is an actor that can play a villain in his sleep and this is no different, he brings the smug figure to life here. Bojana Novakovic is great in her smaller role which doesn’t need to get much more screen time to add to the story.
Story – The story here follows a homicide detective that starts to investigate the murder of his daughter only to find himself in the middle of a much bigger conspiracy that puts his own life in danger. This story starts off looking like it is going to be a revenge like movie because of how the first murder happens only to become a big conspiracy movie that offers up plenty of miss-direction as we lead to the truth. Any story that can keep you guessing and let try to figure out the ending yourself is an entertaining watch, with the outcome not even needing to be spoon fed to us either. This might well be a remake of a television show, but it plays into the modern ideas and works with how the conspiracy could be relevant for today’s climate.
Crime/Mystery – The crime side of the film starts by just looking like a murder, it soon dives into cover ups, conspiracy and secret groups which shows how the government might go about trying to cover up a secret. The mystery in the film comes from just how the conspiracy keeps managing to unfold to expose more truth about what Emma was involved in.
Settings – The film uses the Boston setting to show how many crimes have been committed in this stricter state which does show us just how big of a conspiracy needs covering up.
Scene of the Movie – Riverside meeting.
That Moment That Annoyed Me – It would have been nice to see more of Jedburgh.
Final Thoughts – This is a wonderfully intense crime thriller that does keep you guessing throughout the film, we get strong performance throughout and a story that has been modernized without looking out of place.
Overall: Hugely entertaining crime thriller.
Ivana A. | Diary of Difference (1171 KP) rated Read and Gone (The Haunted Library Mysteries, #2) in Books
Oct 2, 2020
This is the second book of the series, and even though I haven’t read the first part, I was able to follow this book quite easily. There are a few references to the past and you can quickly realise what happened. Though, if you wish to read the series, don’t start with #2, because there are a few spoilers here that you wish you hadn’t read if you read book #1. I won’t be reading #1 because the spoilers in this book ruined it for me. But I am sure it’s an amazing story as well.
Carrie works in a library and has a cat that brings with her at work. Her father is a famous bad guy, that spent all her childhood in jails. One day, he returns to town, trying to get his share of a box of jewellery that he stole with another man. But a murder changes everyone’s plans, and Carrie has to make some dangerous decisions. It is a wonderful story about family, love, Christmas and tragedy that ends well.
This is a book full of mystery and crime, but it also is warm and family-oriented. I loved the mystery - crime part of it, I loved the scenes where everyone, mostly Carrie plays out to be a detective, but there were also scenes where things were so obvious, and she made terrible choices that made me cringe.
I struggled a lot to understand and like Carrie - I didn’t like the way how she gets quiet and doesn’t talk and just cries, and suddenly when she leaves the situation, she bitches about everything and how things should've been done differently. WELL WHY DIDN’T YOU SAY SOMETHING WHEN YOU HAD THE CHANCE, THEN? But then, there were also moments when she would come up with some interesting hypothesis and actually succeed into making a right choice, and I would think - YEAH, that’s my girl.
All in all, definitely a beautiful read, with a few tweaks here and there. I would love to read something similar to this, and for you that love chick-lit and detective stories, you would most probably enjoy this read :)
Carrie works in a library and has a cat that brings with her at work. Her father is a famous bad guy, that spent all her childhood in jails. One day, he returns to town, trying to get his share of a box of jewellery that he stole with another man. But a murder changes everyone’s plans, and Carrie has to make some dangerous decisions. It is a wonderful story about family, love, Christmas and tragedy that ends well.
This is a book full of mystery and crime, but it also is warm and family-oriented. I loved the mystery - crime part of it, I loved the scenes where everyone, mostly Carrie plays out to be a detective, but there were also scenes where things were so obvious, and she made terrible choices that made me cringe.
I struggled a lot to understand and like Carrie - I didn’t like the way how she gets quiet and doesn’t talk and just cries, and suddenly when she leaves the situation, she bitches about everything and how things should've been done differently. WELL WHY DIDN’T YOU SAY SOMETHING WHEN YOU HAD THE CHANCE, THEN? But then, there were also moments when she would come up with some interesting hypothesis and actually succeed into making a right choice, and I would think - YEAH, that’s my girl.
All in all, definitely a beautiful read, with a few tweaks here and there. I would love to read something similar to this, and for you that love chick-lit and detective stories, you would most probably enjoy this read :)
Eleanor (1463 KP) rated Blindsighted (Grant County, #1) in Books
Jun 8, 2019 (Updated Jun 8, 2019)
Small town Georgia, big time gruesome crime thriller!!!
Hard to believe this was Karin Slaughters first novel, it’s very well rounded for a debut.
When a young college professor is brutally murdered (and I mean BRUTALLY - i.e. not for the squeamish) it falls to Sara Linton as the town coroner to perform the disturbing autopsy. Having found the victim in the local diner, it soon becomes obvious to Sara that there is a seriously sick individual on the loose.
It’s Sara’s ex-husband, police chief Jeffrey Tolliver, who must head up the investigation along with the only female detective Lena Adams, who is also the victims sister (love small town America everyone is all up in each others stuff - did I mention as well as been the towns coroner Sara is also the local paediatrician….) When another victim is found crucified the tension to find the killer builds, as does the tension between characters.
This book was very graphic, but boy was it entertaining in a disturbing way. Fast paced with plenty of suspense, a great beginning to a series.
When a young college professor is brutally murdered (and I mean BRUTALLY - i.e. not for the squeamish) it falls to Sara Linton as the town coroner to perform the disturbing autopsy. Having found the victim in the local diner, it soon becomes obvious to Sara that there is a seriously sick individual on the loose.
It’s Sara’s ex-husband, police chief Jeffrey Tolliver, who must head up the investigation along with the only female detective Lena Adams, who is also the victims sister (love small town America everyone is all up in each others stuff - did I mention as well as been the towns coroner Sara is also the local paediatrician….) When another victim is found crucified the tension to find the killer builds, as does the tension between characters.
This book was very graphic, but boy was it entertaining in a disturbing way. Fast paced with plenty of suspense, a great beginning to a series.
Mark @ Carstairs Considers (2200 KP) rated Murder on Washington Square in Books
Mar 31, 2018
Another Outstanding Trip Back in Time
When midwife Sarah Brandt gets a note form Nelson Ellsworth, her neighbor’s son, she is intrigued. She agrees to their meeting only to learn that Nelson has gotten a woman pregnant, a woman who doesn’t seem to want to marry him. Nelson asks Sarah to examine the woman, but something about their encounter seems off. Sarah doesn’t give it much thought until the woman is murdered and Nelson is arrested for the crime. With the help of NYC detective Frank Malloy, she begins to investigate. What is happening?
I hadn’t realized how much I’ve come to enjoy this series until I picked up the book. I was immediately lost in the world of 1890’s New York City, and Sarah and Frank are outstanding guides. They lead a cast of strong characters, and I love watching them interact and their slow burn romance. I did figure some things out early, but I was still glued to the page as there were twists and complications I didn’t see coming.
I hadn’t realized how much I’ve come to enjoy this series until I picked up the book. I was immediately lost in the world of 1890’s New York City, and Sarah and Frank are outstanding guides. They lead a cast of strong characters, and I love watching them interact and their slow burn romance. I did figure some things out early, but I was still glued to the page as there were twists and complications I didn’t see coming.
Lindsay (1717 KP) rated Curse of the Ancients: Book 3 in Books
Aug 30, 2018 (Updated Apr 9, 2019)
If you wanted to travel to the Middle East or at least a part of it. You do so though Hawk McKinney latest book "The Curse of Ancients". To me it get adventurous and involves mysteries though out the book. I also believe it got some real good crime and detective in the book.
We meet up with Craige Ingram once again, and one of his best friend McGarald. Craige is ask to come and look and be a part of the investigation and find out what going on and finding out. The action be hotter and intense.
Craige bring in another friend from his seal team. When, his home is being threaten and get him and his friend involved some more. They will not back down until they find the answers.
Are terrorists involved and who or what is going on that leaving agents dead? Hawk McKinney does this and pull you in for adventure and battle. Who will win? The book is a page turner and surprises though out. Who would want artifacts and why?
We meet up with Craige Ingram once again, and one of his best friend McGarald. Craige is ask to come and look and be a part of the investigation and find out what going on and finding out. The action be hotter and intense.
Craige bring in another friend from his seal team. When, his home is being threaten and get him and his friend involved some more. They will not back down until they find the answers.
Are terrorists involved and who or what is going on that leaving agents dead? Hawk McKinney does this and pull you in for adventure and battle. Who will win? The book is a page turner and surprises though out. Who would want artifacts and why?
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Experience the world through the eyes of the Dark Knight, as Batman shares the secrets of his...