Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
Jimmy McSwain returns to help his sister’s boyfriend fight a murder charge–and finds he may just have a lead on a cold case.Hell’s Kitchen private investigator Jimmy McSwain returns in a twisting tale of past sins and present-day vengeance. Jimmy McSwain isn’t thrilled about taking a case for free but when his sister fears her boyfriend, Rocky, is cheating on her, he has no choice. But the case takes a deadly turn when Rocky is standing over the body of a man he was just seen kissing, and he’s holding the gun. He begs Jimmy to prove his innocence.
Meanwhile, as a sweltering heat wave claims New York City, a gunman with a thirst for blood is targeting Manhattan deli owners and has already claimed two victims. Jimmy knows a thing or two about those as fourteen years ago his father was killed outside a deli, and it’s possible today’s killer could be linked to that unsolved murder, one that continues to haunt Jimmy. Enlisting the aid of sexy NYPD Captain Francis X. Frisano, Jimmy finds himself torn between the two cases, as well as the heat simmering between himself and the hot cop. Suddenly a quiet summer has erupted into a full blown crime wave.
This is the second book in a series and I had not read book one but I found that this was fine as a standalone. As the blurb states, Jimmy is a private detective who is helping his sister out as a favor. This leads to him witnessing the tail end of a murder that his sister’s boyfriend is accused of committing. Jimmy doesn’t really want to get involved but he feels bad for Rocky who is devastated over the murder and swears he is innocent. Jimmy ends up investigating the murder and finds himself in the middle of a complicated crime.
In addition to this plot there is also a side plot of Jimmy trying to find out who killed his father when he was a teenager. Some events happen that lead Jimmy to believe he is close to getting some answers.
There is a bit of romance in this between Jimmy and a police Captain that he works with. It appeared there had been some attraction between them in the previous book but they get together for the first time in this book. This was my least favorite part of the story. I didn’t care much for Francis and I didn’t feel any chemistry between the two men. It was more telling me how they felt than showing me.
I enjoyed the overall plot of the book and I liked the murder mystery that involved Rocky. I thought that was done well and had a few interesting twists. The writing style did not completely work for me though. There were passages that felt too wordy and there were sections, especially when the two men were together, that were filled with purple prose. I think that also led me to dislike the romance between the two.
This audio was narrated by Joel Leslie. I thought he did a good job on the narration. His voice for Jimmy was well done as were the side characters. There were parts that bothered me but those weren’t really the narrator’s fault. He was simply reading the words the author wrote. Even knowing that I still found the purple prose parts annoying and had to remind myself it wasn’t the narration that was bugging me but the text.
Overall this was an average read/audio. I didn’t love it but I did like it well enough that I will probably try the next book in the series at some point.
Cover: The cover is average and it is a good representation of the story plot.
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Audiobook Details:
Length: 7 hrs
Audible Audio, Unabridged
Published December 7th 2016 by Linden Corners Press (first published July 1st 2015)
SeriesJimmy McSwain Files #2
Published December 7th 2016 by Linden Corners Press (first published July 1st 2015)
SeriesJimmy McSwain Files #2
Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words 